(December 18, 2011 at 5:22 pm)amkerman Wrote: Darwinning. Yes, one could not believe in unicorns, that would be a BELIEF that unicorns did not exist. However, for unicorns to objectively not exist rather than people only believing they didn't exist one would scientifically need to define and search for evidence supporting the idea that unicorns were purely figments of the human imagination. Belief is not reality.
Believe it or not (pun intended), but there are literally an infinite number of things which I believe not to exist (call me an existential pessimist, if you will). To scientifically prove all of them do in fact not exist would be a waste of all our collective time.
Belief is not reality, indeed. But I do not believe science to be the art of revealing objective reality; as you see to imply. Objective reality cannot be known, for reasons discussed earlier. Rather, science to me is the art of predicting future events in the world around us using conjecture and models based on previous observations. I feel confident in the prediction (based on earlier observation) that unicorns are not real; although I must admit I cannot ever be sure.
A "search for evidence supporting the idea that unicorns are purely figments of the human imagination" is a fool's errand. Such a thing could never be proven, while on the other hand there is absolutely nothing that would suggests that that search might reveal anything at all (i.e. no suggestion that it might be true).
If you want to waste your time hunting for unicorns, fairies, Gods and their ilk, feel free to do so, but don't pull me into your silly games. I have a life to live.
