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Writer's Block: Proven by Science
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Wouldn't it pretty much have to? If science is "[t]he investigation of natural phenomena through observation, theoretical explanation, and experimentation, or the knowledge produced by such investigation," then any rational explanation is a scientific explanation, right? When people believe there are things that science can't explain, that suggests to me that they don't think there IS an explanation for them. As much as people talk about faith, it seems like belief in God or another supernatural being generally occurs because the believer thinks there IS evidence of such an entity, not because there isn't. Now, that's not to say that science has explained everything YET, or even that it ever will, but is there any way we can know ANYTHING except through observation and experimentation? Just because we don't understand something doesn't mean there isn't an explanation for it. But why listen to me? I know nothing.
Wouldn't it pretty much have to? If science is "[t]he investigation of natural phenomena through observation, theoretical explanation, and experimentation, or the knowledge produced by such investigation," then any rational explanation is a scientific explanation, right? When people believe there are things that science can't explain, that suggests to me that they don't think there IS an explanation for them. As much as people talk about faith, it seems like belief in God or another supernatural being generally occurs because the believer thinks there IS evidence of such an entity, not because there isn't. Now, that's not to say that science has explained everything YET, or even that it ever will, but is there any way we can know ANYTHING except through observation and experimentation? Just because we don't understand something doesn't mean there isn't an explanation for it. But why listen to me? I know nothing.
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No.
Why do my parents love me?
Why do I like rainy days?
Why do i prefer chocolate to vanilla?
Why do some people not trust their own minds, and prefer to have others think for them?
What is this thing called love???
Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near???????
As much as people talk about faith, it seems like belief in God or another supernatural being generally occurs because the believer thinks there IS evidence of such an entity, not because there isn't.
You don't believe in God, am i right? Why do you think you know why people do believe?
I personally believe in God not because I've seen scientific evidence of the presence of God: I believe in God because of the way I perceive the world and everything in it, physical and metaphysical. Belief has to have some sort of evidence to prop it up; faith does not. My faith explains something to me, but it's certainly not something that can be measured or tested. It's felt and pondered.
is there any way we can know ANYTHING except through observation and experimentation?
You can know all sorts of things without being able to vet or prove anything related to it. You can know you love your wife, for an example, but you might not be able to prove it, to her or yourself, in any concrete, empirical manner. Being nice to her, staying "faithful" to her, these aren't scientific proof of anything but that you have made a choice to behave a certain way. She has to take your love "on faith."
So, yeah, not only do I not believe everything has a scientific explanation, I believe there's tons of stuff in this life that has no explanation at all.
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I don't know about your particular situation, but I would imagine that a lot of that is because people who AREN'T loved by their parents are less likely to reproduce themselves.
What is this thing called love???
A result of the biological need for living things to look out for each other?
Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near???????
I would imagine they want something to poop on. Or maybe it's because I always carry a bag of bread crumbs.
Seriously, though, I think a fair number of those questions DO have scientific explanations. We might not be able to quantify love, but we can observe how it benefits the species.
You don't believe in God, am i right? Why do you think you know why people do believe?
I don't, of course, but I've known some people to claim that experiences they've had resulted in their believing. I'm sure there are other reasons, but that's a significant one, as far as I can tell.
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Saying that my parents love me because they were loved by their parents is not a scientific proof. You could ask them (if they were alive) and the answer might be counted as scientific, but it might be a lie. Or they could have said they didn't know.
Saying that love results from a biological need for things to look out for each other, is not scientifically provable even for that one area of human love. And it doesn't explain unrequited love, or limerent love, or love of god, or love of kittens.
And on and on. I think, as bec_87rb said on her blog, that the whole question was a Trojan horse. What do you mean by everything? Define scientific explanation.
Scientific explanation
That's why you have to do experiments over and over, because one result doesn't confirm anything, really. Ask the cold fusion folks.
Also, "What is love?" is not a rebuttal if we define it like that.
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That could be good or bad! Me, I'm always fascinated by scientific attempts to uncover and explain -- I believe the pursuit of knowledge is one of the finest aspects of humanity.
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Yeah, but a lot of people start believing due to an actual experience, don't they?
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Take ghosts for example . . . it's fairly cliche to hear a story that someone feels like they're being watched when they go in a room or they see a shadow out of the corner of their eye. People had no explanation for those feelings until it was figured out that high EMF fields, like from electrical boxes or bad wiring, cause paranoia and hallucinations! YAY, science! :D
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I'm afraid I have to disagree on that one, buddy. There are lots of rational explanations which have nothing to do with science, per se.
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