Science is a belief because, just like magic, there's no greater force to appeal to. It's a belief I subscribe to, because it appears to be much more useful tha

Science is a belief because, just like magic, there's no greater force to appeal to. It's a belief I subscribe to, because it appears to be much more useful than magic, but it remains a belief. Think about it: how would you prove that "science" itself is correct? My answer is "it accurately predicts (and optionally explains) what effect certain actions will have on the future". But this answer is question-begging; it assumes that prediction is useful, which is a scientific belief. To a magical thinker, it seems just as silly as "reciting a paragraph from this book will protect me from illness" does to us. Magical thinking is fundamentally based on a distrust of prediction. Homeopathy has never cured any condition (excluding dehydration), yet magical thinkers try it because they think it'll work for them. Nobody has ever survived fasting for over a year, yet every few months there's another story in the news about somebody who starved to death after deciding to live on sunshine. I think the modern world, in which we regularly live to 100 and have literally walked on the moon, is a result of science -- but I can't prove that. After all, the concept of "proof" is itself scientific, so it can't be used to argue against magic.