I'd just like to thank...........

[Buffoon]

One of the major forces behind technical innovation has been war and religion has been a major cause of conflict. So they have been doing ‘their bit’ for technology.

[threaded]

The church was able to suppress scientific inquiry for several hundred years..

Utter bollox. Where do you think most scientific progress was made numb nuts?

[Magnus]

Utter bollox. Where do you think most scientific progress was made numb nuts?

I beg your pardon??


Most scientific progress has been made -- WHERE -- in the liberal secular West, I would say. WHEN, it depends how you want to split up the eras, for example would you define several periods, in which case it would be in the 1930s. Or if you want to mark a single turning point it would be since some time between the ~15th century Renaissance and Newtown.

By WHOM -- well, the way I see it, there have been broadly three sources of ways to explain nature: 1) Greek philosophy where one pulled explanations out of one's arse (Aristotle-style); 2) religion, where one pulled explanations from one's arse but gave it religious authority; 3) science, based on observation, scepticism, rationality, and experimentation.

There have been religious efforts which used scientific processes to try to explain nature. Scholars like Albertus Magnus even tried to argue that science and religion should be separate, but they never got far, especially when they started bumping up against dogma.

Like I said in my first post, religion started failing when its position became untenable with Galileo's clear evidence against the geocentric model. Heliocentrism was nothing new though, the idea had existed for hundreds of years. I wonder how much sooner we, as humans, could have started our journey of scientific discovery if religion wasn't in the way?

I'm surprised this is even controversial. I thought the second point in my first post would have gotten the arguments; still, it's early days.

[threaded]

Would that be Saint Albertus Magnus the Dominican Friar sometime Bishop of Regensburg?

[OwlHoot]

Would that be Saint Albertus Magnus the Dominican Friar sometime Bishop of Regensburg?

Spot on, and how about Robert Grosseteste , and Roger Bacon

[shoes]

Because if he hadn't you wouldn't be working in the computer industry for starters as there wouldn't be any computers!

Im failing to see the upside here

[Churchill]

I'd like to thank JC for his part in the biggest conspiracy known to man.

[Buffoon]

I'd like to thank JC for his part in the biggest conspiracy known to man.

WHAT!
He had something to do with the cancellation of the original series of Star Trek?