Quote:
Originally posted by Porsche-O-Phile
You're bringing up a phenomenon known in philosophical circles as "God of the Gaps". I really suggest Googling this phrase - there is a tremendous amount of material written on the subject. FWIW I'm a huge believer in this phenomenon and believe that one day we WILL understand many of the things that are currently "mysteries" to us - creating (in the minds of some) a necessity for divinity.
It wasn't all that long ago that notions of understanding the sun or the wind or eclipses or tidal waves or rain without resorting to "gods" would have been considered absurd. In this same manner, I believe that the things many currently consider "unsolvable" problems (without involving a god or gods in the explainations) will similarly be solved. Things like proof of the existence or lack of existence of an afterlife, why the Virgin Mary appears as a salt stain on the underside of a highway overpass (or in grilled cheese sandwiches, if you prefer), the origin of the universe (what caused the "Big Bang"), the nature of time and matter, evidence of man's global-scale impact on the environment (global climate change), stronger proof of evolution (fossil record, etc.)
The mechanisms of their solving and understanding probably are either unconventional or beyond our ability to conceive at present, so the weak-minded dismiss them as "impossibilities" and quickly resort to mythology.
God? Religion? I submit simple control, power, secular agendas and a smattering of trying to infuse some nobility into the notion of human existence as reasons. A recipe for some wonderful stories - and some terrible deeds.
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I agree with this, but I would add one thing. You say “our ability to conceive at present.” I would add that some things might be beyond our ability, or knowledge, forever.
Our brains are only so powerful. Perhaps there is some form of mathematics beyond what we currently understand that is as foreign to our brains as algebra is to a monkey’s brain. If we knew this form of math, perhaps the unified field theory would be obvious. We’d look at the first few micro-seconds of the big band and say “well, duh, that’s simple.” Multi-dimensional string theory could be resolved.
Nothing we know about can prevent a black hole from collapsing into a singularity, but perhaps there is something going on in black holes that we will never, ever, learn.
For evolution, perhaps we don’t know how species A became species C. But there might not be any fossils of species B in existence. We will never, ever learn this. It doesn’t mean that species B never existed. It just means that there is no fossil record of species B.
Etc, etc.