On Tue, Jan 07, 2014 at 09:03:28PM -0800, Rich Murray wrote: ...
> > *The scientific creed * > > Here are the ten core beliefs that most scientists take for granted. > > 1. Everything is essentially mechanical. Dogs, for example, are complex > mechanisms, rather than living organisms with goals of their own. Even > people are machines, “lumbering robots”, in Richard Dawkins’ vivid phrase, > with brains that are like genetically programmed computers. > Well, yes - there is no evidence whatsoever of physical phenomena that does not supervene on a mechanical process. > 2. All matter is unconscious. It has no inner life or subjectivity or point > of view. Even human consciousness is an illusion produced by the material > activities of brains. This is wrong - human beings are clearly conscious. (Even if it is an illusion, which I would dispute anyway!). > > 3. The total amount of matter and energy is always the same (with the > exception of the Big Bang, when all the matter and energy of the universe > suddenly appeared). Conservation of mass-energy is currently a well supported law, that is based on time and space translation symmetry (ie 4, below). What happens is that if it were found to be vioated, a new source of mass-energy would need to be introduced to make the books balance. See the story of the neutrino for an example. > > 4. The laws of nature are fixed. They are the same today as they were at > the beginning, and they will stay the same forever. That is the definition of a law. If a "law" was found to vary, it would be replaced by a new law taking the variation into account. > > 5. Nature is purposeless, and evolution has no goal or direction. > This is partly a point of view thing. Some explanations are easier if purpose is taken into account, such as why there is a copper atom located at the tip of Nelson's nose at Trafalgar square (to quote an example by David Deutsch), but in principle, it can be explained without reference to purpose (otherwise supervenience - no.1 above, would be violated). > 6. All biological inheritance is material, carried in the genetic material, > DNA, and in other material structures. > Yes - what other form of inheritence could there be? > 7. Minds are inside heads and are nothing but the activities of brains. > When you look at a tree, the image of the tree you are seeing is not “out > there”, where it seems to be, but inside your brain. > This may be a little premature, as embodiment appears to be an important aspect of consciousness, but I don't see anyone seriously expecting a nonmaterial home for consciousness (or that the supervenience principle is violated). > 8. Memories are stored as material traces in brains and are wiped out at > death. > What about the memories stored in books? This one is a bit fishy... > 9. Unexplained phenomena like telepathy are illusory. This is being close minded. In fact, there is plenty of unexplained phenomena that is nevertheless taken quite seriously by the scientific community, high temperature superconductivity being one. The problem with telepathy (your example above) is the lack of good empirical evidence for it. > > 10. Mechanistic medicine is the only kind that really works. > Rubbish. The placebo effect is well recognised in medicine. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Principal, High Performance Coders Visiting Professor of Mathematics [email protected] University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
