Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Is science a religion?

[Stephen Montgomery-Smith <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Mike Miller wrote:
> On Tue, 4 May 2004, Stephen Montgomery-Smith wrote:
> 
> 
> I wouldn't say that I "believe in science" because I am not sure what that
> means.  There are some things that I do feel are self-evident.  Here's an
> example:  If someone tells me that "X cannot occur" but I then see X
> occur, and I have no reason to doubt my senses, I feel it is self-evident
> that the original claim was false.  That is, I believe in the value of
> evidence collected from the senses.  That is a fundamental assumption in
> my way of coping with the world I live in.
> 

Well let me illustrate my point with three conversations - the first two are 
imaginary - the third happened to me last week.

=======================================

Scientist:  Matter that we see around us is made of atoms.
Skeptic:    How do you know this?  Have you ever observed one of these atoms?
Scientist:  No.  But it is clear that atoms exist.  One can assume that matter 
is atomic in nature, and also assume that it is continuous.  Then one goes 
through a process of make deductions from either assumption, and observations 
fit the atomic assumption.
Skeptic:    Maybe there is a third alternative that we haven't yet thought of.
Scientist:  Possibly.  But we can also make predictions based upon our atomic 
assumption, and so far observations bare out the many predictions.  So the 
atomic theory is definitely a very strong candidate.
Skeptic:    How do you make these deductions or predictions?
Scientist:  We use the laws of logic that have been passed down from generation 
to generation since before I remember.

=======================================

Person:  My son has schizophrenia.
Doctor:  Take these pills.
Person:  You mean everyone who takes these pills is immediately cured?
Doctor:  No.  We got two groups of people.  One group received this pill 
regularly.  The other group received sugar pills.  We observed these two groups, 
fed the data into our calculators, consulted our oracle of statistical tables, 
and decided that the results were statistically significant.
Person:  Why did you give one group sugar pills?
Doctor:  Because sometimes people who take sugar pills seem to improve because 
they think they should, and we want to be sure that the real pills do better.

=======================================

Stephen:  I've got a bad case of pink eye.
Friend:   Make a tea from the herb eyebright and apply it to your eyes.
Stephen goes to see a Doctor.
Doctor:   Here are some eyedrops.  They contain an antibiotic, although most 
likely you have a virus, but even so they should provide some soothing effect.
Stephen:  I heard of a herbal remedy called eyebright.
Doctor:   Don't bother.  It is a waste of time.

So Stephen gets the eyedrops, and also eyebright teabags.  The eyedrops sting 
his eyes, and don't do any good.  The eyebright brings an immediate and profound 
soothing effect.  Stephen does a web search for eyebright, and learns that many 
people believe that eyebright has healing effects, but no-one has ever 
scientifically verified these claims.
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