Thread:User talk:Tmtoulouse/Bump: You know that obnoxious thing people do on the internet when they've said something and they feel they haven't been paid enough attention? I'm doing that./reply (42)

A couple of things science cannot prove/disprove: The second claim is a bit like a Gödel sentence for science. It is a theory which makes the prediction "science cannot prove or disprove the truth of this theory". So it is self-referential (a theory referring to science and its abilities to prove/disprove itself), a bit like a Gödel sentence (I'm not claiming it is exactly like a Gödel sentence though.)
 * 1) Claims about other universes. Science can only deal with this universe, and maybe other universes somehow "accessible" from this one. If there are other universes with no or very limited accessibility from this one, science can't prove/disprove claims about those universes. The other universe I have proposed, one where all the dead go, but which can only be accessed by dying, is beyond the power of pre mortem science to evaluate.
 * 2) Suppose there is a perfect(i.e. error-free, never makes a mistake), omniscient, omnipotent, intelligent agent intervening in the universe. Suppose furthermore this agent does not wish for their intervention to be proveable scientifically. Then, science will not be able to detect the intervention of that agent. It may intervene heavily in times/places where there is little scientific ability; but as the ability of science to detect its intervention increases, it simultaneously decreases its intervention. As a result, science can never prove or disprove its intervention, since it only intervenes under circumstances when it knows science will not be able to detect it, and refuses to intervene otherwise.