I sort of enjoy poking fun at some of the clueless people who write letters to the editor of our local newspaper (West County Times), but occasionally it's nice to find somebody there who has a clue — even if it's only a clue, not the whole truth. In today's paper Charles T. Smith of Richmond, California, addresses a Times editorial worrying about why so many people, in our scientific society, believe in "space aliens, astrology, lucky numbers, psychics etc." Smith, who apparently can make a link where other people prefer to miss one, suggests that "Perhaps the editors should review the Religion section of the Saturday edition of the Times. In case you haven't noticed, you will find articles about the fantasies you failed to mention, such as angels, devils, heaven, hell, transubstantiation, people rising from the dead, miracles, visions, and 'sacred images' appearing on trees, windows and tacos."
(One may suppose that the editors would reply: "But this is not superstition, like astrology; this is religion, a fundamental part of life." At which Smith — and I — would laugh out loud.)
Having said which, and being myself a devotee of certain aspects of the supernatural, I should point out that the problem with belief in the supernatural in a scientific-technological society does not come with the belief itself. Science does not address the supernatural, and some of what people believe that lies outside science may be true. More people, after all, have seen ghosts than have ever seen an electron.
No, the problem arises when the believer in the supernatural decides — or, more commonly, lets someone else decide for him — that if some tenet of the supernatural creates a conflict with some tenet of science, then science must be wrong. I have no problem believing simultaneously that some tenets of astrology may be correct and that the earth revolves around the sun; the problem would arise if I suddenly decided (or let someone else decide for me) that the tenets of astrology preclude the earth revolving around the sun, and that therefore the sun must revolve around the earth. Well, astrology remains largely an unknown field; but it's been well demonstrated over the years that the earth goes around the sun and not vice versa (1) When science and the supernatural come into conflict, it's the supernatural, not science, that has to yield, because science is demonstrated fact while the supernatural remains conjectural.
Interestingly, the following letter, from one Gary Herbertson in beautiful downtown Berkeley, addresses a similar flight of fancy published a couple of weeks ago by one Paul Radliff. Radliff pooh-poohs the idea of global warming for the following reasons:
(1) Al Gore uses a private jet and owns several houses. This disproves global warming? More likely, it proves that Gore, good intentions notwithstanding, contributes at least as much to it as any of the rest of us.
(2) The director of the Weather Channel may have made a mistake. ?
(3) Not all scientists agree. No, but on this one the figure seems to be somewhere between 97% and 99% ߞ close enough to consensus for government work.
(4) 30 years ago it was thought that our atmosphere was going to leak out into space. Huh? Given the gravitational potential field of the earth, I can't imagine any reputable scientist making such a comment. But, assuming that some reputable scientist, who was in his cups because his wife just left him for a successful used-car salesman, made such a comment as a wish rather than a prediction, what would it have to do with global warming anyway?
(5) Finally, Radliff apparently expressed a wish for "hard facts, absolute proof and a controlled experiment". Bad news, Mr. Radliff. We're undergoing such an experiment right now, the facts as they are developing are as hard as you could wish for, and believe me, you don't want the absolute proof you're looking for — it looks as though it's going to turn out to be very painful for all concerned. Science wins again — and this time the rest of us lose.
(1) Actually, neither one is true; the earth and the sun both go around a common point which is not the center of the sun — but, if I remember correctly, and based on the relatively tiny mass of the earth, lies inside the sun somewhere.
We all need to know the right belief system, so that we won't be labeled as infidels. After all, an eternity in a burning hell won't be any fun. HA
Posted by: Richard Queener at April 4, 2007 11:00 AM