Originally posted by bustr
If a scientist says it's true, thats good enough for me. Sounds like the catholic church in medevil europe. Pope says the world is going to end on day, month, year and hour unless you give more in the sunday plate........
Here's the difference between a scientist and a priest.
1) The scientist works with evidence, the priest does not.
2) A scientist's theories are subject to scrutiny. A priest's "certainties" are not.
3) The criticism and review of a scientific theory is itself also subject to scrutiny. Yet scrutiny is welcomed, and good counter-evidence is welcomed especially because in the scientific view even a disproof of a cherished theory means our knowledge has been advanced. Obviously none of this joy in and desire for intellectual honesty applies to religion.
4) After something has been peer-reviewed enough, we can have some degree of confidence that we can make decisions based on the theory. We can't be 100% sure, but we do our best. This admission of imperfection is something that is quite alien to religion.
You might not be qualified to properly comment on a proposed theory. That doesn't mean you are dumb or that you don't have cognitive ability. While intellectual honesty and rational thought and skepticism and logic are big parts of science, to actually be a scientist you also have to have knowledge and experience. For example, do you think you could comment on any new theories in quantum electrodynamics? Even though you have plenty of cognition and intelligence, I would wager that you would not feel qualified to pronounce judgements in that field.