Science is a metaphysical party pooper.

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I love science, the dispeller of ignorance, superstition and irrationality.

I love science as well!

then scientology would fit you two well

Now you are teasing - I hope.

Pseudo-science is becoming a plague nowadays with cults, snake oil sellers and so called celebrities churning out a mixture of science with science fiction, science fantasy, witchcraft and plain old marketing lies. Trouble is the average person who hasn't had the benefit of a good scientific education often does not know any better and swallows the crap whole.

To make equivalent science and scientology speaks very clearly of your extremely vague and highly inaccurate concept of the two.

You know what's a cult... Alcoholics Anonymous is a cult. Bet you didn't know that or maybe you did. They teach god is the only one that can cure you of your alcoholism. They also teach alcoholism is a disease, but it really is not. Rad!

Tallyman, have you ever read Dianetics? It's sort of like the Bible of Scientology.

I've heard of it but never read it. I encountered scientology twenty years ago and frankly it was just pseudo-science; so I dismissed scientology as a cult and worthy of no further investigation or study. Are you saying Dianetics is worth spending time on reading - if so from what perspective? I have little time to read novels and science fiction nowadays.

I didn't know that about AA. Frightening in a way. Its quite a predatory thing to do - get someone brainwashed into becoming "born again" and maybe "cure" some of them of alcoholism. However, I can't help thinking that Christianity is a lesser evil than being a down and out alcoholic. Hmmmm. It is an interesting point you posit.

Science has limits.

In any case, the comic sort of fails.

I mean, who has proven that sound-waves *must* exist as a result of a tree falling? Well, probably nobody due to the problems inherent in induction, all that can be said is that sound waves occurring is very very probable based upon our current knowledge.

Of course, if you assume that when people are not around, atmospheric air in Earth's atmosphere does not react to moving bodies you have an interesting theory that needs validation. Otherwise you're talking complete nonsense.

Well, the issue is that I can assume a skeptical hypothesis, that the Earth's atmosphere does not necessarily react to moving bodies whenever there is an insufficient ability for intelligent beings to measure the vibrations in the Earth's atmosphere. This would prevent a disproof from ever occurring, and it is also not logically impossible, despite having no known mechanisms that would allow for such a thing to function in that manner.

Granted science has limits. However, regarding the tree falling I see no reason why this cannot be expressed in terms of physics. I'm somewhat rusty on the particulars but one approach would be to consider the materials that are colliding (basically earth with whatever ground cover or foliage is present) and the types of tree and their branches. The height and mass of the trees will also have a bearing on the frequency and volume of the sound. Impact of any two materials of this nature will cause sound to be emitted by the ground. I'd expect the ground based sound to be a low frequency "thud" and sound from the tree would consist of breaking branches. There could also be a standing wave component of sound based on the length of the tree.

I could ramble on, but the point I'm making is that a scientific study would determine the different sources of the sound, their frequencies, intensities and duration. I suspect that there would be no cases of falling trees producing zero sound.

The tree falling problem is not a scientific issue, it is a philosophical one. Physics may predict sound waves, but it is more parsimonious to assume that scientific models make predictions about observations, rather than actually describing reality, such that if I posit a situation where I cannot test the prediction, then I remain agnostic on what actually happens. The "shut up and calculate" natural philosophy, if you will.

A part from that, I don't see what the terms "ignorance", "superstition" and "irrationality" have anything to do with the comic, it seems to be a case in which an argument against religion, if that's the case, to be used improperly, given the illustration.

To generalize the concept, if you are not present at an event it does not happen. When you go to sleep the universe ceases to exist. That is unacceptable to me.

Science is the designated driver in a car full of religionists.

Not quite sigworthy, but I like it!