Evidence furnishes proof. It always provides the same results, based on natural laws, no matter the observer.
The beauty of evidence is that it is not open to discussion. It either is, or it is not.
Man must urgently, avidly and frantically pursue evidence as the new renaissance of thought should he ever want to survive the current dark age of thought and reason that will undoubtedly take us all to Armageddon. Beliefs in fantastic yet unfounded stories, such as religion and its dogma, manipulation and spin, euphemisms and values can do nothing but subject humanity to lives of ignorance, war and despair. We have come a long way because we understand a bit more than we did in the not too distant past. Unfortunately, the future looks bleak because it seems we are going back on truly investigating knowledge through evidence.
Furthermore, learning based on evidence should be applied to every facet of human life from medicine to physics, from psychology to economics, and yes from ethics and religion to love and human happiness.
Fortunately for most of us the renaissance occurred. Even though the price was high for many, some of humanity slowly came out of the ignorant grip of the Middle Ages (alas, if only for a tiny moment). During the time of reason it was finally possible for a few truly curious scientists to study aerodynamics, gravity, electricity, astronomy and a few other sciences without having to burn at the stake for being “blasphemous” yet curious pioneers. As I said, some paid with their lives. Think Galilei. But at least some progress came out of it. Unfortunately for most of us, we still haven’t come out of the dark ages in many other fields that crave for strict methodical research and study. Today, no one dares to really study the evidentiary validity of religious dogma for fear of reprisal. It is a “taboo” and “politically incorrect” to question dogma. After all, we are all “tolerant” of each other. Also unfortunately for most of us, no one dares to really study the science of human relationships without having someone push their values and their personal sense of ethics. (an obvious oxymoron as there should not be a “sense of ethics”, it’s either ethical, or it isn’t).
It’s time to really wake up and learn through evidence all about nature and about ourselves. After After all, we are part of nature.
"There is no passion to be found in playing small -in settling for a life that is less that what you are capable of living." --Nelson Mandela
2 comments:
Hi David,
Great post, I agree with your sentiments.
In the big picture, I think the rise of China will force the US to go down one of two paths; either to raise its standards and appreciate intelligence/science more, or to the dark ages where religion drives everyday policies. I definitely don't like the idea of a highly religious society with a hugely strong military that feels threatened by a rising power; that's a recipe for war.
Regarding religious beliefs, you might find the following link refreshing:
http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_atheist.html
Best regards to you and your family,
Graham
Very interesting thoughts! I actually tend to think that there is no such thing as objective reality or, in your words, evidence that always provides the same result no matter the observer. Evidence does not exist without the observer. And each observer will interpret evidence through his/her eyes, so the outcome will always be different.
Hence, learning based on evidence is not so easy... I highly doubt that human kind can truly do that without being influenced by our emotions, values, standards, etc.
On another note, the study about atheists is very interesting. Who would have thought that we East Germans are the population with the highest proportion of atheists? Makes me wonder how that happened...
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