Science Questions

Shekhar25

Hi all,
I started this thread exclusively for those who are interested in science talk. It can be anything. You can either pose a question or post something about developments in science which can be useful for all.

Let me start this thread with a question which lingers my mind most of the time. We all know that science has come a long way and it has seen major developments and breakthroughs which gave us to lead a better life in the society. Even though science has answered many questions which were pure myth in the ancient time, it still needs to answer many more questions.
One such question is, do you think that science will develop to such a stage to explain the concept of GOD?
Where do you think, science is today, in answering the above question?

I appreciate any open minded debate on this issue.
Thank you
--Shekhar

sunilg

Good question........

My Answer: God is the second name of fear. We started worshipping everything that we were afraid of, like Sun, Air, Fire; Stars, etc., hence the existence of God.

Science has only one fear and that is mother nature. So, mother nature is God for science; and our scientists are doing quite well to understand it. IMHO.

__________________
...Bismillah

Sadhu

Since you asked about the concept of God, scientists/anthropologists see man's creation of religion as a way to balance man's fear of death. The temporal lobe, which controls fantasy, imagine, mystical experiences developed parallel to the frontal lobe. In other words, as man developed the ability to reason and predict events, the same skill that helped him figure out how to find food, also made him the first animal to know he would one day die. To balance his fear of death, man's brain developed the ability to imagine. It is at this stage in early man's development that religion first appears. Today, if someone has a fear of death which inhibits their ability to function, the temporal can be electrically stimulated, which produces a sense of 'connectedness to all things' in the patient, and reduces their fear of death. In terms of scence, the concept of God developed as a way for man to convince himself he won't ever really die.

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'Walk the Earth, Have Adventures'

passingby

I am glad somebody opened up this discussion...
I am having a lot of similar thoughts myself. as does God really exist? if no, then why so many foreigners travel to far away places to find the truth?

reading some Hinduism philosophy, you might be inclined to believe that science and Hinduism go hand in hand at explaining how the world works. but then you wonder if this can be true or not.

to me, miracles can be anything, from digesting your food to typing on this computer. scientifically, everything is made up of energy, everything comes down to energy.
if somebody smart enough came up with the idea of building a computer from ones and zeroes, then this was certainly a miracle.
people direct their energies every day to do their jobs, whether you are a scientist, a teacher a constructor worker. it's a miracle a constructor worker can build a house out of a pile of wood, or that a teacher can teach your child math and science, or that an engineer designed a computer. so what if somebody smart enough put all his energy together to make this world?

maybe meditation and yoga can bring out a lot of energy out of us and make us do miracles too.

so maybe one day somebody smart enough will prove God too. or maybe God is just a powerful energy. whatever God is, it had to be something for the whole world to exist. religion calls it God, and science calls it energy. it might just be the same thing, but different words.

cyberhippie

That is of course of course possible because of that "other" miracle of the concept of the number Zero, concieved by an Indian!!

abracax

One of the basic assumptions of the scientific approach is that useful knowledge accumulates in the form of incremental and provisional advances in the rational understanding of the unknown, guided by questions raised by practical needs (including the need to understand). More traditional aspects of culture, such as religion, are occupied with the organization and perpetuation of traditions, concepts, constructs and other elements that also serve practical needs - primarily social and emotional - and arise from the intuitive and poetic aspects of the human intellect. The intuitive/poetic approach is expansive and uncritical, traversing the universe at a bound and swallowing eternity in a gulp, as illustrated by the Markandeya Purana. In contrast, rational exploration is painful, difficult and uncertain - for example many a beautiful theory has been destroyed by a trivial fact - but it has led to the accumulation of insights with spectacular consequences. So as to the question of whether science can explain the concept of GOD: what would be the rational purpose of doing so?

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He travels fastest who pays for a cab.

gautam_n_

Some questions science can answer, some it cannot at the moment. Science can answer how we came to life and how we died, but it cannot answer questions like why we lived or died. All it can say is our bodily function stopped working as we got older.

Many things on science are based on assumptions. Its similar to astrology - it s based on planets movement. An addition of new planet makes the whole thing go topsy turvy.

There are some phenomenon which are unexplained till date - probably be unexplained in this century - and maybe forever - who knows - people call them miracles.

Regarding explanation of god - I definitely beleive in god and ghosts (if god exists so do ghosts and demons). The Astrologers whom I have met have told me that they have met/spoken/predicted that people have seen/are seeing ghosts.

Some have claimed that Mahabharat was real(if it was real then anything is possible).

Shekhar25

Hi there,
I totally agree with your answer. Yes, Scientists are doing quite well in understanding the mother nature. Based upon my extensive reading on science and philosophical subjects, i feel that, whatever our ancient saints said is what science is trying to prove today but with facts.

If you see Budhism closely, (i'm not biased towards any religion) it's essence is there is no other GOD outside than inside of you. Which means, budhism focuses lot more within you than what is there outside. Do you think this is more reasonable and scientific?

Quantum physics says, you will find answers when you look inside which is exactly what Budhism says. I really appreciate this striking similarity between modern and ancient thoughts. What do you think about this? Do you believe faith and belief can improve us as humans in anyway? Let me know your thoughts.

passingby

actually Buddhism like Hinduism believes that there was a creator of the universe, but if you meditate you will find the union with the creator inside you when you reach enlightment.
but there is a main creator and that creator is Buddha in Buddhism or God for Christians or Brahma for Hindus.
Buddhism stems from Hinduism.

Merchant

One reason why Hinduism and Buddhism seem not to be in conflict with science is that they do not hinge on belief. Neither is dogmatic--there are no tenets, no catechism, no creed. You can't really convert or be unconverted, and there is no central authority. Hinduism is based solely on practice. Buddhism is more philosophy than religion. You don't have to have any sort of faith to be a Buddhist or Hindu. Both offer various "religious" explanations for things, but you don't actually have to believe in them, unlike Christianity, where if you don't believe that Jesus was the divine/human son of God you can't be part of the club.

So science--empirical practice--cannot undermine Buddhism or Hinduism. Imagine what would happen to Christendom if an archaeologist dug up a corpse in an ancient trash dump in Jerusalem with a sign around its neck that said, "King of the Jews," and carbon dated the thing to 30 AD. How fragile are the faith-based religions--and thus their antipathy toward science (and witness the huge phenomenon of "The DaVinci Code").

passingby

the DaVinci Code is absolute Bogus. it is pure fiction.

Merchant

Yeah, but it's hugely popular. That's my point.

passingby

of course you have to believe in Gods in Buddhism and Hinduism. otherwise you will never reach enlightment if you don't believe that there is a main God. that is the purpose of meditation, one day to find the union with God.

Merchant

Respectfully disagree. You don't have to believe anything. You just have to go through the practices. The end point of Buddhism is nothingness, which you may or may not be inclined to call god.

passingby

well, I respectfully disagree with you...
In Hinduism you have to believe in God and the purpose of enlightenment is to find union with God.