Why do people put their trust in science? Why is their faith in the mathematical proof irrevocable? Why is it that it is held up to a higher standard than religion.
The discussion seems absurd, however what people don't undestand is that Science itself is a faith and Math, the mother of all sciences, more so.
The faith of Religion is based on certain axioms, that god exists and he has certain rules that we must follow. However, there are so many versions of these axioms, manifesting itself in Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, that they cannot be trusted to be right anymore, rather, people fight over whose axioms of Religion are correct, while aethists have faith their their axioms of anti-Religionsim are true. God help them if they're wrong.
Mathematics is fundamentally different. We believe that 1+1=2, and this will not change. This is what seperates the faith of Mathematics from religion. Mathematics is based on fundamental axioms and people are guaranteed these axioms will never change. This guarantee is enforced by the mathematical community. If a new proof or theory is proposed, it needs to be proved to be correct by showing it adheres to the existing axioms of Mathematics, if it does not it is rejected as false. What gives mathematics its power is this universal acceptance of its axioms and their enforcement. If I come up with a mathematical proof tommorow that God does not exist, all the religions would cease to exist.
Faith is everyone's way of searching for a universal truth. Mathematicians try to search for universal truth through mathematical concepts like String theory and the like. Religious people look for universal truth through spiritual enlightenment by following the rules of God. But the truth is that we don't need a universal truth. Our quest for the truth is simply symptomatic of human aversion to getting lied to. People feel that if they dont know the truth, all other faiths are lying to them, and conflict and wars result from human desire to crush the entity which lied to them. The measure of the truth is not in absolute, it is in to what measure the product of truth is beneficial to man. Mathematics ushered in an age of invention and a understanding of the response of nature to our actions in terms of mathematical concepts like distance and speed. That is why people trust in mathematics and science more than in religion. If tommorow, religion is able to produce a product, for example show everyone that God exists by bringing him down from heaven, then Mathematics will suddenly take a back seat to spiritual enlightenment.
Man only holds value in the product that is produced by his faith. Quantifications of product are all faiths, for quantificantion has no use unless used somewhere. If I say that 1 is 2, and if it is accepted by everyone in the world, then that becomes the new truth, the textbooks of the world are rewritten and life goes on. If half the world disagrees, this creates two sides. One of two things can happen, either side remains secular, and there's a real confusion in communication between them, or war breaks out where one side fights to make 1=1 and the other side to make 1=2. Man's avarice makes war inevitable, and this is what is happening with religion today. The only truth in the world is logic, and even that, to me, is a little absurd.
Monday, 27 April 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
ShareThis
Subscribe via email
9 comments:
absurd comparison... correct from a point of view... just dont let a priest see this... you will be killed...
mathematics is the language of everything... most precise form of language world has ever known... and religious is completely faith... ya in a manner of speaking even maths is faith... right point taken...
Quite true!! For there is no such thing as an objective truth, and as long as science accepts that there are domains which it can never "prove", and questions it can never answer, and if it remains open to the possibility of an alternate theory of how things are, then the world would be a much better place. Period.
I think I'll go light a smoke...
it seems this quasi-stable is the only truth for lesser mortals like us.our faith tends to oscillate between science and religion as per our convenience.
@abhilash: I hope this resolves the whole evolution, truth or just theory thing.
@nisha: exactly, whatever gives us a better product at that time. In troubled times, one cannot look to mathematics to provide solace, religion produces a fasle sense of disjunction with our worldly problems giving us relief. Other times we curse religion when we see people dying due to the wars caused by religious fanatics.
Incredibly ironic wont you say.
Nicely written and interesting idea but..
1- Logic is the most subjective relative thing on the planet. If you say the world is governed by logic, then its pure luck that it has survived even.
2- Coming up with a mathematical equation to prove god does not exist is like saying the birth of a new revolutionary art movement causes the string theory to blow up.. noone will buy it and it sounds mildly ridiculous to anyone from either side :P
@divya
but youre forgetting that everything is the product of logic isnt it. Look at it this way.. to early man, logic suggested that the sun rising everyday is no coincidence, it must be caused due to something, thus they created a Sun god. Nuovo man thinks in terms of physics to attribute predictability to physical phenomenon. So logic is truth. And Considering weve had 2 world wars.. ya.. it is miraculous the world has survived so long.
With regards to 2. im saying that its true.. whatever creates more value, is what a majority will follow. If that new revolutionary art movement can realize what caused the world to begin in different terms than mathematics.. then that is what im saying, theres no need for string theory any more. If the maths community proves god doesnt exist thru a formula, then they win, theyve created value by destroying the other faith, more ppl will shift their faith to maths. Not all but most.. phychological barriers to conversion are a different aspect.
People who hide from God in math forget that math is a part of God's creation; and merely a fragment. If we live on math alone, we have tunnel vision. The Bible is studied by mathematicians and scientists, as are other holy books, because they are mathematical wonders, as are all revelations.
Logic is universal— it is the cognitive manifestation of the functionality of creation. That's why it's called logic, and it is incontrovertible. Math is the language of rational thought. It is only half the picture— because even scientists acknowledge there are at very least two levels of consciousness.
Noone wins that way ya. You cant use one belief to disprove another belief. Noone except members of your belief would, well, believe you or accept it. You cannot destroy a faith without using that faith itself.
Post a Comment