[split] a discussion on origins sparked by "The Order of Things"

[busker]

Cherry-picking from science:

Theoretical physicists have spent over 40 years chasing string theory, which, outside of very elegant mathematical constructs, has yet to be successfully tested.

How many careers have been devoted to chasing this "theory" in hopes of producing the elusive "Theory of Everything?"  String theory remains something of a *best guess*. Many theoretical physicists stand behind it as if proof is right around the corner. To me, that is having *faith*; a belief in something that is not yet supported by evidence.

Unfortunately, misrepresentation of string theory as a valid scientific theory has been appropriated by some people as proof that God exists in dimensions beyond our direct observation, and that God continues to influence our existence while operating in these dimensions, or some other universe that exists outside the laws of ours.  Conveniently unable to be proved/disproved.   

That said, *real science* grinds on, either verifying or disproving hypothseses with the introduction of peer reviewed evidence produced by valid experimentation. 

One day, *ideas* such as string theory and the multiverse will be proven- about the same time that Jesus returns on clouds of glory.

 “real science” is not just dull plodders grinding away. That is just a part of it, the same way that “real civil engineering” is not just designing sewage systems. An equally important, and far more challenging, part of science is the ability to theorise and express that theory mathematically. This is beyond the capability of 99.99% of the population, who never do any maths more abstract than differential equations at best.
Theoretical physics is already so abstract that proof will take years if not decades. The first proof of gravitational waves, a fundamental prediction of General Relativity, came a hundred years after it was made. And GR is something that’s taught at a masters level these days.

The equivalence of having “faith” in string theory vs having “faith” in Jesus is that the former is subject to change. If ST is intellectually satisfying, a physicist may believe it, but if any evidence turns up to refute it or if a better theory emerges to explain nature, then it’s not the end of the world.

The existence of parallel universes is not a conjecture confined to string theory. It was first posited in the 50s by a British physicist named Everett to explain the collapse of the wave function.

Anyway, to compare all of the above with the collected mutterings of religion is to miss the point. To even understand what is being disputed in the case of physics takes years of actual study. To read the epistles of Paul doesn’t take more than a few months to a year of studying Koine Greek - and even that is not something that most people do.
It’s a false equivalence. A more fitting intellectual parallel for religion would be the belief in Maradona as the greatest football player of all time. About as intellectually rigorous.

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String theory is more than an “idea”.
Anyone can have a bright idea.
String theory has a mathematical formulation that explains the rest of physics (though, I would assume, not completely).
Still doesn’t mean it’s right.

But a lot more work has gone into it than the idle speculation of the sparsely educated to illiterate outcasts of society preaching to its dregs (why didn’t Yehosua’s message catch on in Jerusalem? Because the educated Jews knew better than to fall for the rantings of a delusional tradesman).
But emotionally satisfying, no doubt.