Spiritual questions: Part 2
On the Dar Alluding blog, Tichius commented: "Science cannot and will never answer the larger questions of life, such as: Why are we here? Where are we going? How did we get here?"
I think science has answered these questions.
1) Why are we here? The evidence leads us to theorize that life exists for its own sake; that life will exist anywhere it can; and that our purpose as humans is to further our species.
2) Where are we going? As a species, the evidence leads us to theorize that humankind will end of our own doing. It is also theorized that there may be a natural disaster that may wipe out humankind (though probably not all life on the planet).
3) How did we get here? The evidence leads us to theorize that some combination of evolution and natural selection led to species on this planet as they are today. In terms of how the universe began, we don't know--the Big Bang is one theory; however, science is uncovering new answers every year that may help us uncover evidence to develop a new theory on this.
How did we get to our answers? Much of the evidence is based on what we can see and what we believe follows logically, based on repeatable experiments (aka the scientific method).
Now, I'm no scientist, and a lot of what I've read is from Bill Bryson books, or Carl Sagan, or Stephen Hawking, and the above is based on my limited capability to analyze stuff I barely grasp. But part of the beauty of science is: It's OK to be wrong. If we never theorized anything, we wouldn't test anything. If the tests didn't disprove our theories, we'd never learn. So if I'm off base with current scientific thought -- that's OK. I'm just wrong.
I think science has answered these questions.
1) Why are we here? The evidence leads us to theorize that life exists for its own sake; that life will exist anywhere it can; and that our purpose as humans is to further our species.
2) Where are we going? As a species, the evidence leads us to theorize that humankind will end of our own doing. It is also theorized that there may be a natural disaster that may wipe out humankind (though probably not all life on the planet).
3) How did we get here? The evidence leads us to theorize that some combination of evolution and natural selection led to species on this planet as they are today. In terms of how the universe began, we don't know--the Big Bang is one theory; however, science is uncovering new answers every year that may help us uncover evidence to develop a new theory on this.
How did we get to our answers? Much of the evidence is based on what we can see and what we believe follows logically, based on repeatable experiments (aka the scientific method).
Now, I'm no scientist, and a lot of what I've read is from Bill Bryson books, or Carl Sagan, or Stephen Hawking, and the above is based on my limited capability to analyze stuff I barely grasp. But part of the beauty of science is: It's OK to be wrong. If we never theorized anything, we wouldn't test anything. If the tests didn't disprove our theories, we'd never learn. So if I'm off base with current scientific thought -- that's OK. I'm just wrong.
posted by SuperSkeptic at 11:10 PM
1 Comments:
I love the freedom to theorize and possibly be wrong. Since distancing myself from christianity I've realized how addicted we are to certainty and how thrilling it is to consider possibilities.
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