Questions For Noisy Big Bangers.

On Mon, 15 Jul 2013 09:51:50 -0500, Odd Bodkin wrote:

On 7/12/2013 3:50 PM, Henry Wilson DSc. wrote:
Scientists don't hold beliefs.

You really think so? Do you think that scientists believe that atoms exist?


You think that's the problem, that thinking people believe things when
they shouldn't believe anything?

People who hold firm beliefs are not thinking people.

Firm is a relative term. I firmly believe that the sun came up this
morning. Now, I could still be convinced, I suppose, that I was wrong
about that, and that the sun went out years ago, and that benevolent
beings from Andromeda have been maintaining the illusion for us so that
we don't all go running around screaming. But lacking evidence for that,
I don't think there's much harm in believing pretty firmly that the sun
did come up. Do you not hold a firm belief that the sun came up?


Did you have any thoughts on these questions?

Yes.

The fact that the sun rose does not involve any human beliefs.
It was predictable within known definitions. That's how science works.
'Truths' can be established within certain axioms....but Science will always
recognize that those axioms might change.
No beliefs are involved.

"Thunder and lightning are the work of Thor", is a belief.....(zero evidence)

"Thunder and lightning are a result of electrical charge build up in cloud
layers", is a scientific fact.....an accepted TRUTH based on current
observations and definitions.

We don't BELIEVE those definitions. We use them with full knowledge that they
might be wrong. Science's very aim is to keep on pushing its definitions
further and further up the ladder of acceptibility.
The ultimate test of a Law or definition is its ability to predict
consistently.


Henry Wilson DSc.