Sunday, February 26, 2012

An incomplete rant from a while back...


Science is the modernists method of viewing the world; it involves using evidence to test theories, thereby either proving or disproving a theory.  If a theory is not proven to be false, then it is assumed to be true; these theories may be subject to further testing and be confirmed as law.  For example, the laws of gravity have been "proven" by physics and mathematics...due to this have the laws of gravity been proven true, according to modernist thought it has been proven true.  Yet recent studies have shown inconsistencies in this so called law in objects in outer space orbiting our planet.  These studies have thrown our whole concept of gravitational forces into question.  This is just one example of how flawed Science can be, another example is the technique of Carbon Dating.  For decades carbon dating has been used to estimate the age of fossils and artifacts.  This dating system has been generally accepted by scientists and the public alike as accurate and true, however most recent studies show that carbon dating can in fact be completely inaccurate.  It seems that every year some great concept of scientific theory  is proven wrong by some new theory or law; most are not as profound as the two concepts I previously mentioned, yet every example is just as valid when it comes to displaying how flawed modern thought can be.  How long will it be before our modern scientific concepts are proven to be foolish ideas?  At first glance it would seem that I am against the concept of science, when in reality this could not be further from the truth.  I am a scientist, I have studied science both independently and in college.  I spent four years of studying biology and molecular genetics, as well as nearly four years of studying sociology.  I firmly believe that our society has much to learn from scientific thought and research, but at the belief that anything can truly be proven and understood through modern science is fool hardy at best and absurdly arrogant at worst. 

What would society gain from understanding everything?  No matter what we are to discover about why we do what we do, it won't change the overall outcome will it?  We and know all there is to know about we animals must eat and breathe or how DNA replicates; this does not change the fact that animals must eat and breathe to live and DNA will continue to replicate, whether or not we understand it.  What does this all accomplish in the long run?  Many people would say it is to create a better quality of life, so we can live longer, happier, healthier lives.  Granted me may live longer now than ever before, but are we truly happier and healthier?  People have developed new diseases in the past few decades than ever before; these diseases are psychological...we get depressed, we have post traumatic stress syndrome, we have nervous breakdowns when things are not as bright and cheery as we feel they should be.  We hear very little about things like this in ancient history, people did what they had to do to survive. You couldn't get depressed and not go to work for a few days, because you probably farmed and hunted your own food...no work equals no eating, no eating equals death.  Another facet of our modern society is the fact that we actually will eat to death!  Science has shown what foods are good for us and what foods are not, yet people will over eat unhealthy foods until they are obese, and develop some kind of heart or other varied circulatory condition.  We have so much faith in science, yet we tend to ignore it when it impedes on our happiness.  Now I am not innocent in all of this I am slightly overweight and I am a smoker...apparently my happiness is by committing a slow suicide every time I eat a cholesterol filled burger from one of the varied fast food places, and light and inhale toxins and chemicals of a cigarette...What scares me is the fact that I am just one in a billion who do these things.  Narcotics are illegal due to their damaging effects on individuals and society, so why isn't Burger King?        

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