Science and Knowing

During a morning tea break, several monks approached me with a Tibetan translator.  One monk mentioned that when they ask me a question and I say “I don’t know” that it stops debate about the question.  For example, when they ask me what happens to the mind after the brain stops working and I say, “This is a question that neuroscience has difficulty testing, so I don’t know for sure,” they say that they cannot continue a discussion with me.  But I countered that I am only being honest.  If I do not have an answer to a question, I can speculate, but it is only an opinion and not based on experimental data.  One monk came to my defense and agreed with me.  He said scientists must be honest because if they make something up then it is possible that observations in the future will reveal that the scientist is wrong.