Music: Heavyweight Champion of the World by Reverend and The Makers
I believe it's crucially important, especially as we move into the brave new world that is the future, that everyone understands what science is. Because, far too few people seem to, and this lack of understanding in many difficulties and even hardships for society.
I have heard claims that scientists sit in their ivory towers and make decrees, we've seen in the papers the use of a few errant e-mails to attempt to discredit the work of thousands aroun the world. These attacks on science originate either from the misinformed or from those with an agenda, but in both cases, the complaint is not valid. Yes, scientists are human. But science, by its nature, rises above human weaknesses. Eventually.
First off, science is not some council of wizards sitting in a tower deciding how the world should work. Nothing could be further from the truth. Such beliefs are often put forward by the religious who seem largely upset at the perception that another 'viewpoint' supercedes their own. Of course, science is not a 'viewpoint'. But more on that soon.
Nor is science dependent on, or created by, the views, or manipulations on a few individuals. The strength of science is that, in principle, anyone is able to confirm or deny conclusions of even the most well respected scientists. Of course, that doesn't happen much. Not because said scientists are put on pedestals and untouchable, but because, more often than not, their work, their understanding of their chosen field, and their research, is impecable. But one does not get to this stage in science by decree.
It's also important to note that science is not physics, nor biology, nor chemistry. Science is not Newton's laws of motion, or the laws of thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, or even evolution. These are aspects of nature put into forms that humans can understand and use and science has helped us uncover and understand them. But they are not science, only the outcome of science.
Because science is not a thing, but a process. It's not a belief, but a method. Science is an objective means for interogating the world, ourselves, even the nature of reality. Although science is not a religion, it does require you have one believe. Namely, that humans are capable of understanding reality. Or at least that our ability will grow with our knowledge so that future generations will have insight and understanding that we currently lack.
This wonderful thing called science can be summed by the following simple process that is available to everyone for immediate use:
1) Make an observation about something of interest
2) From the observation, make a hypothesis of why it is that way
3) Test the hypothesis in an objective, non-biased manner
4) Revise the hypothesis based on the tests
5) return to step one
The cycle continues, carried out by the initial investigator and any or all other interested parties, until a hypothesis is arrived at the matches all data on the subject as close as possible.
Even then, future observations and experiments can overturn the hypothesis if they are conducted very well, and shed new light on the subject.
Through countless iterations, science ends up producing interpretations of the world that subsequently fit future observations. This is its strength. But science, itself, is only the process.
It is crucially important that the distinction be made between process and product. Because, in all instances, the former drives the latter. Science is often compared to and challenged by religion.
Religion began as science, as humanity's attempt at understanding the world and the universe in ways that were accessible to our level of understanding at the time. Spirits, gods, all seemed valuable explanations of events that were beyond our control or understanding. But religion lacked the rigorous approach of science. It lack the contstant questioning--or perhaps the speed of human development was simply too slow at the time--and due to its nature, it was prone to abuse by those seeking power. It stagnated, stalled, and grew into an immobile means for control that no longer has any interest in questioning anything.
All endeavours to better humanity, all endeavours to understand our world, to improve our situation, are prone to abuse by those seeking an advantage over others. That includes the use, and products, of science. But the power of science is that every person is capable of doing science, and every person can challenge previous studies, previous findings, previous understandings.
Science depends on questions and questioning. From everyone. Including its opponents. Anyone and everyone can and should do science. Even if it is basic science. We can't all understand quantum mechanics, molecular biology or physical chemistry, but we can all do science in our everyday lives. We are all capable of questioning, capable of interpretting our observations, and capable of revising our hypotheses in light of new observations and understanding.
Religion fairly quickly became a top-down system, in which the powerful decree, and the faithful believe. Science is, by its nature, a bottom-up system. Understandings of the world derived from scientific investigations are dependent on many, many independent observations. That necessitates as many people as possible being involved, and their results filter up.
The results, of course, can be supressed by the powerful, by those with an agenda, temporariliy, but the reality they uncover remains. A great quote from Canadian rock band Rush sums it up:
You can change perception, but reality won't budge.
So if a government, or a religious body, decrees x = y, it doesn't mean x = y, it just means that everyone will act as if x = y. Often with disastrous consequences. For example, mid-20th century biology in the Soviet Union stagnated because of such decrees, harming their agriculture and leaving their people starved for food and their research starved for answers.
Another example is the climate change issue. It's easy to ignore, or to decide it needs more study and to decree that an influencial country won't have any part in reducing emmissions, Even going so far as to attempt to discredit a few scientists working on the project. But reality won't budge. And there will be unprecedented glacial melting, and record numbers of tornadoes, and record-breaking hurricanes, giant snow storms, and ten-times the number of record high temperatures as record lows. Because reality doesn't care what humans think.
To be fair, there have been several examples in the last few decades to highlight bad science, to demonstrate that scientists are human, that they are susceptible to the same temptations as everyone else. But these same cases demonstrate the strength of the scientific approach and that it transcends human weeknesses. Each case is eventually called out by other researchers studying the same topics who are unable to replicate the experiments. When enough people are unable to reproduce the data, the fraudulent claim can be culled.
So, if everyone practices science, then everyone will question. Everything. (in reality, just everything that interests them personally, but that is enough). And when everyone questions everything, in an intelligent manner, then falsehood and fraudulant claims cannot thrive. It's only when we accept, without thought, what we're told that we are subject to being abused, taken advantage of, and maniupulated.
I cannot stress this enough. We are strongest when everyone questions everything. Always. Intelligently and without agenda. And this is precisely what science is.
Reality doesn't care what humans think. This is why science, in all its objective glory, is so powerful. Because science uncovers the truth about reality (at least, as far as we are currently able to understand it, but that also improves with each iteration).
So please remember, Newton's laws, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, chemistry, biology, modern medicine, computers, cars, rockets, satellites, television, none of these are science. But they are all a testament to the power of the scientific process and what we can accomplish with an objective understanding of the world.
Insight and longevity.
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