RE: If I were an Atheist
May 1, 2015 at 12:05 pm
(This post was last modified: May 1, 2015 at 12:06 pm by Cyberman.)
I think we also need to be clear what a scientific prediction is. Scientists make an observation about some aspect of the Universe, construct a tentative working model to account for it, then test that model. In order to do that, they need to know what it is they're looking for, so they can recognise falsification of the model. Thus they will make predictions about what they would expect to find under varying conditions - if x is true, we should see y; if not, perhaps we will find z.
When the first skeleton of Archaeopterix was found, it was missing its head. Palaeontologists recognised it as a reptile and predicted that it would have a beak-like snout and teeth, instead of a regular bird's beak. Creationist palaeontologist Sir Richard Owen, who hated the idea of evolution, predicted that Archaeopterix would turn out to be a large bird from Noah's Ark, with a normal bird's beak. Subsequent finds proved his prediction wrong and that of other palaeontologists right.
That's how prediction works in science; you modify your hypothesis based on what you find.
When the first skeleton of Archaeopterix was found, it was missing its head. Palaeontologists recognised it as a reptile and predicted that it would have a beak-like snout and teeth, instead of a regular bird's beak. Creationist palaeontologist Sir Richard Owen, who hated the idea of evolution, predicted that Archaeopterix would turn out to be a large bird from Noah's Ark, with a normal bird's beak. Subsequent finds proved his prediction wrong and that of other palaeontologists right.
That's how prediction works in science; you modify your hypothesis based on what you find.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
