Before this James Cameron business hit the filter I was stewing over a line of ad copy for Victor J. Stegner’s book God: Failed Hypothesis
Science has advanced sufficiently to make a definitive statement on the existence-or nonexistence-of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God.
But as it turns out, science hasn’t even reached the point where it can make a definitive statement about the authenticity of an inscription on a first century bone box. In this case science comes up with not just one, but two definitive statements–the first being that the inscription is indisputably authentic. The other scientific conclusion is that the insciption on the box is undeniably a forgery.
In fact, it seems to me that science is having an increasingly hard time making a definitive statement about anything. Take antioxidants. After thousands of studies, the Journal of the American Medical Association conducted a huge meta-analysis to study the claim that antioxidant supplements can prolong life. Their conclusion: antioxidants do nothing to extend life, and may in fact be correlated with higher rates of mortality. In English: Vitamin E supplements can kill you.
Meta-analysis of thousands of studies, all done by strict scientific method should produce a definitive statement, wouldn’t you think? Sadly, no. Other experts are disputing the methodology of the study.
Even after skads of scientists study a matter, billions of dollars are spent, it still seems to come down to a subjective interpretation of the data.