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Old 4th August 2015, 04:09 AM   #256
Donn
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: In my head.
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Originally Posted by Jodie View Post
I think for most things the scientific method works wonderfully but I'm not sure how you can definitively say that it is the last word on whether something exists or doesn't exist. There are ranges of light we couldn't see, or didn't know existed, until equipment was developed that could see that extra range. How would this be any different? We have a very finite range of perception.
Applying your argument to a "soul" —

No one has perceived such a thing with fidelity enough to shift it into scientific terms. It's all emotion, imagination and culture.

To say there are things we can't sense out there is true enough, but the tools of science have reach our senses lack. The entire EM-spectrum is known. The sub sub divisions of atoms are known. The weird Higgs and other fields are known.

There's no room, in scientific and mathematical principle, for a mustard seed.

The bottom line is our finite perception has magnified under science to illuminate so much of the unknown realm, that there remains no shade for faith's phantoms to haunt.

(I don't have the education to argue this point; I accept it on consensus, while I seek better understanding.)

What I see, as an amateur and a fool, is the repeating of empty phrases dipped in rich history, imposed into serious discussions about a world that is dangerous and to which we, the species, are dangerous in turn.

These empty phrases count "soul" and "God" and "spirit" and numberless xeroxes more; marshmallow armour in the dull battle for submission to predictably mundane powers. We do not have time any more to rebuff these cloying vapours. Serious work is ahead: survival. It is time to leave childish notions behind.
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