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Does science, by its very nature, undermine its own search for answers and obsolesce itself?
Results so far:
| Yes | 41% | 219 votes | Total: 537 votes | |
| No | 59% | 318 votes |
Yes
by Moises Erives
Created on: December 17, 2009 Last Updated: December 19, 2009
Science: The New Opiate of the Masses
Religion is the opiate of the masses. Those words were once said by Karl Marx, the father of socialism. No Karl did not believe in God. When he saw the Catholic Church he saw corruption. So Instead he had a vision for an egalitarian utopia which later became known as communism.
But even if you don’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God, you can not deny the power of his word. Christianity has grown into the largest group of believers in the world. Millions have changed their lives, and accomplished great things in the name of the Lord. The greatest country in the history of the world was founded on Christian principles. All of the founding fathers of this great nation read from the Bible when they went to school as children. It’s no wonder they turned out so great.
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But the church did grow large, powerful, wealthy and influential. And temptation was too great for some. Some fell to temptation when they were in high posts in the church, and some already corrupted, actively and stealthily infiltrated the church. Some may even have thought that they were acting for the greater good, and thought that temporarily ignoring the Golden Rule and other teachings of Jesus was necessary and just. But in the end corruption did indeed find it’s way into the Church.
And Karl Marx was not the only one to have lost faith in the Church. The whole enlightenment movement had started maybe a couple hundred years before he was born. The Church was no longer the source for truth for some, but reason and science. And just as Jesus was marginalized and tortured for speaking the truth, so were these new prophets of science. Like Galileo was.
Millions of people were dependent on the Church for answers. The Church had the power, but along came this little thing called science. Sure it is a slow and tedious process, and there’s always a chance of human error. But it proved reliable, and became well trusted.
And science grew and became large, powerful, wealthy, and influential. Yes the masses have found their new source for the truth. The Church gave hope, salvation, and a understanding of the spiritual world. But science gave technology, medicine, and a understanding of the physical world. The Church had the Golden Rule and the Bible, but science has the Scientific Method and the Book of Nature. The bishops and cardinals have their priestly robes, and the scientist have their immaculate white lab coats.
And now millions of political decisions and consumer decisions, and trillions of dollars are constantly influenced by science. You would have to be extremely naïve if you don’t think that corruption could have found it’s way into science. If the Holy Catholic Church could not defend herself against it how could any other institution.
The FDA is a good place to start. The Food and Drug Administration is supposed to protect Americans, but instead it is “owned” by the drug companies. Studies are manipulated to approve drugs that are dangerous. Like the Vioxx scandal and many depression drugs for kids. Sometimes studies aren’t even done at all. Like the effects of aluminum via vaccines. The FDA has done studies on aluminum via IV and they show that it is a harmful neurotoxin. So they decided not to look further into the aluminum affects in vaccines. Why? Because vaccines are a billion dollar industry, and making vaccines without aluminum is not as easy as making them without mercury.
The recent leaked emails of the climate scientists is another source of corruption. The actual agenda of this group is unclear, and maybe multiple. But the fact remains that science is powerful and is being hijacked to achieve ulterior goals. Be it a new world order, lowering the human population, or just making a few billion.
Then there’s medicine. Sure doctors are smart, and studied much, but medical schools are owned by the drug companies as well. So in the end they are only learning what they are designed to. In fact, doctors have been reprimanded and even fired for prescribing healthy eating, and exercise. Hospitals only make money if you're sick. So they only want to temporarily treat the symptom, as opposed to curing the root of the problem. Which usually is unhealthy lifestyle choice. Cut and drug, that’s it.
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Not all scientists are evil. Just like not all priests are evil. But some scientists, that are honest people, can be stooges. Just pawns in the game. I mean they’re not the ones funding the research. So the funders decide what they should look at. And making big picture decisions based on one variable seen in a microscope, is not always wise.
Knowledge is power, and the truth shall set you free. But telling fact from fiction, friend from foe is not always easy. But it can be done. Corruption is everywhere even in the White House. “Follow the money”, was the famous quote in the 1976 movie All the President’s Men, which was all about the Nixon/Watergate scandal. And that advice is helpful in assessing information as is “Every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit…So by their fruits you will know them.” (MAT 7:17-20 ) And along with the continuous learning and sharing of knowledge, and having an open mind and healthy skepticism, then eventually the truth shall be revealed.
In the beginning was the word,…and the word was God…the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” ( JOHN 1:1-5 )
Learn more about this author, Moises Erives.
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No
by Heath Cleaveland
Created on: June 15, 2009 Last Updated: July 19, 2009
The beautiful thing about science is that when objective evidence comes into the light that contradicts one of its ideas, it actually addresses the new evidence and adjusts accordingly. Science has made a name for itself by predicting events that will definitely occur well in advance and by challenging old ideas, once held as fact. Science has rendered many ideas obsolete and for that we can wonder if science will one day lapse into obscurity itself. Certainly not is the answer.
The central methodology of science is the scientific method. From a hypothesis through experimentation to a theory and finally to a law, the scientific method teaches us that without any supporting evidence we cannot have valid ideas. Truth sustains itself by valid demonstration. Before the scientific method, the ultimate marker of truth was authority, particularly of elders in the church.
The word "science" comes from the Latin "scientia", "knowledge", which is exactly accurate. Anything you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt is true until proved false in a knowledge-based equation. The terms of science give us the backbone of our legal system (so we think), where evidence of a crime needs to be supported 100% before punishment is levied. Although the actual laws are based on subjective predispositions which remain untested, we can still look to our scientific legal system to generally correctly assess whether a specific law has been broken. Whether that law itself is truly universally applicable or only in America is another question.
In any case, science, knowledge, is a pursuit that knows no limits. There are always new ideas to test and the money to accomplish same is relatively scant. However, that is not to say we have eliminated quacks from science, far from it. As a matter of fact, it is hard to pinpoint what science is truly useful and what is promotional. Medications are routinely rigorously tested when homeopathic remedies and other non-invasive techniques are relatively ignored. We have in the US the impression that if we can't solve our medical issues with a pill, then there needs to be more research. In my opinion, that idea needs to change. Some medical issues are a question of lifestyle and attitude, obesity for instance.
In brief, there is "good" science, which stimulates new technologies, and "bad" science, which proves that wine is healthy when grapes are really just as beneficial if not more (as they occasionally admit in the studies). Science will never become obsolete because you can't anymore show someone a new idea without them demanding proof: we have been trained. We still have a few ideas that do not surrender easily to adjudications of demonstrablity. These ideas languish in this world of sufficient evidence science and the legal system have created.
Science has created jobs, population growth, and huge economies worldwide. No matter what those who have garnered PhDs will say or do that is worthwhile or not, we will inevitably need science to fulfill our need for progress. We will never be happy if there are no improvements to transportation, medicine, and construction, for example. Science has created its niche with real-time inventions that satisfy the human need to engage in diverse activities. Science has relegated religion to the fringes of our experience and in so doing will probably render religious activity obsolete while continuing to prosper itself. The errors in religious thinking are removed in science and authority is defined by a new kind of experience, critical reasoning.
Obama will likely never make a glaring error because he subjects his decisions and words to the spotlight of reason, which he then communicates directly to Americans on TV. It is a new era in politics: a true scientific, not nationalistic, approach. Obama is a believer in science and even a participant to a certain extent. The nature of science is to hold only what cannot be contradicted. There is a form of power there that will never die, only perhaps change form.
Learn more about this author, Heath Cleaveland.
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