Moorad Alexanian wrote:
> It is impossible for me to do science or just be a plain, ordinary human
> being and not believe in a Creator. That is the tenure of my first sentence.
This is your own self-understanding, with which I have no argument. It
is clearly not the self-understanding of many other people, including a lot of
competent scientists. & I think there's no compelling theological reason why it
should be.
> The statement I make is that the data for science is collected solely
by non-human devices, viz. >mechanical, electrical, etc. Needless to say,humans
design those devices, which are theory laden, >but the data itself is still
collected by devices that do not include man as a "detector." Moorad
1) Doesn't data gathered by naked eye (or ear &c) observations
qualify? & even though astronomers seldom actually look through their
telescopes, they do look at photos, CCD readouts &c.
2) Theory doesn't just enter in the construction of instruments, but in
inferences from the readings of instruments. As in my previous example, what is
actually seen in a bubble chamber photo is swirly lines. The data usually
reported, that certain reactions take place in protons-antiprotons collisions or
whatever, requires a lot of theoretical inferences.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Dialogue"
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