The Importance of Data. Science Vs Religion.

You may know data is everything to scientists and engineers.  They live and die by their data.  The data doesn’t lie.  You can accept it or reject it, but it doesn’t care what you think. It is what it is.  It is all about truth.  It tells you what is real, given your ability to measure whatever it is you are testing.  

I don’t argue with what works.  You can always retest, but it is hard to argue with consistent data. You may find a way to cure the common cold, or keep worms from eating your tomatoes, and one way may be better than another.  But if it works, I just want to know two things:  1)  are there any side effects, and 2) what does the solution cost.  If there are no side effects, then the solution is great, and if there are side effects, then I want to know the impact.  Can you live with the side effect?   For instance, if you are testing a new cancer drug, can you keep the patient alive even if his ankles swell up a bit?   Or if you are testing a new pesticide, will you kill an entire species of worm in order to save your tomato crop?   Will the worm-eating birds die of starvation, or will they adapt and find another insect to eat?   These are the kinds of things Science can tell us if we work hard and smart enough.

Of course, successful business leaders use lots of data too.  They measure all kinds of factors that contribute to their profit and loss.  Naturally, if they are wrong, or they don’t pay attention to the right details, they will go bankrupt and lose their business.  If they are right and customers love their products or services, and if their costs are lower than their prices, they will make money and their business will thrive.

So the bottom line is this:  we all live and die by our data.  You can think of it as the sensory information we take in and process using the one survival gift nature has bestowed upon us, our big brains.  So why, I ask do we abandon our reason, logic and empirical data and believe in things for which there is no evidence at all?   You may have guessed by now, I am writing about Religion (with a capital ‘R’).

My own belief is that we are all too terrified of death, so many of us embrace an ideology which says we don’t really die, but we go to heaven where we will live on forever.  But is there any evidence (data) that we have a soul?  Is there any evidence (data) for life after death or the existence of god or heaven?  Must we accept the philosophical ramblings of a scientifically ignorant people who lived over a thousand years ago?   

 Do you believe in miracles?  If so, why do you believe in them?  What data do you have to support your belief?

Many people say there are two camps of information, those that can be supported by information (data), and those which require no support.  I reject this argument.  I say we are animals, we are specifically, thinking primates, with big brains and a limited lifespan of something less than one hundred years.  Like all the other animals on the planet, we are born, we live, we struggle, we mate, we may reproduce, we grow old and we die.  And like all the other animals, we will rot as bacteria then consume our bodies.  If we are lucky, we will do something important with our lives, and we may do something to help insure the long term survival of our species on the planet.  

This is the Scientific point of view, and it is in direct contrast and opposition to the fairy tale wishful thinking world view created by the religion camp, and by the people (primarily old men) who profit by spreading the superstitious and ignorant words of a people who lived over a thousand years ago. 

Now don't get me wrong.  I don't really fault our ancestors too much.  They were just trying to make sense of life and death with the data that they had at the time.  They didn't know their place in the universe.  We are still trying to figure that out.  But we have come a long way.  We know for instance, that stars are more than points of light in the night sky.  Think about it.  We have put more than one of our own species on the moon and brought them back safely to earth.  We have used robotic probes to explore and take pictures of the other planets (and their moons), and we have even sent spacecraft beyond our solar system.  This is the stuff of Science Fiction, but we made it Science FACT.  We have the data to prove it.


What do YOU think?   Leave a comment!!!!

R. Allan Worrell
Author:   Father John's Gift
Contact:  alw314@yahoo.com