ext_37867 ([identity profile] danalwyn.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] danalwyn 2006-06-09 03:48 am (UTC)

"...I guess, science being a new religion and all. "

You do realize how disturbing that sentence is, don't you?

The fact that people do treat science like religion is one of the most disturbing features about scientific illiteracy. Science is often wrong. In fact, it's designed to be wrong as often as possible in the quest for what is actually right. The fact that people treat is as a canonical religion instead of as a body of knowledge that can be interrogated means that science itself has failed, and gives rise to pseudoscience with no end of variations.

Interesting though is your previous comment. The thing is that, even if you err on that side, you have boundaries. I expect that if a bunch of PhDs came out with a study that showed that women were mentally inferior to men that you would be skeptical. The interesting thing is that, like all humans, you probably tolerate any source of authority as long as it doesn't violate your worldview. This is interesting because of how far people are willing to let their worldviews be bent, but that's a subject for another time.

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