What is it that will supply meaning to life?

Whats the point in it just being a test? that seems even more worthless than what you mentioned.

But at least if you have a soul, it would mean that you are preparing yourself for a better life somehwere else

Whats the point in it just being a test? that seems even more worthless than what you mentioned.

The triumph of science explains, more than any other single factor, the west's enormous lead over other civilizations in technology, innovation, living standard and military might.
Why has science for the past 600 years been virtually a western monopoly?

Actually science "took off" because Christianity began losing it's strangle hold on humanity's mind. Led by the free-thinking Scots of the 17th century, science and philosophy gained ground with ever increasing alaricity, never looking back; while Chrisitianity stayed stuck in the Bronze and Iron ages. It was during that period that Deism and Atheism came powers, showing that unchaining mankind's mind benefitted all but those of the religious heirarchy.

All were recipients of the wisdom of those pioneering Scot free-thinkers of the 17th century. Your list is short, a list of non-believer scientist, philosophers, educators, etch would be much longer...

The rise of Christianity and the fall of Rome led to a radical change of attitude in Europe toward science and culture. The extravagance of Greco-Roman art and architecture became replaced by austerity and uniformity. Thoughts turned to preparations for the world to come, rather than ways to understand the world that is.

Throughout the Middle Ages, a period dating roughly from the fifth until the fourteenth centuries, an emphasis on unadorned design resulted in a two-dimensional approach to painting. Portraits from that era appear flat and unrealistic, like paper dolls. The notion of depth was almost forgotten, as painters reproduced staid likenesses of Jesus, Mary, the Apostles, and other New Testament figures.

Then in the Renaissance era, the sleeping giant of creative art arose from its slumber. Rubbing its eyes, it gazed at the world anew. It began to scrutinize the precise details of the way nature appears, capturing those impressions in increasingly realistic depictions.

One of the harbingers of the new movement was the early fourteenth-century Florentine artist Giotto di Bondone. When Giotto painted scenes, he imagined them from the point of view of someone standing a certain distance away. Then he sketched the images with those lines of sight in his mind. The result was sharply different from the flat paintings of his predecessors, far more vivid and true to form.

With his discovery of perspective, Giotto brought the third dimension back into art. Onlookers stood entranced when looking at Giotto's paintings, like children watching television for the first time. They marveled at his ability to make them feel as if they were actually at the scenes he rendered. Soon other artists began to imitate his style, hoping to recreate some of their own striking images.

Einstein was a firm believer in god, and was unsure if he should have continued with his work because he didnt want to delve into gods realm as it were, especially while he was trying to discover 'the theory of everything'. One example where god has hindered scientific advancement.

To the original post - it's interesting to note that the most technologically advanced people today are not from the west, but the East. The prevalence of technology in Japan is staggering. Which contradicts in many respects the spiritual beliefs of the Japanese, eg - ghosts, ancestor spirits.

Such a mix of technology and spirituality gives Japan a unique outlook that I've always found fascinating. Movies like "the Ring" (I haven't seen the American remake, I'm speaking about the original Japanese version) encapsulate this dichotomy, granting supernatural abilities to a technological device, showing the Love/Hate relationship that the Japanese have with technology.

Like I said those were just of the top of my head. I challenge you to match my list in 10 min.
Besides There are more free thinking Irishman than Scots! But that is a personal Opinion
Irish

Besides There are more free thinking Irishman than Scots! But that is a personal Opinion

Aye, but at the time that the religion's hold on mankind was fading, it was the 17th century Scots that started much of the ball rolling....at that time, the Irish were sitting around cussing the English over jugs of poteen! We Scots were sipping the Nectar of Scotia and discussing the universe in general (since we had subjugated the English without a fight and without their knowledge) and Liberty in particular!

Lol, Your Mom is a mighty wise woman...you know the old saying, "the good Lord made the Scots just a wee bit better"

The triumph of science explains, more than any other single factor, the west's enormous lead over other civilizations in technology, innovation, living standard and military might.
Why has science for the past 600 years been virtually a western monopoly?
Well... sometime between the 13th and 15th centuries, Europe pulled well ahead of the rest of the world in science and technology, a lead consolidated in the following 200 years.
In 1687, Isaac Newton - foreshadowed by Copernicus, Kepler and others - had his glorious insight that the universe is governed by a few physical, mechanical and mathematical laws. This instilled tremendous confidence that everything made sense, everything fitted together, and everything could be improved by science.

In medievil and early modern Europe, when science made its greatest strides, scholars believed that the secrets of the universe could be unravelled because they had been implanted by a reliable and all-powerful creator-God who had written nature's rules in a dependable way. In other words, the full emergence of science required belief in one all-powerfull God, whose perfect creation awaited rational, scientific explanation.

This condition was peculiar to Christianity (and other Abrahamic religions). In other religions there is no consistently rational creator; the universe is inexplicable, unpredictable. Still it took Christians more than a thousand years to invent modern science, the developement of which was uniquely encouraged by Europe's economic expansion after 1000, driven by a network of free city states.

Reflect on the inspirations for modern sciene: Belief in God and belief in humanity, a rational world view, and optimism about humanity's place in the cosmos.

But...
Science, it seems, has disposed of much that made it successful. It has eaten away at its thought-foundations: its contribution to human meaning, the human spirit and the non-material richness of civilization has shrivelled.
What may be called the "lonely hypothesis" - that there is no rational and good God, or no God at all, that humankind is a speck of insignificance on the edge of a vast, pointless meaningless universe.
What is it that will supply meaning to life? The existence and acheivement of human intellect, creativity and love?
I for one hope not...
Edited from June 24 2006 NewScientist: Fall of reason

I must say Hehe.....I love this post. Keep it up. It's about time someone blew the whistle. Christianity is the reason we enjoy the exploits of science. The idea of self sacrifice and moral living at all cost created the environment needed for science to flourish.