Convert me!

[Penhorse340]

Sure there's a lot we don't know, but there's also a lot we do know. That is thanks to the scientific method. The thing that sets apart the scientific method from every other way of discerning truth is that it actually works.

If you think that sucks, then more fool you.

More than that, the truthism that is "I don't know" is the driving force behind science. To quote Dara Ó Briain, "Science knows it doesn't know everything, otherwise it'd stop."

"I don't know" leads to "But let's find out."

That's why we wrap everything in simplified models which distil the bits we think we do know into bitesize chunks. Trouble is the models are almost always oversimplified! That's not truth, it's a different flavour lie.

And that, I think, is your major stumbling block. You're expecting simple one-sentence answers to huge, complicated questions. Just as an example, a creationist prefers the answer "God" to the question "Why is there something rather than nothing?" (most commonly phrased "Who created the Universe?", as if the qualifier "who" is supposed to make sense) because as well as feeding into their presuppositions and beliefs, such simple non-answers are far more comforting far more bite-sized - than either "we don't yet know" or diving into the deep end of quantum physics.

I don't expect simple answers, but you're dead right, an inperfect answer Is far more comforting than the admission that we don't know. But you don't have to tell me about the scientific method. I teach Biomechanics at Post graduate level . I'd never in a million years offer "god did it" as an alternative to investigation. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking philosophy rather than science.

Oh and "science trumps religion every fucking time" is frankly a dumb thing to say. Even if you believe there is no shred of truth in religion, are you seriously contending that nobody has ever had benefit in their life from believing in religion? No alcoholics have even used religion to rehab? No bereaved people have ever been comforted by it? I thought sweeping soundbites like that were the preserve of theists!