Iain Strachan

Computer Simulation Games and Scientific Evidence In this post, I shall carry on my discussion of the nature of miracles and the demand for scientific evidence, using as a model the computer game The Sims . In order to do science we have to make observations in order to gather evidence, formulate theories based on the observations we have made, and then make predictions from those theories.  We postulate experiments that will confirm the correctness of our theories if the outcome is in line with our prediction, or will falsify the theory if the outcome differs from the prediction. That's what science is.  Anything that doesn't follow this pattern (evidence, prediction, validation or falsification), but allows literally anything to be explained away isn't scientific.  An example is given in an A-level Psychology textbook about philosopher Karl Popper's criticism of Freudian psychoanalysis as being unscientific: Science is supposed to deal in observable evidence, but psyc...

Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, had a vision of a galaxy teeming with intriguing alien life forms that it was the Enterprise's five-year mission to seek out. In successive Star Trek franchises the spiritual beliefs of these alien species were often investigated. It seems Roddenberry was preceded in this idea by Alice Meynell (1847-1922), an English Catholic mystical poet, who wrote the following marvellous poem in 1917. Christ in the Universe With this ambiguous earth  His dealings have been told us. These abide:  The signal to a maid, the human birth,  The lesson, and the young Man crucified. But not a star of all  The innumerable host of stars has heard  How He administered this terrestrial ball.  Our race have kept their Lord’s entrusted Word. Of His earth-visiting feet  None knows the secret, cherished, perilous,  The terrible, shamefast, frightened, whispered, sweet,  Heart-shattering secret of His way with us. No planet knows that this  Our wayside planet, carryin...