Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: Leaning Right

As long as you agree with the assurance that we will never know as much as we don’t know, you can enjoy your life with much less stress and anxiety. #;^)


29 posted on 08/19/2016 9:48:17 AM PDT by Kickass Conservative (Hillary Clinton has killed FIVE* more People than Three Mile Island. *revised...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: Kickass Conservative

People have a mistaken notion of what science does. It can never “prove” anything the way mathematicians can because they start with fixed axioms. What science does is empirically gather information from our technically augmented sensory inputs and try to detect “patterns” in the way information changes around us. They then come up with the simplest, more compact story that not only fits the data but allows them to predict as yet undetected changes. If enough people agree on this story it is called a theory. If later data contradicts the theory and a better story can be developed it replaces the old theory. The whole point is not to determine what is “true” but to determine what is “useful” from the standpoint of humanity. The pursuit of ontological truths is a complete dead end and is the domain of metaphysics not science.


30 posted on 08/19/2016 10:28:02 AM PDT by Dave Wright
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson