The answer to the question 'How do I combat ignorance and apathy?'
Well, I find effective to me to be honest and state that I don't know and that I feel that I don't care. I mean I care about knowledge as per natural science, medicine, social-, psychological- and human-science as to how we get a good and healthy life.
As for the start of the universe or whatever the definition of that problem is, I don't. To me it is no different than debating: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
I mean T=0, right?!!! How do we observe that? Theoretical physics and all it's models are in effect no different than the theological debates of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
Yes, one of them could lead to practical applications and yes, those STEM people also need a life and something to play around with. But seriously, that part of science is modern theology. I mean some of the posters treat it as a fact that T=0. Science says so and that can't be doubted.
And don't get me started on effective, unless you can direct me to the scientific international measurement standard for measuring effective and what instrument is used and how it is calibrated?
Let me explain to you the problem of using definitions. Let us say that we ask: What is a good and healthy life? Well, there is a lot of ambiguity in that, so we let the natural scientist define that the good and healthy life is X and not anything else. Then we have removed ambiguity, there is no more problem and we can start using natural science on it.
The problem is that if to a person for which that is not the case, we can end up hurting that person.
So I am currently reading several university level books on the good and healthy life and no, you can't just define your way out of the problem and then make a nice scientific theory. Humans are in effect to diverse for than and there are to many factors including that how you treat another human as a human. That is not natural science as that ends in morality. In short it is nothing but ambiguity as you see it and if you reduce away that human diversity. you end up hurting some humans.
That is the limit of your world view and how ever nice and polite you are, your world view is still a problem, because your training on the objective leads you to believe that it works on the subjective. It doesn't. STEM and medicine is a part of the answer, but not all of it.
There is no model of humans and the human life independent of humans. That is where natural science fails in practice, because there is no human life in itself independent of humans.
See that was simple, once you realize that humans don't actually live in the model room making models of objective reality. They live in the universe as parts of the universe and you can't define away subjectivity, because that you choose to define it away, is a subjective act in you. You can't avoid self-referencing when it comes to humans, because you are not just a scientist and mathematician. You are also a human and that is not just objective, rational and with evidence. It is also that, but not just that.
So here is the ambiguity that you can't solve as a "we", because I can do it different in some cases, but not all.
The everyday world is a mess of that which is independent of human thinking and emotions, that which we share when we interact as humans (social) and how we cope as individuals. And that is even more complicated than that.
And there is no single measurement standard or category for that. Neither with science, philosophy nor religion.
So back to your answer. as quoted That is not science. That is you coping with the fact that I can do it differently. And yes, that is a mess and no, there is no scientific theory of that, because you can't actual reduce away humans to be independent of the everyday world, no matter how much you claim that you decide what is efficient to you and therefore that is the correct way to understand the everyday world.
You can't do and the theists can't. And I can either, but I know that.
So do what you want and if it makes sense to me as individual I will still do it differently.
And, no, you are not a negative as a human. You just do it differently than me. And you cope differently than me. That is the end game for humans and there is no objective way to do that as the only way. Nether with science, philosophy nor religion.
And no, that is not an absolute. It is conditional on that we remain humans in the everyday world.