Noel Rude
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Member # 516
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posted 20. December 2002 11:26
Charlie D quote:
But nature (and science) are precisely that, endless detail. Coping with the avalanche of known and to-be-known detail about nature is what scientists do every day. It may sometimes, even often, be healthy and stimulating to look at the big picture, but if ID can't figure out how the individual brushstrokes put the picture together (or is inconsistent with what we know about them), no amount of optimism is going to save it.
Well put. Indeed, it takes all kinds to make a world. We need those who can devote their lives to the minutia implied in our theories. But I have also seen over the years that what the detail people do is pretty much determined by the visionaries, and that we always have a much greater supply of detail people than visionaries -- which maybe is how it's supposed to be. Additionally I do not trust this aversion to politicizing ID. It's already politicized from the start! All investigation into our origins, of course! has the most profound philosophical implications, and history has shown that it is not safe to trust any priesthood (scientific or otherwise) that insists it has no political agenda. Nobody does any research without a supportive tax paying populace. One wins patronage (public or private) honestly or dishonestly, but one does not do research without it. And the directions science takes has a profound impact on the lives of all people, not only in their physical well-being but also in their moral lives.
But I'm off subject. I look forward to a more positive, visionary Brainstorms next year.
[ 20. December 2002, 11:33: Message edited by: Noel Rude ]
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