On 09/02/2012 16:48, unknown wrote:
> Two things I want to add here:
>
> 1) Man did fine without science for many thousands of years. With
If you mean by "did fine" managed to eke out a living and just about
stay alive then I would have to agree. The main reason for inventing
"jam tomorrow" religions was to give the poor sods something to look
forward to as they lived from hand to mouth and in bad years starved and
watched their children die young from hunger and disease.
Even in the 1900's infant and maternal post natal mortality was still
seriously high in the first world. Vaccination had already started for
the most serious diseases but it wasn't until penicillin in the 1940's
that things really improved. TB was still a very serious threat to
healthy individuals back then. It killed Feynman's first wife in 1945.
The simplest way to re-educate the anti-science brigade is to remove
from them all the benefits of modern science starting with petrol,
electricity, clean water, antiseptics and analgesics. I think just
removing the last one on its own would be sufficient to make the point.
> science, indirectly you have created several sceneros that will
> eventually cause society to be doomed to failure: a) increasing the
> lifespan of the population; b) polluted Earth far beyond what would have
> been done without science; c) destroyed the fabric of society- the
> family- by aiding the movements that do not believe in a Supreme Being;
Science is neutral on the existence or not of a supreme being. It is not
a testable hypothesis. What science can do is show that the old myths
written down in various religious books are wildly inconsistent. Lets
see you build a wooden ark capable of holding two of every kind of
animal and keeping them alive for the requisite period of time...
For the record I should point out that I am a Bayesian and on the
available evidence I cannot believe in a God but I can still compute the
probability that there is a God from group symmetry arguments.
It peaks sharply at 0 (no God) or 1 (God) the distribution is the
uninformative Bayesian prior for a heads or tails decision:
P(x) = 1/(x(1-x))
You don't find many people arguing vehemently that the probability that
there is a God is exactly 1/2 but I will do that on symmetry grounds. I
am a hard line agnostic based on the available (lack of) evidence.
> d) refusing to entertain any ideas or even evidence that may fall
> outside of the scientific method but have definite validity. There are
> other examples, but these points are the biggest.
What do you mean by this? Bishop Ushers attempt to compute the age of
the Earth was a perfectly valid effort when he did it, as was Kelvin's
attempt to put a bound on how long the sun could burn for. They were
hopelessly wrong because their methods made invalid assumptions.
What is seriously wrong and misguided is to deny all of modern science
because it conflicts with your archaic superstitious beliefs.
>
> With (a), you have managed to produce a society counterproductive to
> your goal with the creation of many health problems, overpopulation and
> lack of space available for the ailing/ elderly, and pushing monetary
> budgets beyond limits. What was the average lifespan of human beings
> 1,000 years ago? Don't forget that you have also helped produce
> superbugs, such as MRSA, a once easily controlled organism in normal
> "staff" form, that now barely reponds to the strongest antibiotics,
> something else you have helped create, and such creation has now made
> even the more common bacteria very resistant to. And don't forget the
> insecticide resistance that has develped due to scientific study and
> experimentation.
Before antibiotics every bacterial infection was potentially lethal. We
have eradicated the deadly smallpox virus which was once a scourge of
humanity. Nice God that invents stuff like that and Ebola isn't it?
Nature fights back via evolution. We were too cavalier about the over
use of antibiotics and will pay for that mistake - particularly in the
USA where they are used to make livestock fatten up quicker which has
caused problems. Modern prescribing has improved but we could easily go
back to the bad old days when people often died of blood poisoning.
>
> With (b), you told us that nuclear energy was safe and people well
> trained to prevent disasters. You developed purified forms of uranium
> and plutonium, only to be scattered across the countryside and airborne
> contamination throughout the world. Also, let us not forget weapons
> deveopment beyond the simple atomic bomb to make the world "safer". How
> much cancer has been created as a result of atomic testing/ worldwide
> atomic disasters? Yet you justify it in the name of "science".
Comparatively few so far. Much more radioactivity has been spewed up the
chimneys of coal fired power stations in smoke. Uranium is a
surprisingly common element in the Earths crust with around 2ppm in most
rocks. What is very rare is to find mineable grade uranium ore.
Science only seeks to figure out how the world works. How that knowledge
is used afterwards is a matter for the wider society.
You would prefer everyone living in superstitious fear and ignorance.
Making sacrifices to your chosen "One True God". Too bad that different
brands of supporters of that "One True God" have been at each others
throats for centuries now. I suppose it is a sign of progress that they
have largely stopped burning each other at the stake for heresy.
We now have twenty first century science and engineering coupled with
stone age politics and superstition. The worst aspects are enshrined in
the US Religious Right who think they are Gods chosen people and await
the Rapture real soon now (overdue by 12 years and counting...).
Has that deranged cretin made any more "End of the World" predictions?
(is there a third strike and you are out rule???)
>
> With (c), you have insisted that religion be separated from the schools
> and made sure that every kid owns or uses an I-pod and PC or laptop,
> whether or not it benefits his "education". You have wasted billions of
> dollars to make this point. Simple prayer, re-education of proper
> morality at home, and a firm belief in the Almighty would have saved
> billions.
Your claim is unsupported by the evidence. I would agree that the modern
emphasis on excessive material consumerism is a bad thing.
>
> With (d), you propagate "evidence" that a "big bang" created this whole
> thing, and you expect the population to believe this without physical
> evidence. Then you wonder why such a population dismisses you when they
> ask you to entertain the concept of God.
I don't expect the general population to understand anything any more.
I am resigned to the fact that a fair proportion of them are too stupid
to tie their own shoe laces and you appear to be in that cohort.
>
> I sit wondering what would happen if we did away with TVs, I-pods, PC's,
> cars, and science. Is society truly better off with all of these things?
> Or are we just kidding ourselves? These are the questions.
Why don't you do the experiment and see how you like it?
I'd be prepared to bet you wouldn't last more than a week without having
to rely on modern technology. Moreover you probably would not even have
the first clue how to live today without fridge, freezer or potable
water on tap. Enjoy your life in the stone age.
--
Regards,
Martin Brown