art and science

Because I’m feeling contentious this morning; why on earth would you say the opposite of science is faith? Science involves a great deal of faith, whether it be faith that the laws of physic really are the laws of physics or faith that our reason and experimentation can arrive at concrete understanding of the world, or, if you really want to go back, faith that something came from nothing, which is the origin of the universe from a big-bang point of view based on my understanding.

Winston, I suggest you look up the words “Faith” and “Science” in a good dictionary.

You’ll typically find something about ‘belief without proof’ under Faith, and ‘testable theories and laws’ under science. Perhaps at that point it will become clear to you.

Your understanding of how science actually works seems to be flawed. There’s no “faith” involved in whether the laws of physics are the laws of physics, for instance.

Because, Winston, science is about testing things. You don’t *have* to have faith about the laws of physics; you can design your own experiment and test them. If you discover something new, scientists will love you for it. After that, they will design their own experiments and test your new finding. Them questioning you is not an insult or a heresy, it is the fundamental nature of science.

If a scientist has a theory that vaccines cause autism, then they will design an experiment to try to prove that theory. This is what has gotten mankind out of the dark ages of illiteracy and unpredictable famines and diseases that kill huge numbers of people and, for better or worse, also gotten us out of the ages of hitting each other with rocks to settle our their disagreements.

The notion that an idea can be written down, and then tested, and the results also written down, and found true, or false (or in need of refinement!) is how individuals can overcome our cognitive flaws and short lifespans, can continue to advance knowledge for all mankind is very powerful indeed.

That is science.