The Beauty of the Scientific Worldview

[Tony]

Hi folks, I ran this column in the Benton County Daily Record a few weeks ago on the beauty of the scientific worldview. Thought some of you might like to read it. Needless to say, I've had a few terse responses up here in Benton County.

http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/Editorial/63828/print/

Cheers,
Tony Red

[Dardedar]

DAR
That is a fantastic article Tony. And all completely defensible except for perhaps the "hundreds of thousands" of creation myths. There are a lot of them but that's a few more than I have heard of.

Your article reminded me of this quote, one of my favorites:

“I try to read and stay informed on as broad a range of subjects as I can, and to the devotees of superstition and pseudoscience, let me just say this: you don't know what you're missing. The universe is a grander, stranger, more majestic and more mysterious place than any human being has ever imagined, or can imagine. The unsubstantiated claims and inventions of people, as wondrous as you may find them, don't come close to doing justice to reality as it truly is. At what other age in human history have you been able to look on a shooting star or a volcano and know what it really is? In what other age has anyone been able to see the Earth rise in the night sky from the surface of the Moon? In what other age did we understand the molecular roots of life, the building blocks of matter, the power sources of the stars?
It was not crystals or prayer nor Tarot cards that brought us these things. It was not superstition that was responsible, nor mysticism, nor credulous acceptance of extraordinary and unverified claims. It is the scientific method — institutionalized skepticism, rigorously and comprehensively applied — that has given rise to these wonders of understanding and accomplishment. We can either stay on that path, and some day realize the full potential we've only begun to tap — or we can sink back into the darkness of unreason, and stay frightened, brutish, short-lived and ignorant. I know which path I choose to take.” -- Adam Marczyk, age 21

[Tony]

Thanks Darrel,
Maybe I overstated the number of creation myths, but perhaps not. I was thinking of all of them throughout human history. From the largest empires to the smallest of tribes, for thousands of years, all over earth, people have invented narratives for how they came about, how they got to be where and how they were. That's what I had in mind when I wrote that. But you might still be right.
Nice quote.
Tred