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Author Topic:   Does Science Truly Represent Reality?
Chiroptera
Inactive Member


Message 6 of 61 (414859)
08-06-2007 5:27 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by GDR
08-06-2007 3:58 PM


All then that science can say is that this is how we perceive things to be, but we really have no idea of how our perception of things compares with reality.
How is this different in a non-scientific context? All anyone knows about the world is what they perceive through their senses. How science proceeds is really no different than the way you avoid bumping your "knee" into the "coffee table" regardless what a knee really is, what a coffee table is, and what it means to bump one into the other. But you've recognized certain patterns in your sensory perception of the world, and you have a model into which to fit those patterns that allow you to predict that if you "knee" bumps into the "coffee table" you will have an unpleasant experience. Pretty much the same as what a scientist does.

I've done everything the Bible says, even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff! -- Ned Flanders

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by GDR, posted 08-06-2007 3:58 PM GDR has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 8 by GDR, posted 08-06-2007 5:58 PM Chiroptera has replied

  
Chiroptera
Inactive Member


Message 10 of 61 (414866)
08-06-2007 6:12 PM
Reply to: Message 8 by GDR
08-06-2007 5:58 PM


On the other hand you hear leading scientists saying things like time and even distance are illusions and that consciousness is a (or even the) fundamental constituency of the universe.
I don't know how to take any of this since I have no idea what any of this is supposed to mean. It certainly doesn't have much to do with science, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

I've done everything the Bible says, even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff! -- Ned Flanders

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 Message 8 by GDR, posted 08-06-2007 5:58 PM GDR has not replied

  
Chiroptera
Inactive Member


Message 13 of 61 (414913)
08-06-2007 10:07 PM
Reply to: Message 12 by Doddy
08-06-2007 10:03 PM


And don't forget a possible placebo effect.
"Oh shit! It's that damn cat! I'm gonna die!"

I've done everything the Bible says, even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff! -- Ned Flanders

This message is a reply to:
 Message 12 by Doddy, posted 08-06-2007 10:03 PM Doddy has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 16 by GDR, posted 08-06-2007 11:34 PM Chiroptera has not replied

  
Chiroptera
Inactive Member


Message 32 of 61 (415116)
08-08-2007 10:50 AM
Reply to: Message 30 by Archer Opteryx
08-08-2007 3:11 AM


The cat is just one those charming oddball stories people tell. It's like crashfrog's own charming oddball story, which he tells elsewhere, of American journalists who go to work 'systematically hostile' to the very political ideas they are most likely to hold. Such a notion hardly represents a reasoned analysis of comprehensive data. It's just a tale that, like the necrophiliac feline, gets indulged for its story appeal over its logic.
But this is off-topic here. Why don't you go back to that thread and actually address the points and data that crashfrog brought up? Ignoring the substantive points in that thread, just saying "nuh-uh", and then crowing in a different unrelated thread how it's just a fairy tale seems to be...rather creationist.

I've done everything the Bible says, even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff! -- Ned Flanders

This message is a reply to:
 Message 30 by Archer Opteryx, posted 08-08-2007 3:11 AM Archer Opteryx has not replied

  
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