Science In Islamic Countries 1289
biohack sends us to Physics Today for a thought-provoking article on the status of and prospects for science in Islamic countries. The author, a Pakistani physicist, posits that 'Internal causes led to the decline of Islam's scientific greatness long before the era of mercantile imperialism. To contribute once again, Muslims must be introspective and ask what went wrong.' The author makes a few strong conclusions, many of which are relevant to the general debate between science and religion. From the article: "Science finds every soil barren in which miracles are taken literally and seriously and revelation is considered to provide authentic knowledge of the physical world. If the scientific method is trashed, no amount of resources or loud declarations of intent to develop science can compensate. In those circumstances, scientific research becomes, at best, a kind of cataloging or 'butterfly-collecting' activity. It cannot be a creative process of genuine inquiry in which bold hypotheses are made and checked."
Missing link (Score:1, Funny)
Fixed that for you.
I'm an entomologist... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Unfortunately... (Score:3, Funny)
It is a limited field of study, and it seems most of the 'scientist' studying this phenomena are consumed along with their first experiment. Few papers are written post-experiment.
Re:I'm an entomologist... (Score:4, Funny)
Now then, on to the discussion: Really, what has arab world contributed to the science world?
Oh they still do that (Score:2, Funny)
Recap of Islamic science.... (Score:1, Funny)
True Words (Score:3, Funny)
That describes the fundamentalist Christian-dominated home town so well I want to hug this guy.
The problem with fundamentalists is that they value the knowledge and beliefs of people from thousands of years ago over any progress we have made since.
What? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:"Here's your problem" (Score:5, Funny)
I'll say! [wikipedia.org]
Re:What? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I'm an entomologist... (Score:3, Funny)
Freedom numerals.
Re:freedom of speech (Score:3, Funny)
Was it for time travel?
Re:UNIX explains the singular triune God (Score:5, Funny)
Ironic (Score:3, Funny)
Personally, I can't wait until all these overrated fairy tales are accorded the same level of respect, and have the same level of influence on social and political life, as Ashtarte, Zeus and Ra.
Re:Try being openly gay in a Muslim nation. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:"Here's your problem" (Score:3, Funny)
$c¥nto£og¥$t$.
I really really wanted to replace the "c" with the Cent symbol, and also tried substituting Euro symbol, but Slashdot does not accept either. OK I get that the introduction of the Euro postdates Slashdot itself, but why the heck include the Yen over the Cent???
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Re:"Here's your problem" (Score:4, Funny)