Category: Science

Scientists Versus the Rest of US

What is the difference between scientists and the rest of us? Scientists have perennial skepticism about reality, and only give their credence to what can be proven with verifiable tests. The ultimate goal is the discovery of what is true — and true beyond any doubt. They are reality seekers.

Compare that to the rest of us relative to “reality”. The rest of us tend to believe what we want to believe — whatever supports our inclinations, biases, predispositions. We tend to believe facts that support our preferences even if those facts are in all probability flat out wrong. Conversely, we tend to deny facts that in any way contradict our preferences even if those facts are in all probability correct.

So how do these two orientations differ? Scientists seek truth; the rest of us seek self-justification.

48-Hour-Fast Strategy

“Opium of the People”

Religion is based on man’s need to understand life and the universe, so he invents god or gods and a complete ideology (religion) that explains it all, but in truth it explains nothing, and life and the universe remain deep and unsolvable mysteries. Even our science doesn’t really explain anything. The evidence is that 14 billion years ago something happened that we refer to as the “big bang.” That’s how far we’ve gotten toward the truth…it was a big bang — terrific. What actually happened, why it happened, etc., none of that is explained or will ever be explained.
The closest thing we come to any kind of deep truth is our knowledge of matter, the periodic table, and how the different substances behave and what produced them (other than hydrogen and helium, the rest were all produced by suns). And we know a good deal about human psychology and anatomy. But as for religion, it is equivalent to your comfort pillow at night when you are sleeping, the one you hug to feel safe and secure. Kind of pathetic in a way.
But there are deep mysteries in the universe, which makes me an agnostic, not an atheist. I don’t see how an atheist can know for certain there is no higher being — where is the proof? There is none As an agnostic, I know that I do not know. That’s all i can know. That’s probably all I will ever know at the deepest and most mysterious levels.