Lost marbles (Introduction)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Friday, October 23, 2009, 15:37 (5509 days ago) @ dhw
edited by unknown, Friday, October 23, 2009, 15:59

dhw,
> The original researchers are defending their findings, and it's reassuring that at least scientists are challenging scientists, but what are we non-scientists supposed to make of the claims and counter-claims? Sometimes I get the impression that there are scientists, just as there are theists, who simply believe what they want to believe. One might argue that truth will out in the end, but does the end ever come? I wonder which of our scientific "truths" will still be valid a thousand years from now.-Your problem is that you have what appears to be a very common misunderstanding about science: You seem to think that science is about finding truth. No.-Science is about building a model that creates a 1:1 correspondence with the world. All models are contingent and temporary. That's why findings are much more like building court cases, than the old Platonic/Aristotelian view of a conclusive truth. Conclusive truths do not exist in science, only in mathematics--and there is philosophical debate that is valid that calls into question whether or not mathematical objects truly exist; this is why I would say the number of truths uncovered by math and science is limited to a few relationships. -Accepting that science isn't about truth resolves most of your issues you raised in this post. Will it ever end? No. Because the only way you can know your model doesn't need improvement is to possess all knowledge.-EDIT:-Something I wanted to add here: The process of truth and how it relates to science is another question of relativism. Since the goal is to fit the model to the world, the question of truth only relates to "How well does my model fit?"

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\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"