Mar 11, 2024 07:50 PM
https://mikeklymkowsky.substack.com/p/or...ostly-good
EXCERPTS: While I was brought up in various Catholic churches, from Roman to Byzantine, and did my time as an altar boy, I was never a truly committed believer, never really convinced. [...] As it turns out, I found myself moving to another religion - science, particularly the scientific tradition that emerged in Europe, a tradition open to, and built upon the contributions of many peoples around the globe.
The orthodox scientific gospel has been widely embraced and has served as the driver of technological advancement, including dramatic effects on many aspects of human well-being. "Orthodox Science" embraces a belief system based on the assumption that we can understand the universe exclusively in naturalistic terms, there is no magic, no supernatural forces involved. Orthodox Science holds, rather dogmatically, to a simple set of Popperian principles to guide the behavior of its acolytes.
[...] A key component of Scientific Orthodoxy is that its adherents are constrained to talk about observable objects and effects, and to produce models that generate unambiguous and numerically defined and verifiable predictions...
[...] Where the scientific process fails, when ambiguities and exceptions arise, it is clear evidence that something important is missing, something has been ignored or misunderstood. Here is where the religious aspect of Scientific Orthodoxy becomes apparent - there is no a priori guarantee that the Universe is actually comprensible to us...
[...] Even though orthodox science is a powerful explanatory system, there are situations where it cannot answer our questions, when it cannot tell us exactly what happened in the past or what will happen in the future...
[...] The principles of Orthodox Science are also abandoned when its disciples start holding forth on moral or ethical issues. Ethics and morals are not part of the Orthodox Science system. We find ourselves to be self-conscious social animals. [...orthodox science...] does not help with the inevitable compromises and accommodations involved in human existence. ... To navigate social realities, we need new, non-scientific stories to make sense of our experiences, particularly their emotional effects. These stories are based on their own unprovable presumptions. One of these is that we are endowed with unalienable rights, at least if we are lucky enough to live outside of the growing number of totalitarian dictatorships. We believe we have a right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" while other also have these rights, and all that that implies. We recognize the need for the compromises inherent to being part of a social group...
[...] The justification for claims of inalienable rights? they are self-evident! This is similar to the claim that the world is intelligible in purely naturalistic terms. While there may be more "data" for the naturalistic presumption, in practice that does not make it more important than the claim of inalienable rights. The value of moral beliefs are seen constantly; they enable individuals to interact in a humane manner...
[...] Orthodox science does not exist in a vacuum, its practitioners live in a world of complex interactions between various socioeconomic and interpersonal factors ... Consider (rather superficially) the idea of a set number of human "races", use to justify a hierarchy of oppression and privilege...
[...] So what is the benefit of thinking about science as a religion? Most of all it helps us recognize when scientists are acting like scientists and when they are not. When scientists act in their own self/ego-driven interests or when hijacking the prestige of science to advocate for racist policies, eugenic interventions, and various forms of quackery... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: While I was brought up in various Catholic churches, from Roman to Byzantine, and did my time as an altar boy, I was never a truly committed believer, never really convinced. [...] As it turns out, I found myself moving to another religion - science, particularly the scientific tradition that emerged in Europe, a tradition open to, and built upon the contributions of many peoples around the globe.
The orthodox scientific gospel has been widely embraced and has served as the driver of technological advancement, including dramatic effects on many aspects of human well-being. "Orthodox Science" embraces a belief system based on the assumption that we can understand the universe exclusively in naturalistic terms, there is no magic, no supernatural forces involved. Orthodox Science holds, rather dogmatically, to a simple set of Popperian principles to guide the behavior of its acolytes.
[...] A key component of Scientific Orthodoxy is that its adherents are constrained to talk about observable objects and effects, and to produce models that generate unambiguous and numerically defined and verifiable predictions...
[...] Where the scientific process fails, when ambiguities and exceptions arise, it is clear evidence that something important is missing, something has been ignored or misunderstood. Here is where the religious aspect of Scientific Orthodoxy becomes apparent - there is no a priori guarantee that the Universe is actually comprensible to us...
[...] Even though orthodox science is a powerful explanatory system, there are situations where it cannot answer our questions, when it cannot tell us exactly what happened in the past or what will happen in the future...
[...] The principles of Orthodox Science are also abandoned when its disciples start holding forth on moral or ethical issues. Ethics and morals are not part of the Orthodox Science system. We find ourselves to be self-conscious social animals. [...orthodox science...] does not help with the inevitable compromises and accommodations involved in human existence. ... To navigate social realities, we need new, non-scientific stories to make sense of our experiences, particularly their emotional effects. These stories are based on their own unprovable presumptions. One of these is that we are endowed with unalienable rights, at least if we are lucky enough to live outside of the growing number of totalitarian dictatorships. We believe we have a right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" while other also have these rights, and all that that implies. We recognize the need for the compromises inherent to being part of a social group...
[...] The justification for claims of inalienable rights? they are self-evident! This is similar to the claim that the world is intelligible in purely naturalistic terms. While there may be more "data" for the naturalistic presumption, in practice that does not make it more important than the claim of inalienable rights. The value of moral beliefs are seen constantly; they enable individuals to interact in a humane manner...
[...] Orthodox science does not exist in a vacuum, its practitioners live in a world of complex interactions between various socioeconomic and interpersonal factors ... Consider (rather superficially) the idea of a set number of human "races", use to justify a hierarchy of oppression and privilege...
[...] So what is the benefit of thinking about science as a religion? Most of all it helps us recognize when scientists are acting like scientists and when they are not. When scientists act in their own self/ego-driven interests or when hijacking the prestige of science to advocate for racist policies, eugenic interventions, and various forms of quackery... (MORE - missing details)