[MD] Faith/Skepticism

[Krimel]

[MP]
... theories aren't "proven" let alone b y themselves; they simply gain in
static 
power the longer they remain "not dis-proven" by a scientist with a
different 
hunch. In the end that still makes a theory no more than a hunch. It will 
ALWAYS be a hunch until it is proven wrong by a new hunch or proven as 
"fact." And a "fact" it is still nothing more than a hunch, just one with an
official 
blessing for being the last one standing for long enough that no one bothers
to 
question it anymore. At that point it takes heretical status to unseat the
hunch, 
usually at the cost of one's profession, sometimes even of one's life. But
it is still 
and *always* just a hunch.

[Krimel]
I was with you on the whole theism thing but here you are just playing some
silly spin gamea. 
"Hunch"? 
"Official hunch"?
Hunch this!

Theories are never, ever "proven". They can only be supported or disproven.
This characteristic of the inductive method was well known from the get go.
It is ludicrous to say that a "hunch" "stands for long enough that no one
bothers to 
question it anymore." Scientific theories are always being questioned. Over
and over which every new experiment, with each new study. In that sense,
heresy is at the heart of science. All statements in science are tentative.
Calling them "hunches" is just a lame attempt at being provocative. 

[MP]
This is because that's all science is; the constant refinement / capsizing
of 
hunches. That "in science a theory is as good as it ever gets" [and I
completely 
agree with dmb on that] pretty much assures that this will always be the
case. 
This actually defines the rather pedestrian limitation of science; always 
guessing, always trying to prove, forever seeking to be right, and as such
never 
allowing itself enough room to actually comprehend.

[Krimel]
By its very nature science can never make anything more than tentative
statements. That is its strength not a weakness. Your allusion to actual
comprehension makes a common point. Science frequently takes a rap for this.
It's the whole; science doesn't make us wiser; materialism doesn't produce
happier lives. Yadda, Yadda, Yadda...

So science is supposed to take the blame for what is and has always been the
job of philosophers, theologians, politicians and artists. What a bunch of
pussies. Science collects data and organizes it into theories. Scientists
are doing their jobs and doing it extraordinarily well. It is the humanities
that have fallen two centuries behind. Whatever the state of moral decline;
whatever lack of "comprehension" there is; it results not from science but
from the whole romantic mind set of sitting around whining while the world
whizzes past. Since Newton philosophers have been playing catch up and
basically sucking at it.