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Author | Topic: The "science" of Miracles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ringo Member (Idle past 442 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined: |
Phat writes:
What better source can you name?
Its like playing Simon Says with him, though he calls it Science Says.
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Phat Member Posts: 18351 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.0 |
Perhaps the creator of science.
Chance as a real force is a myth. It has no basis in reality and no place in scientific inquiry. For science and philosophy to continue to advance in knowledge, chance must be demythologized once and for all. —RC Sproul "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." —Mark Twain " ~"If that's not sufficient for you go soak your head."~Faith Paul was probably SO soaked in prayer nobody else has ever equaled him.~Faith
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ringo Member (Idle past 442 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined: |
Phat writes:
Humans created science.
Perhaps the creator of science.
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Phat Member Posts: 18351 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.0 |
Exactly. But science existed before we did. We just formalized it.
Chance as a real force is a myth. It has no basis in reality and no place in scientific inquiry. For science and philosophy to continue to advance in knowledge, chance must be demythologized once and for all. —RC Sproul "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." —Mark Twain " ~"If that's not sufficient for you go soak your head."~Faith Paul was probably SO soaked in prayer nobody else has ever equaled him.~Faith
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ringo Member (Idle past 442 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined: |
Phat writes:
Nope. In fact, we were around for a long time before we figured it out.
But science existed before we did.
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Phat Member Posts: 18351 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.0 |
So are you saying that nothing exists until we figure it out? That would explain why you are an unbeliever.
Chance as a real force is a myth. It has no basis in reality and no place in scientific inquiry. For science and philosophy to continue to advance in knowledge, chance must be demythologized once and for all. —RC Sproul "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." —Mark Twain " ~"If that's not sufficient for you go soak your head."~Faith Paul was probably SO soaked in prayer nobody else has ever equaled him.~Faith
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ringo Member (Idle past 442 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined: |
Phat writes:
Nothing that humans created existed before humans created it. Is that so hard to understand?
So are you saying that nothing exists until we figure it out? Phat writes:
You're trying too hard to figure out what makes me an unbeliever. I'm an unbeliever because beliefs like yours are so empty.
That would explain why you are an unbeliever.
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Phat Member Posts: 18351 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.0 |
The only reason you see them as empty is that you count on evidence to fill up your every uncertainty. I realize that evidence is not always available and is usually not plentiful even if available.
Everyone is trying to get you to accept the possibility of miracles. You evidently conclude that belief without evidence should be discarded. I am trying to find out why you feel this way. Chance as a real force is a myth. It has no basis in reality and no place in scientific inquiry. For science and philosophy to continue to advance in knowledge, chance must be demythologized once and for all. —RC Sproul "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." —Mark Twain " ~"If that's not sufficient for you go soak your head."~Faith Paul was probably SO soaked in prayer nobody else has ever equaled him.~Faith
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Taq Member Posts: 10085 Joined: Member Rating: 5.6 |
Phat writes: Everyone is trying to get you to accept the possibility of miracles. You evidently conclude that belief without evidence should be discarded. I am trying to find out why you feel this way. Accepting a possibility and believing something to be true are not the same thing. Is it possible that you have won the Powerball twice in the last 10 years? I guess it is possible, but I don't believe you have. Without evidence, is there any reason why I should believe you have won the Powerball lottery twice in the last 10 years? Just because something is possible does not mean it happened, and no amount of begging is going to make them into the same ting. If all we have is a bare assertion that something is true, then why shouldn't we discard that assertion until there is evidence to support it? Otherwise, anything we make up at the drop of the hat would have to be considered true until proven otherwise, and that makes no sense.
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frako Member (Idle past 336 days) Posts: 2932 From: slovenija Joined: |
Exactly. But science existed before we did. We just formalized it. Science is an idea that you can figure out the world by observing testing and objective measurement. Just an idea it does not exist in reality, And that idea did not exist until someone thought it up. Christianity, One woman's lie about an affair that got seriously out of hand What are the Christians gonna do to me ..... Forgive me, good luck with that.
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Phat Member Posts: 18351 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.0 |
Taq writes: Good point. You are defending ringos position quite well. Percy wants us to think in terms of hypotheticals rather than waiting for evidence, however...and I see no reason why not to entertain that frame of mind in order to better understand what makes a believer conclude tentatively that something is true. After all, if you discard everything you may have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. If all we have is a bare assertion that something is true, then why shouldn't we discard that assertion until there is evidence to support it? Otherwise, anything we make up at the drop of the hat would have to be considered true until proven otherwise, and that makes no sense.Chance as a real force is a myth. It has no basis in reality and no place in scientific inquiry. For science and philosophy to continue to advance in knowledge, chance must be demythologized once and for all. —RC Sproul "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." —Mark Twain " ~"If that's not sufficient for you go soak your head."~Faith Paul was probably SO soaked in prayer nobody else has ever equaled him.~Faith
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Phat Member Posts: 18351 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.0
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frako writes: Your philosophy sounds too human-centric for my beliefs. It is hubris to think that ideas don't exist in reality apart from human conception. They may not exist to us but that does not mean they don't exist. Niagara Falls was obeying the law of gravity before there was a law and before gravity was defined as an idea. Science is an idea that you can figure out the world by observing testing and objective measurement. Just an idea it does not exist in reality, And that idea did not exist until someone thought it up.Chance as a real force is a myth. It has no basis in reality and no place in scientific inquiry. For science and philosophy to continue to advance in knowledge, chance must be demythologized once and for all. —RC Sproul "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." —Mark Twain " ~"If that's not sufficient for you go soak your head."~Faith Paul was probably SO soaked in prayer nobody else has ever equaled him.~Faith
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1.61803 Member (Idle past 1534 days) Posts: 2928 From: Lone Star State USA Joined:
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Hi Phat,
I get what Ringo is saying. And I think I get what you are saying. I think you may be conflating "science/physics" with "the laws of universe/nature". Humans did not create the laws of nature, but they did create physics which is a way to explain how universe/nature operates. If what we call a miracle happens that violates the laws of physics as we know it, then scientist will most likely incorporate this phenomenon into the known body of scientific work. The way the universe operates is being investigated. The language used to describe it is called physics and the way it is being investigated is through what is called the scientific method. Which is a self correcting method that renders all previous information subject to change. The universe will either give up all it's secrets or it wont.Believe in your miracles Phat, believe in them because you choose to do so and for no other reason. Peace be with you. "You were not there for the beginning. You will not be there for the end. Your knowledge of what is going on can only be superficial and relative" William S. Burroughs
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Percy Member Posts: 22506 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4 |
ringo writes: Percy writes:
It doesn't have to. It's clear from the context that a miracle is attributed to something. George sees a bright light, thinks it's a miracle and attributes it to the demon Wormwood. Jim sees the same bright light, understands how a flashlight works and attributes it to the laws of physics. The attribution is inherent. Wikipedia did not say, "The attribution of such an event may be to a supernatural being (a deity), or may be to magic, or may be to a miracle worker, or may be to a saint or may be to a religious leader." George sees an electron travel through the left slit. To what does he attribute the choice of slit?
A miracle is an event that the observer can not explain, so he attributes it to supernatural causes. That doesn't disagree with Wikipedia. This makes whether something is miraculous dependent upon the observer's (rather than science's) knowledge and expertise, so it both isn't a useful definition and does disagree with Wikipedia.
Percy writes:
Even you can't say it without using words like "ascribe",... they unambiguously ascribe the cause to the supernatural or God. That's an odd objection. It would be impossible to sum up dictionary definitions that ascribe miracles to a cause without using a word like "ascribe."
...and yet you claim that that isn't an important aspect of the definition. Because it isn't an important aspect of the definition of miracle. If a miracle occurred, how would it make it any less a miracle if the cause remained unknown?
Percy writes:
The same way it responds to anything else. What it would not do is call it a "miracle". If the results were inconclusive, they would be called inconclusive. But what if a miracle *did* occur? How would science respond? But the results are not inconclusive. I provided the example of the George Washington Bridge moving 50 miles up the Hudson, thereby unambiguously and inexplicably breaking at least several scientific laws, which is the definition of miracle. How would science react? --Percy
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Percy Member Posts: 22506 From: New Hampshire Joined: Member Rating: 5.4
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Replying to a few of your messages...
In Message 367 you said:
ringo in Message 367 writes: What people are actually calling miracles - and in this case is confirmed as a miracle by the Roman Catholic Church - is not what we can't explain. It's what they can't explain. I agree with you on this point. What gets called a miracle is generally something that a person or group can't explain, not what science can't explain. In Message 371 you said:
ringo in Message 371 writes: As far as I know, it's science that doesn't include the possibility of miracles. More accurately, science accepts that for which it has sufficient evidence to form a consensus. Like the rabbit fossils in the Cambrian that we continually cite to creationists as the type of evidence that would call evolution seriously into question, if sufficient evidence is there, science is obligated to accept it. So it's not that "science...doesn't include the possibility of miracles," it's that there's insufficient evidence (approximately none) for miracles. In Message 373 you said:
ringo in Message 373 writes: As I've said, if science calls it a miracle, I have no problem with calling it a miracle. If somebody calls something "inexplicable", that doesn't mean it's inexplicable to everybody. But if a scientific consensus calls it "inexplicable" that pretty much does mean it's inexplicable to everybody. --Percy
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