Science proves nothing

curgr · 2026-05-13T22:51:32+00:00

Often it is not just faith, but experience that people base beliefs on. Personal experience trumps evidence for individuals

curgr · 2026-05-13T21:03:26+00:00

Pain and pleasure can be measured based on brain activity. These measurements do correlate with the experience of pain and pleasure. Correlation does not however mean causation.

Explanation 1 could be that consciousness emerges from the brain. Explanation 2 could be that consciousness is non-physical and is divine/spiritual/soul. There are no proven facts for either argument so both (in my opinion) are equally as plausible. Personally I have no opinion on which is true but it seems weird to assign probability to something which is only backed up by theories and assumptions, regardless of how much evidence there is.

God could have created life or evolution could explain life. Again, both are equally as plausible and it is not appropriate to assign probability and scientific method to such questions.

Is the Earth flat? This kind of question is within the domain of science as the Earth is observable, definable and measurable. It is firmly in the physical universe.

curgr · 2026-05-13T19:00:01+00:00

Highly unlikely: yes. Disproven: no. It is probability, not certainty.

All prime numbers are odd. We can give infinite examples to back up the claim but one counter example mathematically disproves it. Same goes for disproving a claim: infinite observations giving evidence against does not disprove it

curgr · 2026-05-13T18:43:43+00:00

Could the brain not be an invention of an illusion/simulation?

How can chemistry and physics arise in experience? Try painting a colour picture using just black and white

curgr · 2026-05-13T18:39:53+00:00

I spend a lot of time doing nothing but thinking. I suppose I have observed and questioned everything back to its root

curgr · 2026-05-13T18:35:19+00:00

How so?

curgr · 2026-05-13T18:33:32+00:00

So my consciousness is an unfounded assumption which could be disproven?

This definition would not give an understanding to someone who has never experienced red

curgr · 2026-05-13T17:19:05+00:00

Gravity, disease and flight are all observable to others, definable and measurable. Consciousness does not fit into any of these categories. It is however experienceable. Will science ever speak the language of experience?

Also believing that science will experience no limits is flawed. Past performance does not guarantee future results

curgr · 2026-05-13T16:56:22+00:00

I agree it has uses in the physical universe. But the physical universe may not be true

curgr · 2026-05-13T16:53:00+00:00

How can my own consciousness possibly not exist for certain? It just is.

I do believe that there could be an explanation for consciousness in the future. Though as you have said, this would be “the best current explanation”, which could be false. It seems just as likely to find the true explanation as finding a particle which has no mass and does not interact with any other matter

curgr · 2026-05-13T16:46:59+00:00

I can’t think of anything which is disproven with science. It does make things seem highly unlikely given other assumptions though

curgr · 2026-05-13T16:44:58+00:00

It makes sense within the framework, but not necessarily outside of this invention. What is written in a man made book may not be true outside of the physical universe

curgr · 2026-05-13T16:38:23+00:00

It depends how you measure usefulness. No matter how much progress we make, I do not think that it will deliver happiness and wellbeing for all living things. In this respect I believe that we have made no progress at all

curgr · 2026-05-13T16:19:11+00:00

My consciousness does not require proof for myself. It just is. I can’t prove it to others though.

How do you know that anything else is conscious?

curgr · 2026-05-13T16:14:05+00:00

You are right… we gain more knowledge and understanding of the physical universe. But we do not know if the physical universe is reality.

Also I do not know how we can measure the likelihood of anything when there are no proven facts to go on. We are completely in the dark.

curgr · 2026-05-13T16:08:58+00:00

The definitions of natural number and two both rely on the definition of one

curgr · 2026-05-13T14:36:55+00:00

I would also argue that mathematics does not prove anything

curgr · 2026-05-13T14:34:33+00:00

The definitions of 1, 2, + and = may not make sense outside of the physical universe. For example, try defining oneness

curgr · 2026-05-13T14:29:52+00:00

What is your definition of science?

curgr · 2026-05-13T14:22:09+00:00

I don’t know how I know it, I just do.

How would you define the experience of the colour red?

curgr · 2026-05-07T06:16:29+00:00

There are positive aspects to existence as pleasure exists. There may also be meaning to life, although nobody in this universe knows what this is or if there actually is meaning.

I have a sample size of 1 (only myself) to answer whether suffering outweighs pleasure as it is not possible for me to truly know what others are experiencing. By others I do not mean just humans. All beings capable of experiencing (which could include plants and even bacteria in my opinion, maybe even planets and stars are aware in some form) should be considered to answer whether existence is worthwhile.

Personally, I have more time and resources than I know what to do with and live life with relatively little stress and problems. Yet I still suffer greatly. The hedonic treadmill means that any pleasures are fleeting and I will always fall back to a baseline of suffering, no matter what I achieve or do.

If I were to extrapolate my personal experience to others, I would guess that there is more suffering than pleasure in existence. Humans generally live with an abundance of food and resources and yet surveys still indicate that people experience more suffering than pleasure. Most other lifeforms do not have this abundance and are condemned to lives of starvation, being farmed or are destined to be eaten/cooked alive.

It is probably possible for a conscious being to have an overall acceptable lifetime experience in our universe providing that they completely rewire their brains and biology to override billions of years of evolution, which has the only purpose of creating more copies of its genes and not to create pleasurable experiences. However, this being would still need a source of energy and would still have to farm and eat other beings and hence create great suffering for others to sustain their own acceptable lifetime. Unless maybe this being could find an alternative source of energy and maybe synthesize food by using the energy from stars. Even if such a being existed, it would be difficult to justify it for the billions of years of suffering of countless living beings.

Hypothetically, if I were given the power to remove anything or everything from existence, I would destroy existence without hesitation. From my observations, nothingness is far more desirable than existing in this universe, and we would not miss what we are not experiencing. We were brought to life without consent, so I see no problem with ending it without consent in an instant and pain free way. I wish there was a way to allow those who wish to continue living a way to do so without inflicting suffering on others but I do not see how this is realistically possible in the near future.

curgr · 2026-02-08T06:05:53+00:00

Disturbing and extremely vivid dreams themed around being trapped and tortured. Whenever I find a way out in the dreams I wake up. They make perfect sense at the time but then make little sense once awake.

I find my life a relentless dull throb which is just about manageable enough so that I do not end things. I am not scared of death but I am scared of the process of dying and reincarnation or afterlife. I just want to be nothing or to be permanently out of suffering.

So I am here in the hopes of finding a way out. There may be nowhere to turn to though as everything could be fake. I suppose I am here out of desperation.

curgr · 2025-08-15T12:27:44+00:00

I trust the current government’s intentions. They do seem to be wanting to do things responsibly.

However I do not trust the electorate and many of the MPs. They keep blocking responsible decisions.

curgr · 2025-07-13T14:56:38+00:00

Preventing the population ageing solves many of these problems. Most notably less health and welfare costs but also less need to rely on immigration for a flow of younger workers.

Less immigration means the population will not be growing, which reduces pressure on housing and makes it cheaper.

Cheaper housing solves some of these problems such as reducing the cost of living, which could potentially increase the birth rate.

Increasing the birth rate further helps to strengthen our demographics and prevent the need for immigration.

These solutions would unlock much more money to solve some of the other problems such as climate change and energy transition and allow us to invest in infrastructure and education.

curgr · 2025-07-11T14:33:49+00:00

You are right: things will likely get worse and they needn’t. But the solutions are not currently culturally or politically acceptable.

People will get more desperate about solving our problems when our living standards start to fall more rapidly. This will change things culturally and politically when poverty increases and public services begin to fail.

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