9th September 2004, 9:22 PM
It never ceases to amaze me how throughout history people have proclaimed things as absolutely true or false based on their level of understanding of science. We still have a very limited understanding of science, oftentimes just knowing the names of certain principles and ideas without even knowing the why's or how's. It is true that there are many things that we can claim as absolute fact with much more confidence than people could have even 50 years ago, but there is still so much unknown to us that stating something as absolutely false solely based off of the fact that we can not current prove it to be true... is simply ridiculous. If there's one thing that has been consitent over time it is the arrogance of man.
Your rooster example is valid, but so would someone a thousand years ago believing but not being able to prove that the earth is not flat based off of his or her own observations. This person may not be able to prove his or her theory to be fact, but likewise it also cannot be disproved. Now I'm not saying that I believe in most of the things you've talked about, but I definitely do not have the arrogance and foolishness to proclaim then as absolutely false. You can use words like "unproven", "inprobable", and even "poppycock", but it is not wise to proclaim something as absolutely false when there is simply no way (currently, at least) to prove it right or wrong.
Your rooster example is valid, but so would someone a thousand years ago believing but not being able to prove that the earth is not flat based off of his or her own observations. This person may not be able to prove his or her theory to be fact, but likewise it also cannot be disproved. Now I'm not saying that I believe in most of the things you've talked about, but I definitely do not have the arrogance and foolishness to proclaim then as absolutely false. You can use words like "unproven", "inprobable", and even "poppycock", but it is not wise to proclaim something as absolutely false when there is simply no way (currently, at least) to prove it right or wrong.