science debate megathread

[Lego lad]

but...but all le reLIEgions are teh dumb.

Da heck u say m8
fite me

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[TristanLuigi]

We should just make a Science Megathread [Debates Welcome!].

[McJobless]

Science is accidental, Religion is spontaneous and Philosophy is essential.

I don't like the process of science. People rarely ask "Why should we", instead going "How should we". That's not to say I don't like what science brings, but I'd much prefer to be in a room with philosophers than I would scientists.

Design, in my mind, will always take precedence over science.

[BluetoothBoy]

The scientist/engineer thing was mostly a joke, but you must admit there's a grain of truth in it.

It's more true than you think.

[sir dooble]

So I walked home from college today and there was a (very poorly attended) anti-GMO protest taking place in the Town Square (which is weird, because this area doesn't do much with GMO research as far as I know, being instead one of the centres of pharmaceutical production in the UK).

Did you guys know that GMOs have already destroyed the entire environment? Because that's what I learnt today.

Science is accidental, Religion is spontaneous and Philosophy is essential.

I don't like the process of science. People rarely ask "Why should we", instead going "How should we". That's not to say I don't like what science brings, but I'd much prefer to be in a room with philosophers than I would scientists.

Design, in my mind, will always take precedence over science.

Scientists constantly ask "Why should we". Ethics is involved in science plenty enough. If it weren't we'd constantly have live-trials of everything we've ever made or thought of, and we'd already have cloning of human embryos and more.

But science is interested in finding things out. Thinking is all well and good, but sometimes you have to push forward a step and try things out.
Not all scientists question why, before they do something, but the majority have consciences and question what they're doing. And when science itself isn't questioning itself, then those backing it are, such as businesses and governments.

As a student of the humanities (including philosophy) and the sciences, I can gladly say that I'd rather spend my time in a room of equal parts philosophers and scientists. Both sides generally have their flaws. Put the two together.

[pefu19]

lETS TALK ABOUT POLITICS!

[Ipquarx]

Did you guys know that GMOs have already destroyed the entire environment? Because that's what I learnt today.

Anyone who says this has no solid proof to back it up and is therefore objectionably untrustable

[XR-7]

I personally have never looked into GMO stuff, but I see advantages to both sides. I eat both foods interchangeably (I don't really check, but sometimes I'll eat stuff from a farmer's market). Artificially stunted food is good for longer ripened period and mass production while natural food has fewer worries about it (flaws exist either way, but food grown normally likely has less chance of human error).

[Headcrab Zombie]

Did you guys know that GMOs have already destroyed the entire environment? Because that's what I learnt today.

Before anyone thinks otherwise, he's just repeating what the protesters said, not actually asserting it.
For the sake of addressing this point, though before anyone does try to make an argument off it, the reality is the opposite. By making plants that are genetically resistant to pests and are genetically more able to survive, the need for pesticides and fertilizers that could run off and cause pollution can be reduced

[Doomonkey]

For the sake of addressing this point, though before anyone does try to make an argument off it, the reality is the opposite. By making plants that are genetically resistant to pests and are genetically more able to survive, the need for pesticides and fertilizers that could run off and cause pollution can be reduced

I don't think the cause and effect is this simple. The Earth system is complex and chaotic.

[Headcrab Zombie]

I'm not saying it's a clear-cut, 100% cause and effect.
I'm saying it's possible in some cases

[Harm94]

So I walked home from college today and there was a (very poorly attended) anti-GMO protest taking place in the Town Square (which is weird, because this area doesn't do much with GMO research as far as I know, being instead one of the centres of pharmaceutical production in the UK).

Did you guys know that GMOs have already destroyed the entire environment? Because that's what I learnt today.

I saw a legalize marijuana petition table once, an abortion protests, and vegans handing out pamphlets multiple times at my college.

[Doomonkey]

I'm not saying it's a clear-cut, 100% cause and effect.
I'm saying it's possible in some cases

I'm saying it is misleading. You are providing a positive example for your argument which is really founded in nothing because, even though it seems reasonable, the Earth system is not easy to understand at all.

[sir dooble]

I saw a legalize marijuana petition table once, an abortion protests, and vegans handing out pamphlets multiple times at my college.

Yeah, that makes sense at a university, and I get it here too at my FE college, but the middle of a quiet market town (away from the shops, too), on a Tuesday afternoon, where everyone is either off working the fields (as actual farmers) or in their teashops, is an odd time and place to do a protest.


The other year there was a "Free Tibet" protest too. Around here I'd happily say that at least half the population couldn't even tell you where Tibet was or what it needs freeing from.

I think country-protesters just happen to live in the most unfortunate places for their causes.

[SeventhSandwich]

You strike me as one of those people that would tell the Amish to forget off and modernize. You seem to have this belief that everything should be the way that see fit. Rather than have more choices, you chose for people simply because you believe that is the best.

I don't really care if hippie-types in the US don't buy GMOs. The problem is when I see people literally disseminating blatantly false information about new scientific interventions. These new forms of genetic engineering have the power to save millions from starving to death, but only if there's enough interest in them that it's economically viable for the companies researching them.

I'm not trying to make a 'nanny-state' lol.