Thursday with a million thoughts rolling around in my head...

Today's one of those days that I have a million and one thoughts, and the fear that I'm not going to get any of them down. It's a busy day for me, and I have limited time between meetings and classes and events with the kids. It's the kind of day I wish there were some way for me to blog while driving.

Quick summaries instead of long blogs (which somehow got longer in the telling):

Conversations with a Christian: frames of reference: One of the things that a lot of people leaning a bit toward the religious right tend to say is that scientific theories often have to be scrapped because they're wrong... and that evolution is one of those theories. I have already addressed scaffolding in scientific theory (building upon previous ideas as knowledge comes in) I'd also like to talk about frames of reference.

Frames of reference is a weird topic, because I'm going to end up applying it to a number of different thoughts I have about science and religion.

Let's take the earth. Everyone today agrees that the earth is round, and that it spins on it's poles. Right? Well, that's an approximation. First off, there are two sets of poles, geographic poles and magnetic poles. Second, the earth isn't perfectly round. It's kinda oblong. So saying that the earth is round and spins on it's pole is an approximation, but it gives you a pretty good and useful bit of information on which to base your understanding of what's going on.

Now everyone knows that the turning of the earth is what makes day and night, but people still talk about sunrise and sunset, like the sun is moving. In our frame of reference, that's what it seems like, and you have to get off the planet to actually see it differently with your eyes.

But if you want to plant a garden, and are only concerned with your begonias getting enough light in the afternoon, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference if you think that the sun circles the earth or the earth circles the sun. Of course, if you want to launch a rocket ship into space after you've planted those begonias, it makes a great deal of difference indeed.

There are a whole lot of people who aren't going to be launching rocket ships into space, so being ignorant of the external reference frame isn't going to have a lot of impact on their lives.

The same thing can be said for the curvature of the earth. Scientists aren't hypocrites when they talk about how flat their back yard is, because when you're planting your grass seed, building your house, or driving to your brother's house for dinner, the curvature of the planet doesn't come into play a whole heck of a lot.

But even though the earth may seem locally flat, the Earth is, in fact, curved.

I think there's a lot to be said about Science and religion here. I'll go further and say that what I'm about to say isn't going to be terribly popular with either side.

For most people, it doesn't make a whit of difference whether life evolved or was created. Most people don't work in biochemistry, medicine, geology, and so on. Most people work in supermarkets, barbershops and Walmarts. But to come to a greater understanding, or to work in those other fields, you really have to understand that there is more than your immediate perceptions. Beyond the begonia patch the world curves.

It's dangerous to teach kids that the earth is flat or that a god created the world because it narrows their understanding to the local, the immediate, and the primitive. In a world society we need to be able to look beyond our own frame of reference, our own local experience, and come to common understandings and a universal frame of reference from which to anchor our discussions. That frame can't be American, or Christian, or Muslim or Chinese, or Jewish, or any other group that is based on narrow local preferences and culture. It can only arise from something outside, something analytical, and without local assumptions. It has to be something outside the frame work... and that's science.

Now, I've recently had an interesting conversation with an individual who belongs to an indigenous faith. She often voices that the scientific explanation for creation is wrong, and that her Native belief is correct. She also states that Christian beliefs are wrong, and that her beliefs are correct. However, she does not believe that my tribe's very different belief is wrong. She can, with total comfort, state that the people came through a cave into this world AND that Sky woman fell from the Sky and was impregnated by Wind Man after being rescued by turtle and beaver.

This brings up an interesting issue when it comes to culture, tolerance, values, tradition and science. Science is always fair game. People have no qualms about bashing science because it is outside and independent of culture. Culture (and religion) are "protected" in most cases by our value for diversity. Of course, that doesn't apply to the enemy whether it's the White Man, the Muslims, or who ever we're unhappy with for other reasons. Tolerance doesn't extend to people who don't share our fundamental values, beliefs, or political ideals.

Of course, that doesn't work both ways. Striking back (or even disagreeing) means you're evil, so the presumption is that you have nothing of value to say. That's what makes it so simple for the Creationist argument. They don't need proof, they only need to say that science is evil (that scientists lie, that it's a corruption or vanity) and they have their argument won... from their local perception. Every one in their begonia patch will find that a suitable argument, even though it can't even be seen from a begonia patch half a world away.

The problem is, and continues to be, that people refuse to look at the big picture. That those who do are somehow violating the rights of those who insist that the only experiences, knowledge, and understandings that everyone else in the world should have is limited to the experiences they have in their own begonias, and that anything outside of that somehow violates the sanctity of their garden.

Until we can get these people to look beyond their begonias, we can't have world dialog, let alone come to a common understanding about the planet (and beyond) we call home.