You are simply applying the scientific method wrongAnd that's just some of the things scientists did to humans. If you're and animal it gets much worse.
Yes, tell me all about how science can provide us with morality.
Not only that but he is conflating science with technology. Science is the pursuit of finding answers in nature. What we end up doing with those answers is always up to the individuals. I am currently reading The Moral Landscape by Harris and he makes some very compelling arguments as to how science can and should be used to determine our morality. No one, including Harris, has claimed that science is moral, only that it is a tool that is far better and more useful than religion in coming up with the best version of morality that we can do as humans. In this regard, religion has been an abject failure. The mere fact that people have to cherry pick the best parts and ignore the parts they intuitively understand is immoral is a clear indication of why religion is useless as a moral framework.You are simply applying the scientific method wrong
What you are doing is exactly like saying that all food is horrible because you bought a bad meal a few times.
You don't get to throw out the millennia of proven scientific observation and tests because some guy somewhere at some point in time applied science towards his agenda. A gun can be used to save your life, but people murder people with them all the time, does that mean all guns are bad all the time?
You may want to take a look at the Sam Harris video above, it answers a lot of your questions, and is only 20 odd minutes long. It talks about morality as the intended harm, or benefit, of conscious creatures (our utopia being the height of human happiness and well being, and the worst case scenario being the deepest misery and suffering. If something is moral it is done to bring us closer to the utopia, and if immoral, it is done to bring us closer to the latter). We can all agree that fresh food is better for humans than poison, knowledge over ignorance, etc.. Science can and does bring about the conditions to create technology to better human existence. Morality has evolved in humans to more efficiently pass on our genes (the only intrinsic purpose of life). We evolved in tribes of about 150 members, and each member had a strong likelihood of sharing genes with the other tribe members. So, risking one's life for another member made sense biologically, since you were likely protecting your own shared genes. As societies grew larger and more complex, the chances of sharing genes with a stranger is quite low, but we still have the remnants of our older tribe mentality. So, we often still see people risk there lives for, or at least go out of there way to help, others. Hence, we have altruism. If science has no place in handling moral issues, religion has much, much less...Correct, Eugenics is not a science, it is a social movement that was based on science, Darwinism to be exact. It attracted all number of scientists back in the day.
I think that most of the christians I know would not agree that they are good because god tells them to be. You seem to like putting words into the mouths of others.
The fact is that religion has been with us from the dawn of time. It is there because both religion and religious experience are a beneficial evolutionary adaptation. You would casually cast that off and claim that science can solve all our every day moral questions. Science has no process to address morality.
.If it did, perhaps we wouldn't have developed nuclear weapons. If science had some sort of internal moral compass or process why do we have these obvious failures of morality in experimenting on human beings.
I disagree. Cowering to a vengeful parental figure is not morality, and is a disgusting notion to a healthy adult human being. When my son does or doesn't do something for threat of being punished, that is simply self preservation and I am not impressed. When his actions are based on his inner sense of right and wrong regardless of the consequences to himself, he is being moral and I am proud.The idea that some guy up in the sky is watching you and doesn't want you to kill people is still far advanced over any reason science can give to not kill people.
Not at all. Using science and technology, people are finding ways to feed, clothe, shelter, and educate more people using less land, money and resources. Ultimately, science and humanity is the only hope any life has to continue, as we will have to eventually leave this solar system before our sun dies out or goes nova. Religion, the supernatural, aliens, dolphins, chimps or cows will be of no help. Go Science, Go!.If anything, science suggests the planet is overpopulated and humans should be killed. Is that what we can expect from a culture who obtains it's morality from science?
...the same can be said for spirituality, imo. "Most ideas developed from the scriptural method can be (and are clearly noted as) a double-edged sword. As far as the immoral experimenting, that is done by immoral people misusing scripture."Science showed us how to develop the technology to harness nuclear power. It is up to human beings to develop the technology to better humanity (clean, efficient nuclear reactors), or to harm it (nuclear weapons). The technology the scientific method brings about is not a moral issue or the responsibility of science, that onus is on human beings. Most technology developed from the scientific method can be a double-edged sword. As far as the immoral experimenting, that is done by immoral people misusing science.
There is no scriptural method. The scriptural method is; 'it's written in this book, so we believe it.' How lame of a method is that?...the same can be said for spirituality, imo. "Most ideas developed from the scriptural method can be (and are clearly noted as) a double-edged sword. As far as the immoral experimenting, that is done by immoral people misusing scripture."
...k, are we even now?
...I know the whats and hows, man "Taste" is experience, scripturally speaking. It means to experience life, to experiment with the good.There is no scriptural method. The scriptural method is 'it's written here, so we believe it.'
What method is there in that? That's just blindly reading, and believing something. If you're going to make an comparison, don't make it a non sequitur.
Science uses tests to check the validity of what it claims, hence 'scientific method'. If scripture was testable, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
The bulk of scripture seems to tell us common sense things. Love your neighbor, don't kill, don't steal. Yes, there is some stupid shit left in there from a time when we were violent and ignorant but 99% of the followers of a religion accept that as historical crap and they don't run around killing nonbelivers and people who sleep with goats.
What exactly is science telling us? That the quest for knowledge trumps human life?
Name 5 positive things that devoutly practicing religion has brought us....the same can be said for spirituality, imo. "Most ideas developed from the scriptural method can be (and are clearly noted as) a double-edged sword. As far as the immoral experimenting, that is done by immoral people misusing scripture."
...k, are we even now?
...would you like me to cite some examples for a positive reason? Or will you be countering with the atrocities?Name 5 positive things that devoutly practicing religion has brought us.
Are you saying that science is bad or wrong because sometimes people use it for the wrong reasons? LMFAO! Then get the fuck off your computer and go dig a hole with a stick or something.
I'm just curious if you can name 5 positive things religion has given us that a secular man could not. I'm talking Penicillin-caliber positive; not "I saw john help an old lady across the street." positive things. Not that religion gave us basic human decency....would you like me to cite some examples for a positive reason? Or will you be countering with the atrocities?
[video=youtube_share;TzaVd6zl2bA]http://youtu.be/TzaVd6zl2bA[/video]"I'm gay for god" - It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
If you're gay for God, you'll make it. Hence the whole thing about worshiping on your knees. Good luck.
...that is a complicated question, but thanks for reformatting. There is no tangible thing, it is a congregation (he!) of concepts that help form a better worldview. Those 5 things could be anything, at any given point in time. An image forms in the minds of people, that image crystalizes before becoming a tangible thing. It starts as a longing for something better, I suppose. Science can fulfill those images in the material sense, but never has been the thought itself. Another problem is that I don't put science up to religion and compare (or vice versa). They were, and should be, in harmony. I just don't get why they're put against each other, sorryI'm just curious if you can name 5 positive things religion has given us that a secular man could not. I'm talking Penicillin-caliber positive; not "I saw john help an old lady across the street." positive things. Not that religion gave us basic human decency.
...that is a complicated question, but thanks for reformatting. There is no tangible thing, it is a congregation (he!) of concepts that help form a better worldview. Those 5 things could be anything, at any given point in time. An image forms in the minds of people, that image crystalizes before becoming a tangible thing. It starts as a longing for something better, I suppose. Science can fulfill those images in the material sense, but never has been the thought itself. Another problem is that I don't put science up to religion and compare (or vice versa). They were, and should be, in harmony. I just don't get why they're put against each other, sorry
In a better world, that might be how it worked, organized religion was there to guide and all the hate was ignored, that's how I would like it to be. But if I could add why I think science and religion clash, it's because religion makes claims that science proves false. Proving a claim false that was said to be the absolute truth presents problems in other areas of your dogma; if that was false, what else is false? When it comes to an easy choice to make, like treating homosexuals like any other person or treating them how the Westboro Baptists treat them, and the force is so great that it clouds their judgment, that's when it moves into hostile territory. The nature of science is to improve, and many non believers today believe that should be the ultimate pursuit, improve our species. The nature of organized religion is to deceive people into false belief at the expense of improvement....that is a complicated question, but thanks for reformatting. There is no tangible thing, it is a congregation (he!) of concepts that help form a better worldview. Those 5 things could be anything, at any given point in time. An image forms in the minds of people, that image crystalizes before becoming a tangible thing. It starts as a longing for something better, I suppose. Science can fulfill those images in the material sense, but never has been the thought itself. Another problem is that I don't put science up to religion and compare (or vice versa). They were, and should be, in harmony. I just don't get why they're put against each other, sorry