Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: ldh@bessel.eedsp.gatech.edu (Lonnie D Harvel) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: There is no God... Message-ID: Date: 27 Nov 90 08:46:22 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology Lines: 43 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , ut-emx!bill@emx.utexas.edu (Bill Jefferys) writes: |>In article viusys!unislc!sch@uunet.uu.net (Stephen C. Heath) writes: |># (stuff deleted) |># |>#1) The laws of the universe are everywhere the same and |>#2) The laws of the universe have always been the same. |># |># |>As a scientist, I must object to these statements. The |>picture they paint about science is false and misleading. |>While it is true that we cannot prove that (1) and (2) are true, |>it is a fact that if (1) and (2) were NOT true of our universe, |>then it would be impossible to conduct science, because |>we would not be able to make the correct and consistent |>predictions that are at the heart of science. This would |>falsify the assumption that there are universal laws. (stuff deleted) |> --Robert Firth I believe the point to be made here is that we "know" that the above assumptions are true, within our limited parameters, but that we cannot objectively prove them. This falls in with Goedels "incompletenss" as I understand it. It is a comman mistake, as many of you are aware, for the generall public to assume that science is only based on that which can be proven. The distinction which I believe Robert is making is that as scientist we are limited to stating as fact that which we can prove. Knowing it to be true, does not constitute a proof, it must be demonstrated. Most people who believe that faith and science are contridictions have never experienced either. ---------------------------------------------------------------- The comments and spelling herein are mine and nobody else lays claim to them. ================================================================ Lonnie D. Harvel | ldh@bessel.eedsp.gatech.edu School of Electrical Engineering | Georgia Institue of Technology | "quisque suis patimur manis" Atlanta, GA 30332-0250 | Virgil