Science and Egotism

I guess it really shouldn't any longer however; the advances made these days always seem to amaze me. Advances in science and technology can be fascinating and wonderful things! They have brought about some pretty incredible ways of diagnosis and treatment in medicine. They have been the impetus behind many of the modern-day conveniences which we now enjoy. And of course they have most recently provided a nearly exponential expansion in our database of knowledge.

It seems to me however that this expansion in our knowledge has also served to expand our egotism and self-aggrandizement. Why would I say this? I'll offer up some observations I have made over the past few years;

I have heard countless times, in defense of why one thing or another is done differently now than in the past, "Well, we know better today!" I'm always tempted to follow this up with the question; "How do we know 'better' today?" We certainly know more today however, if one thing experience has taught me ‘more’ does not always equal ‘better’! How can we be so assured that what we know today is better than what we knew yesterday? How can we be assured that what we know today won't be changed or reversed by what we know tomorrow? It's really unclear to me what instrument, scale or gauge is being used to measure this.

Throughout my 13 years in the world of academia I have been exposed to those of my colleagues who act as if (and even those who will outright tell you) "You can't possibly know as much as I do on the subject!" Yet some of the same colleagues are blissfully unaware of some of the more recent discoveries or information available on their own subject. I have also seen those who are of the opinion that if they cannot understand it, being an "expert" in a certain field, it cannot be correct or true. Is this anything other than pure unadulterated egotism? Fortunately they seem to be the exception and not the rule.

There's something about society that seems to cause it to belief or at least act like the species referred to as Homo sapiens is the "ultimate". With some information appearing to go as far as suggesting evolution can no longer improve upon itself. This of course would be in direct opposition with the theory of evolution itself.

Certainly we have an enormously more amount of information today than we have in years past. The bulk of this information is available to so many more people through the Internet than it ever has been. I think it is more imperative now, at least more apparent now than ever, that we comprehend the subtle yet significant difference between knowing and understanding.

I always make it a point on my first day of class to ask the the question, "If a person or a group of people could possibly know everything there is to know but does not understand what to do with that knowledge, what good is the knowledge possessed?"

For now I'll leave you with that and one other question. Even if the technology necessary were available today, could a human being actually "know" everything that there is to know?

Proof of the Truth?

Proof of the Truth?

If you pick up any freshman biology book or any first-year textbook for any of the sciences you can find the definition of science.If you look at it you will see that science is extremely simple! You see science is nothing more than a method or series of steps. That is utilized to reach a conclusion, that is supported by evidence. Do not misunderstand me, though these steps can be extremely complex and difficult to execute or even understand.To ensure common understanding let's look at the definition of a few words;

Faith

Faith\, n. [OE. feith, fayth, fay, OF. feid, feit, fei, F. foi, fr. L. fides; akin to fidere to trust, Gr. ??????? to persuade. The ending th is perhaps due to the influence of such words as truth, health, wealth. See Bid, Bide, and cf. Confide, Defy, Fealty.]

1. Belief; the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting solely and implicitly on his authority and veracity; reliance on testimony.

2. The assent of the mind to the statement or proposition of another, on the ground of the manifest truth of what he utters; firm and earnest belief, on probable evidence of any kind, especially in regard to important moral truth. ¹

Proof  /pruf/

–noun

1. evidence sufficient to establish a thing as true, or to produce belief in its truth.

2. anything serving as such evidence: What proof do you have?

3. the act of testing or making trial of anything; test; trial: to put a thing to the proof.

4. the establishment of the truth of anything; demonstration. ²

True

True\, a. [Compar. Truer; superl. Truest.] [OE. trewe, AS. tre['o]we faithful, true, from tre['o]w fidelity, faith, troth; akin to OFries. triuwe, adj., treuwa, n., OS. triuwi, adj., trewa, n., D. trouw, adj. & n., G. treu, adj., treue, n., OHG. gitriuwi, adj., triuwa, n., Icel. tryggr, adj., Dan. tro, adj. & n., Sw. trogen, adj., tro, n., Goth. triggws, adj., triggwa, n., trauan to trust, OPruss druwis faith. Cf. Trow, Trust, Truth.]

1. Conformable to fact; in accordance with the actual state of things; correct; not false, erroneous, inaccurate, or the like; as, a true relation or narration; a true history; a declaration is true when it states the facts.

2. Right to precision; conformable to a rule or pattern; exact; accurate; as, a true copy; a true likeness of the original. ³

It occurs to me that what is true or truth, while being based on proof is most certainly a matter of belief. I ask you to note above in defining faith, they talk of truth. In defining proof, they talk of a belief. And the origin of the word true is rooted in faith.

The assertion then follows that the three concepts represented by the words Faith, Proof and Truth are not all that dissimilar. The question that begs to be asked in whom or what do you have faith to provide proof of the truth?

1"faith." Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. MICRA, Inc. 20 Jan. 2009. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/faith>.

2"proof." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 20 Jan. 2009. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/proof>.

3"true." Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. MICRA, Inc. 20 Jan. 2009. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/true>.

In the beginning...

I'll start this blogging stuff out by bringing together a few of the random thoughts that led me to start this blog. I am a creationist by faith and upbringing and I am a scientist by education. Some may find this contradictory or incompatible with each other however, as this blog develops I think you will find that contrary to popular belief science and religion truly have no argument against the other!

"Ridiculous" you may be thinking right about now but if you stop and give it some objective thought it should become quite clear to you as to what leads me to this conclusion. You see science is simply a method of experimentation and collection of data. Religion, or it least I should say any faith-based religion, is a method of belief in the absence of data without data faith is an absolute. On the contrary, if there is data there is very little necessity for faith.

Some would argue that if data exists Faith is absolutely unnecessary. Yet there still exists a necessary component of faith. You see, you must have faith that the data is actually correct and that it is accurate. Furthermore the data itself means nothing without interpretation of that data! Faith is also necessary in the interpretation process. You must have faith that the interpretation itself is correct and free from errors and have faith that the person who does the interpretation is qualified, objective and unbiased.

I understand this may be philosophical gibberish to some. To others perhaps nothing more than religious wacko-ism. And yet others as an attempt by this Homo sapien to explain his own understanding of the continued conflict which is either intentionally or unwittingly perpetuated in our society. My desire is that, to at least more than a few of the readers, it at least makes sense, is intriguing, and begins to stimulate thought processes within your own mind.

Regardless of which category you are a member of, welcome to my blog!