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From:
Lisa Jo Rudy <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informal Science Education Network <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 5 Jan 2007 19:27:19 EST
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ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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Gee...  I'm not sure I buy that entirely.  I mean, "why" IS a  part of 
theology, but isn't it also a part of science?  In other words,  don't scientists 
ask and answer WHY questions all the time?  why is the sky  blue?  Why do 
volcanoes erupt?  
 
Even more significant, I think, is the question WHY does natural selection  
seem to prefer the human animal, which logically has so very many physical and  
psychological weaknesses and flaws?  We look for answers that seem to  
suggest that our present adaptation is somehow preferable (relative to our  
environment) than past adaptations...  
 
Even though, as I understand it, it's scientifically wrongheaded -- we  often 
wind up wondering why and how evolution tends toward the perfect  
adaptation...even though it seems self-evident that the most perfectly adapted  animals 
already existed millions of years ago, and exist to this very day (eg,  
cockroaches!).

I heard  a great explanation about the difference between science and
religion  during a Fresh Air interview with physicist Brian Green.  He
said he  didn't understand why there has to be a controversy between
science and  religion because they try to answer different questions.
Science asks  "how?", "when?" and "what?" whereas Religion asks "Why?".
So they  definitely aren't mutually exclusive, just tackling different
kinds of  questions. 


 

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