Should we believe only in what science has answers to?

As engineers, the base of everything we do is science. Engineering itself is application of science and the laws that have been proven to work in any given frame of reference. We take pride in being scientific in our knowledge and analysis. But we also know that science does not have answers to everything! Plus, the established and accepted theories of science have been debunked and new theories have been established. Which means, what we all know today and has worked may not be just what we thought it is.

A hardcore believer in science would have rejected the fact that a person speaking in US can be heard & seen almost in real time by a person in India; because sound cannot really travel through air so long. But the science itself made it happen through radio and TV. I think you got the point.

The debate topic is clear - should we only believe in what science can answer? Should we blindly reject what the science cannot prove or has not proven so far? Does that make us close minded or open minded?

PS:
The inspiration for this debate comes from @#-Link-Snipped-# 's post -
Abhishek Rawal
When I was in 10th grade, my Sanskrit teacher told me that German is fork of Sanskrit. She was learning German at that time. But, since I am a Science student, I only believe in proof.

Replies

  • durga ch
    durga ch
    if not science in what would you lay your faith in?

    I have got the opportunity to have a 2 -night long conversations with a church teacher recently about atheism , and as I deduced religion or existence of god was limited to helping people develop morals. If religion is followed to its core, world can be a better place. But that's on humanitarian side .
    I , however could not get answers to questions such as : where would god fit in the whole picture of current model of universe or if there was an alien planet elsewhere , would they believe in same god as we do? or what was the concept of punishment ?

    The only way to know the universe we are in is by observation, experimentation, comparison with existing theories , and propose/deduce new theories.That is precisely how science works . When proposed result doesn't match with observation , the theory is discarded and newer theories are proposed. I don't see any other way in which the unknown can be figured out.
  • Abhijit Dey
    Abhijit Dey
    I believe that all the questions do have an answer, and finding the right answer has to take a considerable amount of time so that we could get an authentic one. Superstition and myths should not influence students of science, but it should make go and look for the actual analogy given in old scriptures.

    Though there have been times where the answers were proven wrong and the correct ones were put forward, this shows that we humans will never settle for an answer and always seek out for the right one.

    Oxygen was discovered in 1774, so it doesn't mean that oxygen didn't exist earlier, it took time.
  • Anand Tamariya
    Anand Tamariya
    Science is just a branch of knowledge - please don't create another GOD out of it!!! It doesn't give out commandments - neither something similar should be construed out of the principles laid by it. It just tries to be rational and predictable.
  • Satya Swaroop Dash
    Satya Swaroop Dash
    We should never believe blindly what science says because it somehow stops us from finding out newer things about preexisting phenomenon. Yes, we apply science to learn about things but what if we come across something that science has said is never possible. The greatest thinkers of the world are those people who try to think beyond and ahead of what they have been learnt as science.

    My inner Molder thinks that the truth is out there and it’s those who are not bound by the shackles of conventional science will be able to find it.
  • Anand Tamariya
    Anand Tamariya
    Satya Swaroop Dash
    My inner Molder thinks that the truth is out there and it’s those who are not bound by the shackles of conventional science will be able to find it.
    Boy, when did science ever confine humans!!! How exactly do you define "conventional science"?
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    Great question. I always have that one in the back of my mind because there are so many unexplained phenomena and mysteries floating around us. Things that work but we don't know 'why'.

    Let us define Science here fore better understanding of the question at hand.

    As per Google's Dictionary, Science is -
    "the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment."

    For some things, enough observation and experiment hasn't been done to come to a conclusion. That is why we have so many unsolved mysteries.

    I believe a LOT (not all) can be explained with the help of scientists and researchers who are giving dedicated efforts towards recording, tracking and analyzing things through their experiments.

    And then we will have enough evidence to believe in facts that can be called facts.
  • yogi.bharadwaj
    yogi.bharadwaj
    hello guys @#-Link-Snipped-##-Link-Snipped-##-Link-Snipped-#@ #-Link-Snipped-#, @ #-Link-Snipped-# @#-Link-Snipped-# @ #-Link-Snipped-#
    you shared your views
    on this great debate topic i have many things to say but now i just want to ask one thing how does our body is made up ? are we able to make the copy of this without using a part of it?
    then tell me guys who is the great engineer we or god?
    one thing is clear guys there is a engineer who made us is this not true? think about it.
  • Abhijit Dey
    Abhijit Dey
    @#-Link-Snipped-# This debate has been going on for a very long time for centuries maybe.

    Let's consider all the technology that we have with us currently. Our smartphones, tablets, computers, weapons, everything. Let us take all this technology to another planet in the universe where there are only apes which aren't intelligent as we humans are. When they see us arriving in a space shuttle, when they see us using devices which can make sounds, when we use a jetpack to fly around, don't you think they would accept us as something supernatural or God-like?

    Even now if you go to a rural area which is inaccessible to technology with everything man has created now, won't they turn you into their Gods?

    "Supernatural is only advanced technology"

    Earlier we couldn't beat malaria, measles and other such diseases, but now with time we came up with cures and vaccinations. Science takes time since it is rational.

You are reading an archived discussion.

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