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Why Science? 
seems to me perverse.
When you're in love, you want to tell the world.”
Carl Sagan |
"One of the most beautiful things about science is that it equips you to think for yourself"
Adrian Gaylord
| My Gateway to Science
We're all born with a natural curiosity.
Ever since I was very young I've had an insatiable curiosity and thirst for knowledge. I can't remember when I fell in love with science but I guess it was quite early.
My mother recounts a story of when I was about 2 years old. I took apart my older brother's toy tank. It spit sparks from the the gun on the turret when you rolled it. I wanted to know where the fire came from. The mystery intrigued me. And I just had to know. So I took it apart. Utterly unable to put it back together again.
Of course my brother was pissed. I could take it apart, I couldn't (and either could he) put back together. But I learned a lot!
Ah, what a mangled experimental design
and yet, it produced such divine results!
That's science!
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My Science Influences
.jpg) Star Trek the original series on tv All of NASA, especially Apollo 11 live (Yes, I'm that old! What's your point?) Albert Einstein, Isaac Asimov, Jacques Yves Cousteau, Jane Goodall, Louis Leakey When a little older: Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan, Voyager and Cosmos series on tv Much older and still: Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace, Stephen Jay Gould, Thomas Kuhn, Alan Watts, Robert Pirsig |
Science will always be my passion
But science has also taught me how to think.
And perhaps more importantly, how to think creatively, logically and critically.
Science is behind all of our modern accomplishments and conveniences. Think about that for a minute. Everything was first an idea. A thought. The more "adapted" that thought with what we call object reality, the more useful it is and then the rigor of testing of these new ideas ensures their greater accuracy.
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| Doing Science
The truth is we all want as accurate a picture of the facts as possible, in order to find logic and benefit from its use in "objective" reality.
Science is a really good way to get that.
Science can be a powerful force
Science must be done responsibly.
With great power comes great responsibility.
So if we're going to do it, let's do it right.
Science is not "value free" in society.
Morally, logical and ethical rigor must be applied to all our scientific endeavors.
"It has become appallingly obvious
that our technology has exceeded our humanity."
Albert Einstein
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"Man has an intense desire for assured knowledge."
Albert Einstein
"The whole of science is nothing more than
a refinement of everyday thinking."
Albert Einstein
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But what is science? Science is Personal and Public
Science seeks answers to questions.
Most people have these common questions at some point in their lives. Who am I? What am I? How am I? Why am I?
Science is pretty good at tackling What & How. Empirical science gives the best description for the physical nature of the universe and us.
Perhaps, the philosophy of science, neurology, psychology and metaphysics or even some kind of spirituality are better for addressing the Who and Why.
I agree with my evolutionary hero Stephen Jay Gould that science and "religion"
(as distinct from spirituality)
are non-overlapping majesteria NOMA,
I also agree with my heroes Albert Einstein and Carl Sagan that science and "spirituality" are rather complimentary. They do not have to be in conflict.
Science is more than the "Scientific Method"
Even though the discipline of science is very much the rigorous application and self-correction of the scientific method, There's more to it than that.
Real Science
Science as a discipline in research often is breathtakingly boring. The gathering of raw data can be painful and arduous. The data analysis of the results, ponderous. Reviewing and arriving at conclusions of the work, nerve-racking. But practiced repeatedly until it is more than just habit but a part of you,...
it then becomes a transferable skill.
Thinking logically and critically yeilds the ability to think this way about everything.
Thinking scientifically is a way you perceive the empirical facts that shape your world view as well. It becomes how you experience of life. It's awesome!
The one part I personally found pleasant was seeing patterns and coming up with questions about them. Theorizing. The hypothesis.
But where does the hypothesis come from?
Some argue that the hypothesis comes from observation but I disagree with that. I have found there is no one method to arrive at a hypothesis. It's more a faculty of intuition.
"I believe in intuition and inspiration.
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
For knowledge is limited,
whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking,
a real factor in scientific research. "
Albert Einstein
Any fool can just look at some thing. It is altogether different to have a vision of a meaningful pattern. That is what the hypothesis is. A pattern, that comes to mind. But from where and how it comes about, there is not much that can be said.
"The mind can proceed only so far upon what it knows and can prove. There comes a point where the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge, but can never prove how it got there. All great discoveries have involved such a leap"
Albert Einstein
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Science is a Way of Thinking
Carl Sagan - A Way of Thinking
Science and Spirituality  It is generally not compatible with science. However, spirituality and science can be compatible. Why is Science Important?
Brian Cox on the Role of Science in a Democracy
Science keeping things real
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Research is essential to science!
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Carl Sagan on the importance of scientific research
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The following are suggested as tools
for
testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent arguments
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The Baloney Detection Kit
Warning signs that suggest deception From the book by Carl Sagan The Demon Haunted World |
Independent confirmation
of the facts, where ever possible.
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Encourage substantive debate
on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents
of all points of view. |
Arguments
Authority carries little weight
(in science there are no "authorities").
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Spin more than one hypothesis
Don't simply run with the first idea
that caught your fancy. |
Hypothesis
Try not to get overly attached to one
just because it's yours. |
Quantify
Wherever possible. |
Continuity
If there is a chain of argument
every link in the chain must work. |
Occam's razor
If there are two hypotheses that explain the data equally well, choose the simpler one.
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Falsifiability
Ask whether the hypothesis can,
at least in principle, be falsified.
(shown to be false by some unambiguous test).
In other words, it is testable?
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Reproducibility
Can others duplicate the experiment
and get the same result?
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Additional Issues Conduct control experiments - especially "double blind" experiments where the person taking measurements is not aware of the test and control subjects.
Check for confounding factors - separate the variables.
Common fallacies of logic and rhetoric
Ad hominem - attacking the arguer and not the argument.
Argument from adverse consequences (putting pressure on the decision maker by pointing out dire consequences of an "unfavorable" decision).
(absence of evidence is not evidence of absence).
(typically referring to god's will).
Begging the question (assuming an answer in the way the question is phrased). Observational selection (counting the hits and forgetting the misses). Statistics of small numbers
(such as drawing conclusions from inadequate sample sizes).
Misunderstanding the nature of statistics
(President Eisenhower expressing astonishment and alarm on discovering
that fully half of all Americans have below average intelligence!)
(e.g. military expenditures based on worst case scenarios but scientific projections on environmental dangers thriftily ignored because they are not "proved").
Non sequitur - "it does not follow" - the logic falls down. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc - "it happened after so it was caused by" Meaningless question
("what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?).
considering only the two extremes in a range of possibilities
(making the "other side" look worse than it really is).
Short-term v. long-term a subset of excluded middle
("why pursue fundamental science when we have so huge a budget deficit?").
Slippery slope a subset of excluded middle - unwarranted extrapolation of the effects
(give an inch and they will take a mile).
Confusion of correlation and causation. Caricaturing (or stereotyping) a position to make it easier to attack. Suppressed evidence or half-truths. Weasel words
for example, use of euphemisms for war such as "police action" to get around limitations on Presidential powers. "
An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public"
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Suggested Readings
Beginner
Karl Popper
Coming Soon
Check the MU-Library for more books |
"It is not enough that you should understand about applied science in order that your work may increase man's blessings.
Concern for man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavours...
in order that the creations of our minds shall be a blessing and not a curse to mankind.
Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations. "
Albert Einstein
MU-Peter Science
© 2016 MU - Peter Shimon
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