Question: Is there certainty in science?
Sam Harris: Certainty is, I think, a false goal. I mean we’re not achieving . . . We’re achieving functional certainties in science and in just . . . in our day-to-day lives. I mean it’s a functional certainty that I’m sitting here talking to you, though it’s possible I could be dreaming or, you know, deceived by an evil demon. Those kinds of philosophical, ______ worries don’t really relate too much to the ordinary practice of science, the very useful practice of science, and our ordinary task of just negotiating our lives and finding happiness in this world. We recognize that there’s a range . . . that there’s a continuum of, “I’m not sure, there’s a coin toss, fifty-fifty” understanding of a circumstance to being functionally certain about what is so. And many people are pretending to be functionally certain, or believe themselves to be functionally certain about things like Jesus is gonna come back and judge the world in their lifetime. Twenty percent of the American population claims to be functionally certain that that is gonna come to pass, and 78% think that Jesus is gonna come back sometime – not necessarily in their lifetime. And these certainties do real work for us. I mean the person who is certain that the soul enters the zygote at the moment of conception is the person who wants to veto stem cell research, despite the fact that tens of millions of people are suffering from conditions for which stem cell research is the best line of research to generate therapies. So these are ideas that are not just of academic interest, or person, private, or spiritual relevance. I mean these are shaping policy. They’re shaping a national conversation. And then when you look to the Muslim world, they are causing people to blow themselves up on street corners.
Recorded on: July 4 2007
Discuss
brendan p on March 15, 2008, 9:15 AM
what about the functional certainty of, say, time or gravity?
and whether it's functional or not, i would like science to answer where we came from and why we are here. so far, it has no satisfying answers. these might not be "functional" pursuits, but if science isn't about finding truth, then who cares about functionality.
brendan p on March 15, 2008, 1:15 PM
what about the functional certainty of, say, time or gravity?
and whether it’s functional or not, i would like science to answer where we came from and why we are here. so far, it has no satisfying answers. these might not be “functional” pursuits, but if science isn’t about finding truth, then who cares about functionality.
J. Steele Olmstead on May 5, 2008, 12:04 PM
"Truth" is what everyone claims they have. Please consider it a sign of falsity when someone claims that. The Jehovah Witnesses even call their organization quixotically "The Truth." It is so full of fabrications of fact and reality, it could easily be said only to contain particles of the "truth."
What part of "primordial soup" doesn't "verbal pocketplay" understand? You may as well ask where you "soul" or "essence" "luck," "charm," "sense of style" comes from. As these are similarly amorphous concepts, though I'd argue more substantive than the questions posited by "v.p."
"Where did we come from and why are we here?" are questions which have no answer in the abstract sense and deserve more of a place on a sophists podium, like the priests, pastors, vicars, rabbis of every Saturday or Sunday. They are false questions which ask a question the charlatan provides. They are the Big Pharma of philosophy providing a disease for which Big Pharma has a -cin, -ex, -tin -anol medication.
Here are "V.P.s" answers, provided by corroborated research based on the use of the scientific method first suggested by the Muslim scholar Ibn al-Haytham in the first century C.E.: I am here because my parents, like all my predecessors had sex. I am here because my parents nurtured me after I was born and equipped me with the life skills I needed to survive.
Beyond the illusory questions troubling "V.P." science has answered pretty much all the vexing questions facing human civilzations. I would suggest that religion, in its 150,000 years from its crudest origins of supersitions, has answered less questions and helped the human race les (and other species)than the scientific method in its first 1,000 years.
I'll take science ANY day to answer the questions I have. And if science can't answer them right now, my sucessors will enjoy that knowledge. I am happy with the phrase: "We don't know that yet" from science.
Perhaps you "V.P." meant to ask what is the purpose of life. Well, what is your purpose? Mine is to make the best of this life with the resources at my disposal and return the love I get from my family.
Oh, and also to be a damn fine mandolin player as soon as I learn the song "Limerock." (It's a bitch.)
J. Steele Olmstead on May 5, 2008, 4:04 PM
“Truth” is what everyone claims they have. Please consider it a sign of falsity when someone claims that. The Jehovah Witnesses even call their organization quixotically “The Truth.” It is so full of fabrications of fact and reality, it could easily be said only to contain particles of the “truth.”
What part of “primordial soup” doesn’t “verbal pocketplay” understand? You may as well ask where you “soul” or “essence” “luck,” “charm,” “sense of style” comes from. As these are similarly amorphous concepts, though I’d argue more substantive than the questions posited by “v.p.”
“Where did we come from and why are we here?” are questions which have no answer in the abstract sense and deserve more of a place on a sophists podium, like the priests, pastors, vicars, rabbis of every Saturday or Sunday. They are false questions which ask a question the charlatan provides. They are the Big Pharma of philosophy providing a disease for which Big Pharma has a -cin, -ex, -tin -anol medication.
Here are “V.P.s” answers, provided by corroborated research based on the use of the scientific method first suggested by the Muslim scholar Ibn al-Haytham in the first century C.E.: I am here because my parents, like all my predecessors had sex. I am here because my parents nurtured me after I was born and equipped me with the life skills I needed to survive.
Beyond the illusory questions troubling “V.P.” science has answered pretty much all the vexing questions facing human civilzations. I would suggest that religion, in its 150,000 years from its crudest origins of supersitions, has answered less questions and helped the human race les (and other species)than the scientific method in its first 1,000 years.
I’ll take science ANY day to answer the questions I have. And if science can’t answer them right now, my sucessors will enjoy that knowledge. I am happy with the phrase: “We don’t know that yet” from science.
Perhaps you “V.P.” meant to ask what is the purpose of life. Well, what is your purpose? Mine is to make the best of this life with the resources at my disposal and return the love I get from my family.
Oh, and also to be a damn fine mandolin player as soon as I learn the song “Limerock.” (It’s a bitch.)
Add a Comment
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or Register