Belief in Belief

@moonbus said
@spruce112358

There are two problems with "belief in belief."

One is that one cannot, psychologically cannot, get oneself to believe something simply because one wants to believe it or because one thinks it might be beneficial (despite its being evidently false or unprovable). Try, try real hard, to believe that 2+2=5. Or that Donald Trump really won the 2020 election. ...[text shortened]... e of which happens to be put in a box marked 'scientific' and the other in a box marked 'religious.'

@ghost-of-a-duke said
It is really unfortunate that Islam, Judaism, and Christianity have been fighting each other for centuries.

Hindus, on the other hand, never had any beef.

@spruce112358 said
They never had any beef because...

what goes around, comes around.

🙂

@spruce112358 said
They never had any beef because...

what goes around, comes around.

🙂

@very-rusty said
Ghost believes if he said it and he thought it was funny, everyone else should see it to, is the impression I get. 🙂

-VR

@kellyjay said
To believe in science you have to accept quite a few things on faith, that the universe is understandable, that we can understand it. What we are accepting as fact are indeed facts, belief/faith is an unavoidable thing in the human experience.

YouTube

@kellyjay said
To believe in science you have to accept quite a few things on faith, that the universe is understandable, that we can understand it. What we are accepting as fact are indeed facts, belief/faith is an unavoidable thing in the human experience.

@suzianne said
Science is not about faith.

@kellyjay said
We are creatures that live by faith, you must have faith that we can do science, or what is the point, you must have faith that we can understand the universe to study it or what is the point, you must have faith that what your conclusions are based upon factual truth, or what is the point? You go to work to get paid, because you believe they will pay you when it is time or ...[text shortened]... ithout cause, faith is putting your trust in what you are doing is worth doing or what is the point?

@suzianne said
Science is not about faith in the slightest. Science is about fact. Hypotheses are compiled then proven, or else proven wrong. There is nothing in science about faith.

Religion is about faith because it is not proved; it is the 'evidence' of things unseen.

@spruce112358 said
Are the beliefs that "humanity must try to understand the universe" and "humanity has value" and "my life has a purpose" scientific or religious beliefs, in your view?

Because I think even scientists sometimes need to believe that their lives have a purpose. Especially when contemplating the infinite vastness of space.

You say we cannot believe something 'because we want to'. But do we not choose to believe that we matter?

@suzianne said
Science is not about faith in the slightest. Science is about fact. Hypotheses are compiled then proven, or else proven wrong. There is nothing in science about faith.

Religion is about faith because it is not proved; it is the 'evidence' of things unseen.

@moonbus said
"Humanity must try to understand the universe" is not a belief in the sense in which some people believe, for example, that God became man and died for man's sins. In fact, I don't know anyone who believes that "humanity must try to understand the universe." Trying to understand how nature works has an obvious evolutionary survival value, in that people who don't understand ...[text shortened]... mething. It's rather like breathing: my believing I'm breathing adds nothing to my breathing.

@spruce112358 said
But believing your life has value and believing it should continue may increase the likelihood that you get to reproductive age so that you DO in fact pass on your genes. Whether you believe this "Because God" or "Just Because" makes little difference. Not believing, though, may place you in evolutionary jeopardy.

Believing that you are breathing adds nothing to breathing, but believing that you should go ON breathing could be important.