Let’s say that it’s scientifically proven that ghosts exist. Would they then stop being supernatural and become natural, thus making it impossible to ever have proof of the supernatural?
Let’s say that it’s scientifically proven that ghosts exist. Would they then stop being supernatural and become natural, thus making it impossible to ever have proof of the supernatural?
This question reminds me of Tim Minchin’s observations of alternative medicine. By definition, alternative medicine has either not been proved to work, or has been proved not to work.
You know what we call alternative medicine that has been proved to work?
Medicine.
Reminds me of this ships doctor I was chitchattibg with. He said something along the lines of:
"The difference between a doctor and a witch doctor isn’t that big. The main difference is in sticking to what has been proven to work, and discarding what doesn’t
Not related, but I was reminded of this old joke: what’s the difference between God and a doctor? God doesn’t think he’s a doctor.
Sort of. You have things like willow bark which obviously work and are still considered alternative medicine. However, the pharmaceutical product synthesized from and to work like willow bark is one of the most recognizable OTC medicines in the world – aspirin.
Except what we get with the ancient records regarding willow bark were just what we’d expect with folk medicine: anecdotal claims that it treats a wide range of ailments without any proposed mechanism of action.
It wasn’t until willow extract was actually made into a pharmaceutical that it became anywhere near useful. That willow tea you’re imagining ancient people drank didn’t actually exist and if it did, they were not getting enough salicylic acid from it to equal even a single aspirin.
https://theconversation.com/hippocrates-and-willow-bark-what-you-know-about-the-history-of-aspirin-is-probably-wrong-148087
In short, aspirin follows the above rule: alternative medicine was proven to work, and then became medicine. But the end result is far detached from how it was used thousands of years before it was actually shown to work.