But is the end result garbage or not? Bad Astronomy asks for a direct response, ergo he receives one:
Where did I say matter had anything to do with equality?
You didn’t, it was implied in your inaccurate statement that “evolutionary biology does in fact explain our concepts of justice, equality, and freedom”. Feel free to correct me if I am incorrect and you believe either 1) equality is a material substance, or, 2) you believe that equality does not exist. Otherwise, my assumption that you believe in the existence of an immaterial thing called equality stands. Do let us know your position on the matter.
You were the one conflating our not knowing what makes up dark matter and energy with abstract concepts of justice and equality, not me.
Absolutely. That’s why I said that you didn’t “realize that science is undermining the basis for materialism.” I certainly don’t hold you responsible for things I am saying you don’t realize.
And you were wrong in your premise and your application.
As for the premise, that’s possible, of course it was based entirely upon your initial statement. If that premise is wrong, then logical conclusion is wrong too, naturally. So, are you now saying that it is not true that “everything you can see, taste, hear, touch, just sense in any way… is less than 5% of the whole Universe”? I presume you are now saying that what cannot be sensed in any way can nevertheless be observed. Have these observations of dark matter and dark energy taken place since 2004, when this list of scientists declared that “The big bang today relies on a growing number of hypothetical entities, things that we have never observed– inflation, dark matter and dark energy are the most prominent examples.”?
Let’s just cut to the chase, BA. Are dark energy and dark matter material or immaterial phenomena?
It’s entirely possible that I’m wrong, of course. If dark energy and dark matter are material phenomena, then one can’t reasonably use them to criticize belief in the existence of other phenomena that are not material. My impression, based on your statement about how we cannot sense 95 percent of the universe in any way, was that dark matter and dark energy are immaterial. This impression was supported by the statements of other scientists and by the nomenclature; not being a cosmologist, I simply make use of the information I am provided.