Kyuubi4269 posted...The same applies to religion, but facts actually have to be 99.99999999997% certain to actually be facts so they have pretty solid credentials.
There are things that used to be considered facts that are no longer considered as such, because science marched onward and proved the facts wrong. Facts, evidence and reason are wonderful things to be sure, but it's important to realize our understanding of the universe is always one discovery away from being completely overturned.
Kyuubi4269 posted...Evidence isn't the only driving force, opportunity plays a big role (i.e. We know these things do this so those things can do that.).
Science is simply a collection of everything we know, there's no "Science works in mysterious ways" to hand wave questioning. If you don't know why science suggests something, the information is out there for you to make sense of it and if it doesn't make sense to you, you can discuss it and clear up inclarity with further study.
Evidence is not the same thing as proof. Evidence gives grounds for believing something is true. Proof establishes a thing as true. We have plenty of evidence that germs cause illness, and it's commonly accepted as true. I certainly believe it is true. But we don't have 100% absolute, irrefutable proof that it's true; accepting it as true means placing our faith in the scientists and researchers who tell us it's true based on such-and-such evidence. For all we know, the appearance of germs simply correlate with the true underlying cause of illness, and treatments designed to get rid of the germs actually get rid of the real problem. I'm not saying I believe that, just trying to illustrate how easily what we know can change. What we've learned about quantum physics challenged what we knew about general relativity. The more you study about science, the more you realize how much is unknown.
Edit:
@RedPixel It's an interesting thought exercise to be sure. Just curious, why does the story become more believable to you when it's aliens instead of God? Where do the aliens come from? I'm not criticizing or anything, just asking ^^
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