Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!amdcad!sun!quintus!ok
From: ok@quintus.uucp (Richard A. O'Keefe)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: The Ignorant assumption
Message-ID: <343@quintus.UUCP>
Date: 2 Sep 88 10:59:02 GMT
References: <19880820041348.2.NICK@HOWARD-JOHNSONS.LCS.MIT.EDU> <1311@garth.UUCP> <545@cseg.uucp>
Sender: news@quintus.UUCP
Reply-To: ok@quintus.UUCP (Richard A. O'Keefe)
Organization: Quintus Computer Systems, Inc.
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In article <545@cseg.uucp> lag@cseg.uucp (L. Adrian Griffis) writes:
>This is not to say that Science never indulges in this sort of intolerance
>of beliefs.  But at least Science as a whole does not state as part of its
>fundamental platform that you must accept such and such a belief as fact,
>without evidence and without question (regardless of what individual scientist
>may do).

Straw man!  Straw man!  Neither does Christianity state any such thing.
A major theme of the Bible is "here is the evidence".  Biblical
Archaeology (which tests the historical claims to the extent that they
*can* be tested by present archaeological methods) is regarded as a
PRO-religious activity.  Thomas *is* one of the Apostles, after all...

>Another "ideal" of Christianity is the notion that part of what make one
>a good person is believing the right things.

Again, not so.  To quote the Bible (paraphrased, because my memory's not
that reliable): "You believe in God?  So do the devils!"  An analogy:
you cannot enter into an effective marriage with a particular woman as
long as you continue to believe that she is a fossilized whale.

Criticims of any religion are more effective when they are well-informed.

I'm a little bothered by this reification of "Science" as if it were an
agent capable of "indulging in" behaviours and "stating" things.  Perhaps
Gilbert Cockton could clarify the ontological status of "Science" for us
(:-).

What's the relevance of all of this to AI, anyway?
Are AI people unusually sensitive to "Science" issues because
we want to be part of it, or what?
The study of English literature is not normally regarded as part
of "Science", but it's a decent intellectual field for all that.