At what point should we look for a non-materialistic explanation?

Maybe when bubble chamber pictures start looking like this? But seriously, I think the answer is "never". By definition, we can never find a non-materialistic explanation, let alone prove we have found it. We can only make them up, and that's where science and fantasy part ways.Edited by Parasomnium, : if -> when

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.

Dropping one grain of sand on another makes two grains of sand. Dropping another makes it three. Keeping on dropping grains of sand eventually makes a heap of sand.Some people look at that heap and think it is something fundamentally different than accumulated grains of sand. For some purposes it pays to look at it that way, but you must keep in mind that it came about by simply dropping one grain of sand after another.What you mistake for non-materialistically created complexity is really materialistically accumulated simplicity.In fact, DNA is a prime example of finding materialistic explanations for previously baffling phenomena, where seemingly only non-materialistic explanations would suffice.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.

Quite frequently on this site, I could post a reply devoid of any content whatsoever, bar my signature quote, because it would perfectly sum up the situation so often.But that would be rude.That's why I always add a preface to my signature, to explain why it applies in the case at hand. This time my preface could have been as short as "Your God (He of the Gaps) explains exactly nothing", were it not for the fact that I also wanted to explain my modus operandi.Now that you know this, you can save yourself some time in the future by first considering my signature, and then perhaps check if my preface contains anything worthy of notice. Generally, you can just skip it.Edited by Parasomnium, : No reason given.Edited by Parasomnium, : No reason given.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.