Science versus Religion and the Limits of Knowledge

This post was inspired by my reply to this post in Stephen's blog.
 
Science is really a methodology for discovering truth that seeks to eliminate our own internal biases and worldviews from the equation. Things like repeatable experiments, control groups, isolating the variable you are testing, and so on. Therefore the scientific methodology applies everywhere where those concepts can be applied. Where those concepts cannot be applied can be recognized then the best we can do is simply list multiple plausible less certain theories where their only test for truth is internal consistency. But the truths found by science are much more certain, especially when put into an information processing theory like quantum mechanics or finite state automata, so scientific truths set limits on non-scientific truths.

In the original blog post one can see that religious types put their own non-scientific truth above scientific truth which is wrong if one seeks to maximize their own and their group's security by knowing the most certain truth. They find more security and contentment (that along with sex and food acquisition are our deepest motivations from which all other motivations arise) in believing a myth that appeals directly to those emotions than in believing in a higher certainty of truth. In the end humans, like all animals, are emotion driven.

Those areas of human inquiry where the scientific methodology can't be applied would seem to include most things outside of our universe. Our finite universe was created within something eternal about 15 billion years ago yet all matter is confined to our universe according to the equations of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics in that both space and the quantum amplitude (responsible for defining the pathing of matter) goes to 0 when matter goes to 0. Another big area that can't be precisely measured is the mental (emotional and rational) states of our own brains. Related to this is our own conscious sensations.