News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Verification Is Not Knowledge: Science needs more than answers. Parent comment

Re:Verification Is Not Knowledge: Science needs more than an... by throw0101c on Wednesday November 04, 2026 @09:09AM (#50365748)
> You are conflating science with philosophy

Science needs a metaphysical basis and certain assumptions to even get off the ground:

> That there is an objective reality shared by all rational observers; That this objective reality is governed by natural laws; That reality can be discovered by means of systematic observation and experimentation; That Nature has uniformity of laws and most if not all things in nature must have at least a natural cause;* etc.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalism_(philosophy)#Provid...

Not all worldviews hold these views / make these assumptions.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Verification Is Not Knowledge: Science needs more than an... by throw0101c on Wednesday November 04, 2026 @10:07AM (#50366625)
> That Nature has uniformity of laws […]

Meta: The scifi author Vernor Vinge played around with this concept with his "Zones of Thought", e.g.:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep

[ Parent | on HN ]