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From: lew@ihuxr.UUCP (Lew Mammel, Jr.)
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Faith, Science, and Andy Tannenbaum
Message-ID: <774@ihuxr.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 15-Nov-83 18:21:49 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxr.774
Posted: Tue Nov 15 18:21:49 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 17-Nov-83 00:57:04 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, Il
Lines: 35

Andy Tannenbaum stated:

"I find it just as odd to hear a scientist tell me that
the world is a few billion years old as it is to hear a rabbi tell me
that the world is 5744 years old, if not more so.  The scientist is
trying to represent the truth, the rabbi is trying to tell me that this
is what faith has him believe."

This seems to me squarely backwards. The scientist is trying to tell you
what physical evidence should lead you to believe. Andy's position, as I
understand it, is that physical evidence cannot in principle be used
to interpret past events. I think this attitude won't bear up under close
inspection. It amounts to a sort of solipsism. I'm sure Andy would dismiss
as silly the suggestion that the world was created yesterday, just as it
is. His position is really no different, though. I don't think Andy appreciates
the wealth and variety of the evidence which weaves the scientific view
of the past. The faith of the scientist is just that when all the evidence
SEEMS to make sense, it really does make sense.

I would be content if I thought Andy realized how much he was throwing
out the window when he equates the vast tapestry of Natural History with
the codification of ancient intuition.

As an aside, I remember being quite impressed when a professor who
had built his very successful career on investigation of solid state
defects drew a diagram of the diamond lattice on the blackboard, and
then stated, "This is not diamond. Never think that I'm talking about
diamond here." - meaning of course, don't confuse the model with reality.
So I will agree with Andy that the belief that we are talking about
reality when we discuss scientific models is a leap of faith, but I
don't accept the notion that the scientific view dissolves when we
look back into time a few thousand years. As I said, I feel that
this notion is a reflection of Andy's ignorance of what's involved.

	Lew Mammel, Jr. ihuxr!lew