On Saturday, September 15, 2018 at 9:15:34 AM UTC-6, Chris L Peterson wrote:

On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 06:11:53 -0700 (PDT), Gary Harnagel
wrote:

No, it's rigorously defined. It means accepting as true that which is
not supported by evidence. In many cases (for instance most religion)
it means accepting as true that which is contradicted by evidence.

Ignoring evidence is practiced in both religion AND science. As
P. Pilate said, "What is truth?"

No, it is NEVER ignored by science.

NEVER? You are sounding like an absolutist. :-)

Sure, by individual scientists, who are fallible and never operate with
perfect reason.

Sometimes by the whole scientific community. But you are right because
it tends to be self-correcting.

But by science itself? Never. Which is why science never fails to lead
us closer to truth (and in so doing, isolates more and more religious
dogma as objectively false).

And that's a good thing since "dogma" is a creation of man, not of God.

We'll just have to agree to disagree. I see a lot of faith-based
thinking in science, particularly in AGW.

Of course you do. Because you don't understand science, and because
you can't overcome your dogma when science demonstrates things that
you have philosophical problems with.

You completely misrepresent me with that straw-man allegation. Since
you believe science seeks "truth" it is YOU that embraces "dogma" and
YOU that misunderstands science.

And you yourself have expressed "faith-based thinking." You believe
(without evidence) that all alien civilizations destroy themselves
before they can become god-like. Remember? :-)

I don't "believe" this. I offer it as a plausible hypothesis to answer
the Fermi paradox, based on observation of human behavior. That's all.

And why would "human behavior apply to aliens? And "plausible" can only
have one meaning in a universe composed of billions of galaxies that have
existed three times longer than our solar system, each with billions of
stars and billions of planets: If something CAN happen, it has already
happened.

Many, many people have had experiences with God, but very, very few with
unicorns and leprechauns.

Nobody, of course, has had an experience with God.

This is YOUR dogma. Many, many people have had such experiences. They
are quite common. My grandmother did, my aunt did, as well as other
members of my family. You, of course, would label such things as
hallucinations or tricks of the mind, but doing so just exposes your
own dogma.

While it is possible some god might exist, God (the Abrahamic monster)
does not, beyond all reasonable doubt.

My, but you are SO vociferous in your dogma :-)

Of course, we now understand a lot about the brain states and dysfunctions
that lead to such experiences, and our degree of understanding in that
area is growing rapidly.

See?