Going blind is one of my worst fears. I'm glad to see any progress in bionic eyes.
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Science: A googol - Religion: zero

Nothing on this Earth can show what he sees... but that is what they are feeding his probes.

mmmmmm...probes...

This... this is extraordinary.

An inflammatory, fairly pointless and invalid statement.

The engineer who developed this may very well be religious (statistically he/she probably is).

They are oil and water. Science helps us quantify and predict the observable environment. Religion is man's struggle to know the unknowable.

He may very well be. But his religion has nothing to do with making a blind man see.

However, religion does try to take claim on "miracles" and "cures", when in facts, it's nothing but bullshit. Science actually helps a blind man see. Religion doesn't. Science cures people of their illnesses (some of them at least). Religion doesn't.

Science helps us quantify, predict AND change the observable environment. Religion is man's struggle for power over others using superstition and ignorance while at the same time people stick their heads in the sand pretending that the end isn't really the end. It knows nothing. It makes up everything and if necessary denies reality even in the face of opposite evidence.

I imaged a comparison of this video (science) and of one that takes place on a stage that involved someone yelling "HEALLLLL, HEALLLL" and then someone getting smacked in the forehead and falling over. (religion). = )

what part of @harlequinn's commentary is confusing you two?

he didnt bring up religion,you two did.
all he did was point out that to do so was irrelevant and pointless.
which,in case you missed it,is a correct assertion.

i think this is fascinating and an incredible leap in technology.imagine where this will be in a few years.i keep picturing geordi from the next generation.how amazing is that?

I think you missed his point.
Religion/faith healing repeatedly CLAIMS credit for 'miracle healing' (which is any healing their non-medically trained mind can't explain), sometimes for ANY healing, including most healing of the blind. Before now, they have had a near monopoly on 'healing the blind' (although it should be said that it's never been done with a verified incurable 'blind' person, or even as a 'blind test'...pun intended.)
I thought he was refuting those repeated assertions.

U think he had regrets seeing what he hitched to for the first time?

Ask the engineers whether religion influenced their lives or not - you don't speak for them.

"Religion" doesn't claim anything (it's not an entity). People who have religious beliefs sometimes have. I've never seen it claimed except in movies. Perhaps you live in an area where it is often claimed (and I feel sorry for you if that is the case). Either way - don't paint religious people the world over with the same brush because of your limited experience (note: everyone has limited experience one way or another - it's just the way it is).

Science doesn't do anything by itself. People use the scientific method to achieve things. In a device like this, it is a biomedical engineer doing most of the work. Funnily enough this happens to be my field (I moved over to it from health science a few years back - just a few years study left....).

Meanwhile, religious people built much of what you enjoy today which utilises the scientific method as a starting point.

Your idea of religion, while sometimes true in a very limited sense, is maligned and doesn't correspond with anything but the current anti-religion zeitgeist. Which is a pity because you seem like a smart person and could do much good for other people (and in general hating on people doesn't achieve that). Perhaps in time you'll reconsider people with religious beliefs in a better light.

I'm not saying religion may or may not have had an influence on him or anyone else throughout his/their lives.

What I am saying is that It sure had no influence on reality and the way that device works. It also didn't give him the knowledge or education necessary to know how to make that. In fact, quite the opposite. If he had TRULY, DEEPLY believed the bible (for example), he wouldn't even have tried. He would've simply tried to pray the blindness away, and believe that god would take care of things. And if it didn't... hey it's god's will. God works in mysterious ways right? Let's just wait to die and be carried to heaven.

But fortunately, at least from my perspective, most people (unlike religious extremists) don't actually believe. Not really. They WANT to believe. They believe they want to believe. But it goes no further than that. It's an act of fear of the unknown, grasping at anything that gives them hope that they won't simply go back into nothingness when we die.

Now, contrary to what you may think, I'm not "hating on people". I'm hating on religion. That is true. But I know how to keep that separate from the people. Shit, if I hated people because of that I would hate most of my family, they're pretty much all catholic.

You're saying science doesn't do anything by itself. You're right. It's not an object or a machine. It's a method. And thanks to it, great things have been achieved. Unlike religion. That's my point. You don't actually DO anything with religion except fill every possible void of knowledge with bullshit, expecting it to stick, even when it flies in the face of actual reality.

You said: "Meanwhile, religious people built much of what you enjoy today which utilises the scientific method as a starting point."

Just because they're religious doesn't mean religion had anything to do with it. What did, was the void of knowledge they felt, even though religion claimed the absolute truth; and the need for better lives, even though religion claimed to be the only way for a perfect life.

People didn't achieve anything with religion. If anything they noticed just how much void of knowledge there was that needed to be filled, and not with the answer: "god did it!".

You're religious I'm guessing... you didn't go into this field to try and help people because you're religious. You went to it because you're probably a good person who wants to help others, and also help advance mankind. None of that has anything to do with religion.

edit: sorry, long text

I wish that were true. Unfortunately, around the world, there is a large contingent, perhaps even majority, that does think about religion in the way he described, as all powerful and directly effecting reality...in fact the only thing that effects reality. Tens of millions of people in just America (or more) believe in faith healing.
EDIT: Consider the prevalence of Televangelists that nearly ALL do faith healings (for money). Also, in South America, it's at least been reported that in some countries it's considered fact by a majority of the population.
It is good that many have left fundamentalism and put some semblance of sanity in their religion, but many more have not.