The "science" of Miracles

Message 617 of 696 (830156) 03-22-2018 6:46 PM

Reply to: Message 616 by ringo 03-22-2018 1:01 PM

I don't have a conclusion. So far all I have is a "what if".

Agreed.

I don't see how you can know the choice of nomenclature in advance, but I've said many times now that the particular name isn't important.

Might that adjustment in understanding include that physical laws can be suspended and superseded at the command of a shaman? If not then that is a refusal to consider the "what if."

Since you're not considering the "what if," how can you have a conclusion?

If you think details have been omitted you need only ask.

See above about nomenclature being unimportant.

If you don't think the scientific method should change, then why do you think it a weakness in my position that I believe the same thing?

So it is your position that I make mistakes, you don't, and therefore your argument must be correct?

I've said the same thing.

See above about nomenclature being unimportant.

--Percy

Message 618 of 696 (830159) 03-23-2018 2:26 AM

Edited by Porkncheese, : No reason given.

Message 620 of 696 (830164) 03-23-2018 1:03 PM

Reply to: Message 617 by Percy 03-22-2018 6:46 PM

Can you cite any examples of modern science doing anything like what you suggest? I believe that scientists would respond to such behavior by one of their own by announcing that he/she was not following the scientific method.

Science is an aggressive search for natural processes as an explanation for all phenomena. There is no point at which a scientist stops looking for his lost keys and considers the possibility that a poltergeist took them. If that is what you mean by "refusal to consider the what if", then yes, that is a limitation of science.

Message 621 of 696 (830169) 03-23-2018 5:09 PM

Reply to: Message 620 by NoNukes 03-23-2018 1:03 PM

Ringo and I have been discussing this for a while. That first sentence you quoted when taken out of the context of the conversation could easily be misinterpreted. Given what you say next:

It's does seem possible you're missing some context.

Now I'm more sure that you're missing some context, because Ringo and I have already been over this ground.

At heart this is a simple "what if": What if science encountered a miracle?

The response offered has been, in effect, that's impossible - science could not encounter a miracle.

So at several points possible miracles were suggested for purposes of clarity, and one of them was a shaman making limbs reappear on command. At another point (at many points, actually) it was made clear that the miraculous phenomena would be subjected to rigorous scientific study. At another point (at many points, actually) it was made clear that science would not give up studying the miraculous phenomena.

The response remains the same, in effect, it's impossible for science to encounter a miracle.

--Percy

Message 623 of 696 (830185) 03-24-2018 12:43 PM

Reply to: Message 622 by ringo 03-24-2018 11:47 AM

*After looking up the definition of the word...*

OK, lets say you were a scientist who worked for the police. A call came in. We need you to rush to the scene. An event just happened and people are describing it as nothing short of miraculous. We need you to investigate.

Are you going to turn down the job simply because you "don't do miracles"? My point is that the definition of a given event may be described differently by some than by others. You cant hold Percys feet to the fire simply because he uses terminology (even hypothetically) that you dont use, nor can you speak on behalf of all science. If you arrive at the scene, does it matter whether a shaman actually grew new limbs or whether a huckster swapped out mannequins for real people? You will still investigate the scene the same way using the same methodology. Let people call things as they wish, and stick to your approach for dealing with it.

Edited by Phat, : No reason given.

Message 625 of 696 (830191) 03-24-2018 3:02 PM

Reply to: Message 622 by ringo 03-24-2018 11:47 AM

Like biological classification names based on gods or supernatural beings or even the ark (Arca noae)? Like planets named after gods, and galaxies and nebula after mythical characters? The Higgs boson is sometimes referred to as the God particle, and Leon Lederman actually titled his book about the Higgs The God Particle.

Do you recall how many times the scientific equipment in the room has been mentioned?

My opinion is that it would be an interesting exploration of one aspect of the philosophy of science.

Actually, no, I haven't said that. I've said that scientists would follow the evidence where it leads and the scientific method. It is the phenomena that are novel, not the scientists, their reactions, or their methods.

Interesting reasoning.

We're just speaking hypothetically, which means we're speaking of a situation which does not exist as if it did exist. What if an irresistible force were to meet an unmovable object? What if Captain America were to fight Batman? What if quantum effects could manifest themselves at macroscopic levels?

--Percy

Edited by Percy, : Grammar.

Message 626 of 696 (830198) 03-24-2018 5:44 PM

Reply to: Message 621 by Percy 03-23-2018 5:09 PM

I don't think my comment reflects any missed context.

If there were a real miracle, then science would fail in that instance because it does not accommodate miracles. Scientists would continue to search for a natural explanation. Your post claimed that their failure to consider that the shaman had suspended natural rules was a failure on the part of scientists.

Okay, so it is a failure in some hypothetical sense. So what?

Message 627 of 696 (830201) 03-24-2018 8:40 PM

Reply to: Message 626 by NoNukes 03-24-2018 5:44 PM

That you raised the exact same issues Ringo raised innumerable times indicates a great deal of missing something.

Because...

Yes, of course, as those who have read the thread know I've said many times.

Where did I say that? What I did say was that if the adjustment in understanding Ringo referenced ("they would adjust their understanding of the physical laws") could not include evidence of a miracle then he was refusing to consider the "what if."

Since it was never said that there was any "failure on the part of scientists" there can be no response to this, but there do seem to be some strong feelings that some hypotheticals are impossible. I agree that this is so. Hypotheticals like one equals zero or massless particles have mass or identical objects are different make no sense, but the hypothetical that science detects evidence of miracles doesn't seem to fall into that class.

--Percy

Message 629 of 696 (830250) 03-25-2018 6:07 PM

Reply to: Message 628 by ringo 03-25-2018 2:14 PM

Science has no problem drawing upon fiction, mythology and religion for terminology - why do you think the term "miracle" special? Do you have any other terms, from any realm, that science would eschew? "Magic," perhaps?

You sure seem to know a lot about what science might and might not do. However did you become such an authority, not to mention seer, soothsayer and part-time baloney salesman?

And yet people have engaged the concept of the transporter as a thought experiment. There's a Wikipedia article describing some of the thought put into it, see Transporter (Star Trek). Lawrence Krauss wrote The Physics of Star Trek that gives some consideration to the transporter:

quote:

---

I confess that it was really the transporter that seduced me. Thinking about the challenges that would have to be faced in devising such a fictional technology forces one to ponder topics ranging from computers and the infomration superhighway to particle phyiscs, quantum mechanics, nuclear energy, telescope building, biological complexity, and even the possible existence of the human soul!
...
The key question the transporter forces us to address is the following: Faced with the task of moving from the ship to a planet's surface roughly 1028 (1 followed by 28 zeroes) atoms of matter combined in a complex pattern to make up an individual human being, what is the fastest and most efficient way to do it?

---

And Einstein riding a light beam is nonsense, but that didn't invalidate it as a thought experiment.

These are "what ifs." I don't know why you're not getting it, but you're not. Something about them seems to offend your sensibilities. If you don't want to play no one is making you, but it's hard to imagine speculations one isn't free to ponder.

--Percy

Message 630 of 696 (830251) 03-25-2018 6:09 PM

Reply to: Message 627 by Percy 03-24-2018 8:40 PM

Here is what you actually said... again.

Yes, it is a refusal. And science requires that its practitioners refuse to consider magic as an explanation. Again, so what?