Based on the logic in your posts, I find that easy to believe. It was becoming more and more obvious that you had little understanding of real science. Instead it was a name you had plastered over your philosophy of naturalism probably because the religion of your childhood taught you that these were the same thing. But surely you must realize that the religion of your childhood is very poor source for understanding what science is.
Being an actuary seems like a good fit for an atheist to me. Isn’t it all about going for the best bet according to the numbers? Reminds me of Pascal’s wager which something I refute here and here.
Of course. Science and naturalism are not the same thing at all. But the facts are easy to verify for someone who really wants to know. Just as it is pretty easy to find the scientific research I have participated in.
So what is science then… really?
Science is an activity which follows procedural ideals in which your subjective beliefs are irrelevant. That is why people from all over the world in different cultures and religions have been able to take part in the work of science. These procedural ideals are…
- procedural honesty is achieved by testing hypotheses and accepting the results.
- procedural objectivity is achieved by giving the results of science in the form of written procedures which anyone can follow to get the same result no matter what you may want or believe.
Following these procedural ideals gives one a reasonable expectation that others should accept the results of science.
The methodology you have been using is that of rhetoric, which is the dominant methodology of human civilization, used in religion, politics, courts of law, and in the marketplace. To be sure it uses the principles of logic. But logic will only take you from premises you choose to accept to the conclusions which follow from them. And thus it can be used to support nearly anything – you just search for the premises which give you the conclusion you want.
A deft use of rhetoric is a poor measure of whether one is a good scientist. That has more to do with good lawyers, politicians, salesmen, and preachers. Rhetoric is a good tool for debate but has no place in the work of scientific inquiry. And I don’t have that much interest in debate, no more than I have much interest in politics, sales, or preaching. Rhetoric may be an important tool for running the world and most of its activities but it is a very poor tool for getting at the truth. And I get particularly impatient with the dishonest tactics frequently used in rhetoric which displays very little interest in the truth.