Can / will science answer the question of existence?

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haribol acharya
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Can / will science answer the question of existence?

Post by haribol acharya »

That we exist is realizable or understandable. We have a feeling, a sensation to claim we exist physically. We have a space that accommodates us. We have been living with the rest of loving beings, eating, drinking, breathing, and breeding. Yet our existence is limited by death, a truth we have to unhappily accept. If we have been immortal we would have fewer questions. But we have to meet with death and we do not know where we will proceed after it. We love life but hate death, and the thought of ugly and cold hand of death laying on us always shakes our minds. We humans are gifted with consciousness and that distinguishes us or upgrades us from the rest of other animals in this world. Consciousness, whether it is a material phenomenon or a spiritual one is a metaphysical debate. Our victory or conquest comes from our consciousness or else we would have no civilization. Yet we all want to realize or arrive at our self discovery. That means we humans want to know about ourselves, about the world that accommodates us. We tirelessly are asking a thousand and one question every day. We pursue spirituality and also science to find answers to our eternal questions of existence.
My question is not new, but the answer I am sure will not be the same. For, we are always inching upwards evolutionally.
The usual question: Can / will science solve the question of existence?
Walker
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Re: Can / will science answer the question of existence?

Post by Walker »

haribol acharya wrote: Mon Jun 19, 2017 11:32 am The usual question: Can / will science solve the question of existence?
Science is a method, a state of mind, a lens through which to view phenomena. The lens is rational thinking. Every mechanic is a scientist running through a checklist of experiments to find the most significant agent of causation.

Naturally, science is questioned because it doesn’t answer the biggest questions of existence, namely: where does a person come from, where does a person go, and what is the origin of the universe?

Is science just another method to discover answers? No. As a state of consciousness it’s an efficient interface that interprets perception, for awareness. It serves to predict natural phenomena in a way that that meshes well with the way people think, which is dualistically, subject and object relationship, i.e., in terms of causation. To find the cause for an observed change is to find the right set of conditions for repeatable effects, which ups the odds for personal and species longevity.

However, science is limited. Why? Because it doesn’t answer the biggies. Does science not measure up to truth, or does human not measure up to the principle of science.

So, is that the usual response, and if so, what is the usual response to the usual response?
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FlashDangerpants
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Re: Can / will science answer the question of existence?

Post by FlashDangerpants »

haribol acharya wrote: Mon Jun 19, 2017 11:32 am The usual question: Can / will science solve the question of existence?
I hope not, given that it is such an unscientific question.
You may as well ask science to determine of the Mona Lisa is better than the Laughing Cavalier.
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Greta
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Re: Can / will science answer the question of existence?

Post by Greta »

Can / will science answer the question of existence?

I believe the answer is 42 :P

Looking beyond the surface question, you mentioned evolution, and that is where I see meaning. There will be, either on Earth or elsewhere, beings that will evolve who will be as beyond our comprehension as we are beyond a flatworm's comprehension. That makes us all links in the chain towards the development of the incredible beings of the future. Maybe they will conquer death?

Science will obviously be an important part of this emerging scenario. Who knows? Maybe new methods of investigation will be developed? At present it looks like the line between math and science is blurring, with many complaints about, say, multiverse advocates as being "not science". Yet black holes were predicted mathematically.
Dubious
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Re: Can / will science answer the question of existence?

Post by Dubious »

haribol acharya wrote: Mon Jun 19, 2017 11:32 am My question is not new, but the answer I am sure will not be the same. For, we are always inching upwards evolutionally.
The usual question: Can / will science solve the question of existence?
Evolution does not operate in only one direction and there's no guarantee that we're always going to "inch upwards". Also, in what respect is science supposed to solve the question of existence? Does "Existence" even have a question to be resolved and hypothetically what would that question be?

I see absolutely no merit in it! Not least, existence is too vague a concept to be circumscribed by any such simple question.
ken
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Re: Can / will science answer the question of existence?

Post by ken »

haribol acharya wrote: Mon Jun 19, 2017 11:32 am That we exist is realizable or understandable. We have a feeling, a sensation to claim we exist physically. We have a space that accommodates us. We have been living with the rest of loving beings, eating, drinking, breathing, and breeding. Yet our existence is limited by death, a truth we have to unhappily accept. If we have been immortal we would have fewer questions. But we have to meet with death and we do not know where we will proceed after it. We love life but hate death, and the thought of ugly and cold hand of death laying on us always shakes our minds. We humans are gifted with consciousness and that distinguishes us or upgrades us from the rest of other animals in this world. Consciousness, whether it is a material phenomenon or a spiritual one is a metaphysical debate. Our victory or conquest comes from our consciousness or else we would have no civilization. Yet we all want to realize or arrive at our self discovery. That means we humans want to know about ourselves, about the world that accommodates us. We tirelessly are asking a thousand and one question every day. We pursue spirituality and also science to find answers to our eternal questions of existence.
My question is not new, but the answer I am sure will not be the same. For, we are always inching upwards evolutionally.
You used the 'we' word about eighteen times. Who/what is the 'we', you are referring to?

Your answer to this affects the answer to your next question.
haribol acharya wrote: Mon Jun 19, 2017 11:32 am The usual question: Can / will science solve the question of existence?
If you define what you mean exactly by 'the question of existence' in your question, then I could answer it for you, and then science can and will prove My answer is correct.
thedoc
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Re: Can / will science answer the question of existence?

Post by thedoc »

haribol acharya wrote: Mon Jun 19, 2017 11:32 am . For, we are always inching upwards evolutionally.
No, evolution is allowing species to respond to a changing environment and sometimes that means changing back to a previous condition. There is no progression to evolution, just change to adapt to changing conditions and if environmental conditions are not changing there is no change to the species.
thedoc
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Re: Can / will science answer the question of existence?

Post by thedoc »

ken wrote: Tue Jun 20, 2017 2:55 am You used the 'we' word about eighteen times. Who/what is the 'we', you are referring to?
Sometimes people with an affliction want to suggest that everyone has the same affliction, thus making the person feel less different than everyone else. It's a way of feeling "normal" to suggest that everyone else is just as bad as they are.
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Greta
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Re: Can / will science answer the question of existence?

Post by Greta »

Ever since Gould people have gone along with his unfounded assumption that there's no progression in evolution (that even he has started to backtrack from to some extent). However, we have a sample size of one biosphere where species certainly have progressed cognitively, and profoundly so.

I think Gould's "evolution is a bush and not a tree" did not take seriously the human difference, and also IMO underestimated the leap between prokaryotes and eukaryotes, as if microbes were equal in sentience to chordates.
ken
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Re: Can / will science answer the question of existence?

Post by ken »

thedoc wrote: Tue Jun 20, 2017 3:40 am
ken wrote: Tue Jun 20, 2017 2:55 am You used the 'we' word about eighteen times. Who/what is the 'we', you are referring to?
Sometimes people with an affliction want to suggest that everyone has the same affliction, thus making the person feel less different than everyone else. It's a way of feeling "normal" to suggest that everyone else is just as bad as they are.
I am already aware of this. This behaviour is very obvious.

I am just waiting for My question to be clarified so that I know which way to proceed in answering the very easy and simple question in this thread topic.
ken
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Re: Can / will science answer the question of existence?

Post by ken »

Walker wrote: Mon Jun 19, 2017 12:21 pm Naturally, science is questioned because it doesn’t answer the biggest questions of existence, namely: where does a person come from, where does a person go, and what is the origin of the universe?
Finding the correct and right answers to these three questions is actually very simple and easy indeed. Then science,the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment, will prove if the answers are correct or not.

By the way, Why do you and some other human beings still presume, and/or assume, that there was an origin to the Universe?

If you want to find the true and right answers, then they are found much quicker, simpler, and easier when nothing is presumed nor assumed. Further to this if and when you believe (in) some thing, then there is just about no way of finding the proper answers to questions like the ones above.
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