tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post2152744551366296811..comments2024-02-29T03:57:00.088-05:00Comments on The Mermaid's Tale: Is there truth? Does science find it?Anne Buchananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09212151396672651221noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-68820743913774199302013-11-02T20:06:18.727-04:002013-11-02T20:06:18.727-04:00I agree on that point of ultimate truth as a spiri...I agree on that point of ultimate truth as a spiritual issue. Fortunately, though, we don't live life that way most of the time. We're more attuned to what's immediately around us, which is good enough. However, are people aware of that reality that they live in? For the most part, I don't think so. So it's ultimately a trust/faith issue, which cannot be resolved scientifically. It's just what I said: "we do science for non-science reasons". Or in simple terms: we're humans who so happen to do research.Cathy Sanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07861681335311991130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-55927619844619971062013-11-02T08:35:28.286-04:002013-11-02T08:35:28.286-04:00Too often we pursue a current belief about truth e...Too often we pursue a current belief about truth even when we know it's not accurate. So we fall in love, as you say, with what we already know is at least to some known extent fictional. Whether or not ultimate truth is discernible, or even exists as one might think it must, is a different order of question. In that sense, it may be viewed as a spiritual issue.Ken Weisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02049713123559138421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-72510276490966704182013-11-01T23:56:20.622-04:002013-11-01T23:56:20.622-04:00I think that the universe is beyond all human conc...I think that the universe is beyond all human concepts, so frankly I'm not entirely concerned about whether the Truth exists. Our knowledge is a human creation and cannot possibly be isomorphic to how the world is. What matters to us, it seems, is to have a sense of intimacy with the world, by having a capacity to "fall in love", so to speak, with the world beyond our own ideas. No wonder I feel so strongly about science as a spiritual discipline: for me, it allows us to practice humility and patience at what we study, tending with care and concern about what we would like to understand. "Truth" as a concept has a theological ring to it, as I see it. It may matter, but it's not the only driving force behind us doing research in the first place (I'm currently researching in THz metamaterials). I think that we do science for non-science reasons, after all. The initial sense of wonder is non-scientific in origin, but it drives us in this quest for understanding. Cathy Sanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07861681335311991130noreply@blogger.com