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

[Jason Youngquist <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

> I would gladly recant my disbelief in an all-mighty if one were to poke
> his head out and say, "Hey, here I am".
	One might argue and say that God has already done this once.

(NOTE for below: you/our/we is myself generalizing, not refering to
anyone particular)

	How you know that your parents are actually your birth
parents?  Maybe because you look like them and they tell you stories
about how you were delivered at the hospital.  Because you have pictures
of them holding you in the hospital.  Maybe you've got a copy of your
birth certificate with their signature on it.  Maybe your parents were
there when you were born, but a pregnant lady gave you up for adoption
after you were first born.

Why don't we all run out and get a sample of DNA from our "parents" and
ourselves?  Why not?  We don't remember anything about our birth (if you
do, then you'd be the first that I know who has), and since we can't
remember, our 5 senses did us no good....With the advancement in science
and DNA testing we could be 100% sure that they are our biological
parents, but we trust/have faith/feel/"believe"/"know" that they are
telling the truth that they are our parents.  Maybe they are telling the
truth, but not the whole truth.  Even after the DNA testing, if it turns
out they weren't our biological parents, does that make their parenting
or love for us "less real?"


> Taking those three statements as constants (arguable, but less faith
> than -you- ask for), we could theorize that eventually, mankind will
> know all the properties and methods of our universe, which should then
> allow us to manipulate the API however we see fit.  Hopefully, mankind
> has reached a level of enlightenment at this point and avoids pushing
> the big red button...Does omnipotence at that point make mankind God?
	Think so?  So is knowledge finite or infinite?  Is the universe
finite or infinite?  I think knowledge is one big snowball....the more we
know, the more we know that we don't know, and the act of humans
"creating" new things creates more knowledge, which in turn creates new
things which creates more knowledge, etc. so we will never know "all."

--Jason
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