40
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2025
40 points (100.0% liked)
Ask Science
13863 readers
31 users here now
Ask a science question, get a science answer.
Community Rules
Rule 1: Be respectful and inclusive.
Treat others with respect, and maintain a positive atmosphere.
Rule 2: No harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or trolling.
Avoid any form of harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or offensive behavior.
Rule 3: Engage in constructive discussions.
Contribute to meaningful and constructive discussions that enhance scientific understanding.
Rule 4: No AI-generated answers.
Strictly prohibit the use of AI-generated answers. Providing answers generated by AI systems is not allowed and may result in a ban.
Rule 5: Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
Adhere to community guidelines and comply with instructions given by moderators.
Rule 6: Use appropriate language and tone.
Communicate using suitable language and maintain a professional and respectful tone.
Rule 7: Report violations.
Report any violations of the community rules to the moderators for appropriate action.
Rule 8: Foster a continuous learning environment.
Encourage a continuous learning environment where members can share knowledge and engage in scientific discussions.
Rule 9: Source required for answers.
Provide credible sources for answers. Failure to include a source may result in the removal of the answer to ensure information reliability.
By adhering to these rules, we create a welcoming and informative environment where science-related questions receive accurate and credible answers. Thank you for your cooperation in making the Ask Science community a valuable resource for scientific knowledge.
We retain the discretion to modify the rules as we deem necessary.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
No I don't, for example, I don't need evidence that my car works, because it just does.
If I interacted with ghosts regularly, then I'd already have proof that materialism doesn't exist.
If we did not regularly and readily believe things without evidence, we would not ever find ourselves incorrect, but we do, and many times in total. (If you believe yourself never incorrect you are very foolish and charlatans will have a field day with you.)
You are lying to yourself if you think that you do not take your daily life on trust and experience, not evidence. We are the product of evolution and usually spot patterns quickly rather than gather evidence and consider carefully. We make snap decisions all day every day on scant or no evidence. We would be paralysed by indecision if not. This is not wrong, it's not bad, it's just quick and necessary.
Your faith in your car is a case in point. You trust that it will work. You don't think to question it, because you're familiar with it. You similarly trust, without evidence, the vehicles of your friends and family and of taxi drivers, and any number of buses or trains that you use every day, but as soon as I'm selling you a car, you want proof, and expect documentation, full service history, government checks of whether the vehicle has been written off or stolen (if your country or state provides such things), test drives and warranties. The stakes are higher so you require evidence. You do no such thing before boarding a bus or taxi.
No, we reserve the demand for evidence for things about which we are already skeptical, or things that we doubt, or where we are unsure and feel we don't know. Not for the rest. Not at all. We just assume our conclusions based on hunches and experience. No one lives their daily normal life as a skeptic about everything they believe, and you would stand out as a very, very strange indeed if you did.
Your evidence is massively, powerfully and overwhelmingly outweighed by your beliefs. Even your beliefs about science are formed through social relationships and third hand "evidence" at best. This is not because you are foolish and credulous, but because you are sensible and pragmatic, and because you are primarily a functioning human animal for more hours a day than you are a lab-closeted scientist or logic-bound philosopher.
Again, the demand for evidence comes after disbelief, sketpicism, doubt or indecision, and not before it.
So... you're saying I already disbelieve the soul or... something?
I'm saying that this is untrue:
Because we all believe hundreds of things every day without evidence.
The demand for evidence comes after we have decided that we don't believe something or we're skeptical or unsure.
We accept things that fit with our mental model of the world without question. It's things that don't fit with our prior understanding that we question.
We are a product of our culture, upbringing and experiences, far more than we are the product of cold hard reason.
We are social creatures first and scientist mathematician philosopher lawyers second.