Science: what the hell?

Question

Why do people insist on thinking that science is infallible?

Damn, lighten up everybody! :)

I asked this question because it seems like people want to able to "prove /disprove" EVERYTHING, even things that are beyond our ability to "prove" in the first place. (like God, heaven, hell etc)

"darth": Great answer, thanks!

Hey "Joe"

Since when is having faith in the Divine a bad thing?

I never said science was a "terrible evil thing", In fact I think it is wonderfull, but we should be using it to benefit mankind . . like gee I don't know find a cure for cancer.

Answer 1

People who are uncomfortable with uncertainty or not very good at critical thinking tend to look at the world in true/false terms. So if science says so, it must be true. Their political convictions and other opinions probably show a similar lack of nuance. The popular press reinforces this kind of thinking by reporting all science news as settled fact, without explaining the open questions, alternative hypotheses, and the limitations of the conclusions.

Answer 2

Science does have significant applications. I certainly don't want to take anything away from the benefits of science to society.

I understand what you're saying, though. Life has very few guarantees. Uncertainty is a major constant in the universe. I've had experiences, and seen events, for which science cannot account.

I think science is definitely a useful tool...but I am a religious man as well. I'll always be looking for a second opinion.

You ask a good question!

Answer 3

Science is not infallible. But the mistakes made are used to ask more questions and answer some. Where no matter what is proven infallible in religion is chalked up to Gods will or Faith and that is the answer to everything. Science has never said it has answers to everything and always seems to come up with more questions once one is answered. With religion.... Refer to a book that's 2000 to 3000 years old for all your answers. Good luck.

What gets me is religious people try to use science against science/logic. Here's my favorite to explain the downfall of evolution.
If you put all the parts of a toaster in a box and shook it forever the parts would never become a working toaster no matter how long you shook it. So with this, even though all the chemicals in your body have been around for quite a while they will never come together to form your body with out help... LOL Yes that was an argument! Morons...

Answer 4

Science actually cannot prove anything. It can only disprove things. If it fails to disprove something, then we call it a law or a theory and we find ways to exploit what we know to not be false about it. So science actually has disproven the Biblical account of creation, for example. We know unequivocally that the earth is older than 6000 years and that it was not created in 7 days. Science cannot, however be used to prove that God exists. It cannot be used to prove that objects attract each other as seems to be claimed by Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation. Newton ACTUALLY LITERALLY said, "If every object attracts every other object with a force that is proportional to the distance between them squared then...." and he had a list of predictions that would be consistent with that. But there is no way to prove that objects pull on each other. They might actually block push for example...

Science is not infallible, it is just the most empowering way that Humans have of describing their universe.

Answer 5

Simple. Science is theories that was made by humans. There are no Exact science in this world. Just like humans these theories are as imperfect as we are. Science is knowledge based on what we know so far. That why it dosent quite add up most of the time, because what we know is not too great either. Take a look at what we always do, we look up to the skies and space, but we not yet even began to cover the ocean or the seas. Heck, we cant even have a proper mapping for our own planet, how else do we chart space ?

Answer 6

why do you insist on thinking "what the hell"

science is about discovery. of course it is fallible. it is about making mistakes and learning from them.

This attitude of yours sounds suspiciously like people who want to believe in fairy tales and science makes it hard for them by introducing logic. therefore the only way around it is to disparage science. good luck with that.

oh, right, now that you mention it, maybe we should get around to figuring out that cancer thing...I bet we could have it solved in a couple days if took it seriously. Except that scientists from multiple disciplines have been at it for decades, or even longer, and we aren't there. Does that mean that science is to blame? No, it just means we haven't figured it out yet.

Faith isn't necessarily a bad thing unless you use it as an excuse to stop searching for truth.

Answer 7

I don't know - but I wonder about that too. I mean, what the hell, up until a few months ago f...ing Pluto was a planet. Oops, mistake, now it's not.

And here's something else I don't get. If you cut a pie (preferably pizza) in thirds - all three thirds = one whole, right? (Well that's what they taught me in school.) But what's the digital equivalent of 1/3? It's .33333333333 and on and on and on forever. So math is b.s. too!

Thank god I chose to be a writer. Let the scientists think up theories, prove them, disprove them, re-prove them and spin into a wacky hellish vortex. At least I know what I'm writing is fiction. :-)

Answer 8

BECAUSE IT'S NO TRUST IN THIS WORLD .AND THE LIFE IT'S SHORT WITH A LOT OF FEAR .WE HAVE NO ANSEWERS FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT PROBLEM.AND THE ONLY SOLUTION IT'S THE CHOICE THAT THE SCIENCE IS INFAILIBLE.WE TRY TO BELIVE THAT WILL BE A DAY WHEN WE THE SCIENCE SUCCED .A HOPE OR MAY BE NOT

Answer 9

a million. you're at the instant typing on a working laptop or laptop. nicely technological understanding delivered that. 2. The mysteries of the cosmos, the objective of existence, how each thing works, that variety of ingredient. 3. technological understanding is in basic terms the flexibility of staring on the international and transforming into fashions that designate what we see.

Answer 10

Well of the multitude of options available to us, science is actually within our power to use and control. Sure failures happen, but success once figured out how - works consistantly.