William

Novice Mystic
Jun 9, 2021
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jig.nz
Worldview

We Exist Within A Creation [WEWAC]

“A great many men and women have a dull hurt angry sense of being oppressed by the sciences. They are frustrated by the endless scientific boasting. They suspect that the scientific community holds them in contempt. They are right to feel this way.” David Berlinski - The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions.

QFD: Are humans who feel this way, correct in their understanding of the source and reason for feeling this way?
 
“A great many men and women have a dull hurt angry sense of being oppressed by the sciences. They are frustrated by the endless scientific boasting. They suspect that the scientific community holds them in contempt. They are right to feel this way.” David Berlinski - The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions.

QFD: Are humans who feel this way, correct in their understanding of the source and reason for feeling this way?
Good question, William. I saw the video and Berlinski touches on this at the very beginning. Online, I also found this comment from Berlinski which provides context.

In response to your quote:
When asked about that, Berlinski responds by asserting that it’s obvious. Setting aside “the low-level scientists, the bottom feeders,” he explains, it’s physicists and mathematicians who “really don’t waste any time telling you how much smarter they are than you.” Because they’re indeed quite smart, and he adds, “they have accepted as an obligation and as a pleasure the prerogative of telling the rest of us what to think not only about the sciences but about everything. And that is oppressive.” The issue, he asserts, “is the overall intellectual omnipotence that is assumed by the scientific community.”
Source: Physics Today

The problem is not with the sciences but rather it is with certain scientists or institutions. What I find oppressive is the "orthodoxy" that is created by such scientists. Orthodoxies usually resist questioning so I'm totally against that.

It would be one thing if people were saying that they feel oppressed because they don't get to go against scientific facts. I'd be in the favor of those wanting to preserve scientific facts in that case. But to not allow people to question the facts, which is not the same as saying they are wrong, or to question or come up with theories for other less than certain areas of science or Universe, is very oppressive.
 
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AB asks: Are humans who feel this way, correct in their understanding of the source and reason for feeling this way?

Truth is the essence -- the conscience of Nature. The laws of nature are inviolable. Scientists seek out those truths; others should not be offended by their efforts.

Yes, some scientists are unfortunately more arrogant than others but that is humanity and its differing degrees of personality. I might add that David Berlinski is being arrogant when he dismisses evolution, but then he is a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, which promotes the pseudoscience of intelligent design. [Wikipedia]
 
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