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From: amacarth@mprgate.mpr.ca (Angus MacArthur (Contract))
Subject: Re: Randomness is a human concept (was Re: Time is a human concept)
Message-ID: <1994Nov18.190406.2819@mprgate.mpr.ca>
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Date: Fri, 18 Nov 1994 19:04:06 GMT
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jed@nam.earth.nwu.edu (John DeLaughter) writes:
: amacarth@mprgate.mpr.ca (Angus MacArthur (Contract)) writes:
: >pindor@gpu.utcc.utoronto.ca (Andrzej Pindor) writes:
: >: John DeLaughter <jed@nam.earth.nwu.edu> wrote:
: >: .........
: >: >
: >: >Science is not a religion; the goals and methods of science are orthogonal
: >: >to those of religion.  Science is a method of understanding how the
: >: >universe works, and that's all that it is.  But what an all!
: >: >
: >: Let me comment on this difference in methods of science and religion.
: >:Science tries to understand how the universe works by applying reason (logic)
: >: to empirical data, i.e. it is a logical structure built upon such data.
: >: Religion accepts 'illumination' (internally generated truths with no 
: >: empirical support) and does not shy away from inconsistencies, which
: >: believers are asked to live with.
: >: 
: >
: >
: >But wasn't the discovery of logic just such an 'illumination'?
: >
: >Just a thought
: 
: I beleive that his point was that logic was tested against itself and other
: systems as a check on its validity, while religious experiences rarely
: undergo even internal consistency checks.  Thus, in science, an internal
: inconsitency is enough to destroy a theorem, while in religion it's
: billed as an extra `design feature'.  (If I may borrow from the oft quoted
: computer refrain... 8-) )
: 
: John DeLaughter



Tested against itself? Sounds alittle like lifting oneslf up by their
own bootstraps. Also, internal consistency is a logical concept, perhaps
one could say that religion too satisfies some sort of religious
internal consistency.  I guess what I'm getting at is that logic and
science enjoy their present exalted positions not to any innate
superiority to religion, but rather just because they happen to predict
behavior of some systems *reasonably well, and as such it makes a
superior survival tool.

What do you think?

Angus MacArthur
