Dr McConeghy's Exnotes #2
About Science...
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Dr McConeghy's Exnotes #2 About Science...
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Famous Science guy (Darwin) |
Science? Our world is totally dominated by the products of science. We spend our money on scientific machines such as computers, ipods, microwaves, air conditioners, modern pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, clothing made from nylon, goretex, and other artificial fabrics, buildings and transport systems made from artificial, unnatural products such as plate glass, steel, aluminum alloys, reinforced cement and plastic... none of these exist in nature in anything like the form we have produced. Even if we use "natural" products like wood, wool or cotton, they are not really natural -- the wood is likely to be from a tree that was artificially fertilized, treated with chemical pesticides, and processed into plywood or fibre-board glued with plastic glues! The wool is from artificially bred sheep, which might even be genetically engineered. The cotton is from plants developed through research in an agricultural lab. Most of these materials and procedures did not exist in the past and were not developed until within the last 100 years... Today, we are totally surrounded by the materials and objects of science... |
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How did they do that? (more about the moon ) |
So, where did science come from? In the past people were just as smart as today, but they did not have a system for increasing knowledge. THe system of science was only invented starting in the Renaissance. Galileo and a few other Italian scientists began science in the 1500s, but the first really modern scientists were in western Europe during the late 1600s and early 1700s. The idea of science as a system for gaining new knowledge, as an important part of society, rapidly gained supporters. In particular, in England, Robert Hooke, Isaac Newton and their followers started the Royal Society -- the first real scientific organization. What was different about them? What did they do that was different from what other people were doing and had been doing for the last 1,000 of years? The Fundamental Act of Science is to be Skeptical - to Check Your Facts over and over until they are reliable. And then, check them some more! Some people think that science consists of knowing the "truth"-- that is not correct. As the famous archeologist, Dr. Indiana Jones, said in a lecture to his class, "(science) is about the search for facts, not "truth'" If it's truth you want, Professor Tyree's philosophy class is just down the hall. " (Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade)
OK, that's just kidding around. But Dr. Jones has a point. Science is about describing what's going on -- getting the facts -- and then using those facts to make predictions about how things can work. People have always had a burning desire to see the future and control their fates, but fortune tellers, magicians and others who try to see the future are not very reliable. Science, on the other hand, is extremely reliable. If science weren't by far the most dependable method for controlling the world that has ever been devised, then systems like the telephones, the internet or ATMs would be totally impossible, not to mention air travel, modern manufacturing, genetic engineering, the pharmaceutical industry, etc. etc.. "We cannot define anything precisely! If we attempt to, we get into that paralysis of thought that comes to philosophers, who sit opposite each other, one saying to the other, 'You don't know what you are talking about!' The second one says 'What do you mean by know? What do you mean by talking? What do you mean by you?', and so on." - Nobel Prize Physicist Dr. Richard Feynman How does science get to be so dependable? There really is one basic idea to the system. That is, that in science, no fact is ever considered 100% correct. We can always improve... if we write a description of how the human liver works, or how electricity operates, all scientists understand that the information we have is incomplete, imperfect. We continuously try to update it, improve it, make it more accurate, more exact, more complete. Some people think that science is about absolute facts. Knowing just how things work. Sorry, that's exactly backwards. Science is about knowing that you don't know things exactly! (and in many cases, can never exactly know or "prove" that your idea is correct) But, if your knowledge is uncertain, how can you make any progress? OK, if we are digging a tunnel under the river, we need to measure the angles and distances pretty carefully, but if we were off by 1/16 of an inch, would it matter? Most of the time, we need information that is accurate, but not absolutely perfect. We can stand some uncertainly. On the other hand, although we can tolerate a certain amount of uncertainty, if we are too inaccurate, the roof will collapse. That is part of the answer to why science works. So, BECAUSE we know our information is uncertain, we check it again and again. We check it in more than one way. We have someone else check it. We compare different systems and see that they all give similar results. If they don't agree, we check again until we understand why there is a disagreement. We let someone else look at our measurements and calculations to see if we made any errors. Afterwards, if the tunnel works out, we write about how we did it and other folks can give us constructive criticism that might make the next tunnel safer, or make building it easier. That is exactly how science works... multiple checking, multiple methods, separate groups of people checking up on each other, and putting your ideas out in public where everyone can see them so that they can be freely discussed and bad ideas can be criticized and eliminated. This system , knowing and admitting that you are uncertain, is tremendously powerful! How far is it to the moon? We measure and find that the distance is about 200,000 miles, then we get better at measuring and test again -- 241,000 miles, then 234,431 miles, then we measure over and over... we find out that the distance changes, why? After many, many measurements we understand the motion of the moon, and learn lots of useful things about motion, gravity, optics, how to measure, the universe, communications, metallurgy, geology, etc., etc. Do we know the exact distance? No. We can never know it exactly. But at present we can measure the distance within about 1 cm of the exact value, and we can predict the motion of the moon with extremely delicate accuracy. In fact, we have learned so much about the moon and its motion that we are able to go there and walk around. Because of this relentless research, some of the scientific models of the world have been changed and changed over and over. We don't say that they are perfect, but they are extremely, extremely dependable. For example, the periodic table in chemistry, Darwinian evolution, or the medical pharmacopoeia. Even though they are reliable, we consider them unfinished and we still keep working to improve them and understand them better. Some sets of science information are so extremely dependable that we call them "Laws" -- the Laws of Thermodynamics, or Newton's Laws of Motion. Scientists have worked out a lot of methods for improving their knowledge of the world. This includes what is known as the "Scientific Method" The Scientific Method
Science is a way of interacting with our environment. It requires us to observe, and to believe in cause-and-effect. By proceeding patiently and methodically, over time we can gain knowledge that grants us tremendous power and control over the world. We can very accurately predict how the world will work based on our observations. Science is a process which involves describing and establishing facts about the world, and then, testing those facts to see if they are correct. "Science" means that we are continuously testing our facts, trying to revise the facts to make them more and more accurate. And, whenever we find that a "fact" is wrong, we have to find out why it is wrong, and correct it. Then we replace the old fact with a new fact that is more correct. When we have some facts, we use them to imagine models (theories, hypotheses, laws) that predict how the real world will act. If our facts are correct, then our models will give very reliable predictions. The famous English chemist, Joseph Priestly, wrote:
Science has established a huge number of facts about the world, far more than can be understood or learned by any one person. We make models that use these facts, and the models predict how the world behaves. Many of the models are extremely good at predicting. This has given us tremendous power over the Earth. We can live in ways that our ancestors only dreamed of... and people (or countries) who understand and use science can dominate and control others who do not. This is a very powerful system, and the people who have learned to use it now completely dominate the world. As with most things, knowledge is power. Remember, Science is Never Finished One of the rules that makes science work so well, and makes it so powerful, is that no fact is taken to be ABSOLUTELY 100% correct. We know that all our ideas are subject to review to test whether they are correct or not. So, as time goes on, our facts are tested again and again until they are more and more reliable, and we are better and better able to understand and control the world around us. Incorrect facts cannot survive long in a system where they are tested over and over again. We discard the old facts and use the new facts as soon as they are proved to be more correct. In science, we have very little, if anything, that is absolutely permanent or absolutely proved -- almost everything is a hypothesis or theory! That's WHY science works. Without that basic approach, science couldn't operate.
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