What is Science: Profile of Science, the Scientific Method, How Science Works
Sunday August 24, 2008
Distinguishing modern science from other endeavors requires focusing in particular on its methodology — the means by which it achieves results. Fundamentally, then, science can be characterized as a method of obtaining reliable - thought not infallible — knowledge about the universe around us. This knowledge includes both descriptions of what happens and explanations of why it happens.
Read Article: Profile of Science, the Scientific Method, How Science Works
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When I dialogue with Xians, perhaps one of the most glaring problems is a fundamental lack of understanding regarding what science does and does not offer to people. Some of the problems include:
1. Confusing “theory” with “anything anyone can imagine as an explanation, no matter how supported/unsupported the explanation is by evidence and/or reality.”
2. Thinking that atheists accept any/all scientific theory as final fact. In other words, if I’m an atheist, I must then consider any prevailing scientific theory as 100 percent knowledge that will never change. Ironically, it’s just the opposite–science is ever-changing, and scientists expect the field to constantly change to accommodate new data. It’s actually the religious perspective that values final/absolute truth and devalues the idea of changing to accommodate new data. They view this as an admission of being “wrong” rather than “learning.”
3. I’ve heard more than once the idea that atheists view science as “truth.” But the atheists I know only view the scientific method as the best means of determining truth available to humans at the present time. And again, their own idea of “the best method” to determine truth: personal revelation or interpreting a piecemeal conglomeration anthology from different authors/times appears to yeild no consensus whatsoever. That is–it doesn’t seem to work even for those who support it as a means of obtaining truth/knowledge.
Also, on the Atheist Experience we have a famous (someone put it up on “You Tube”) caller who asked basically, why we don’t get electrocuted in the shower if we have electrical impulses in our bodies/brains.
And I actually had an apologist caller treat me like I was describing aliens coming out of my nose when I told him our bodies produce heat energy. He said he wasn’t familiar with this “energy” I was talking about.
I’m not a scientist. And to me, these concepts are _minimal_, _basic_ concepts with regard to human biology. This isn’t high-end stuff. I don’t even know how to reply to people who don’t know energy is required to power human systems. Even if you slept through every elementary school science lesson you ever had–you can see that we operate. If there’s not some sort of energy powering that–then how do we function? It’s a simple, observable reality.
But should we be surprised that people believe in “god” when they have no clue how a biological organism even exists or functions? The whole world must be a magical, mysterious place to someone like that. I mean, even the least technologically advanced tribal cultures on the planet grasp that they get energy from their food. Again–it’s observable. You don’t have to be Einstein to grasp this.
People have accused the Atheist Experience of only dealing with moron representatives from the Xian culture. But in response to that, I can only say, we take any callers who we don’t screen out as potential “cranks.” If a person seems sincere to our screeners, they’re allowed through. These “morons” may seem like the least common denominator from an education standpoint. But these are our friends, neighbors, relatives–they’re not calling us from a psych ward. They’re regular Joes (and Janes) sitting on their sofas, channel surfing on a Sunday afternoon–like a million other people. This is Xian America.
If s/he doesn’t know what energy you were talking about, why do they think we eat?
These “morons” may seem like the least common denominator from an education standpoint. But these are our friends, neighbors, relatives–they’re not calling us from a psych ward. They’re regular Joes (and Janes) sitting on their sofas, channel surfing on a Sunday afternoon–like a million other people. This is Xian America.
And that is what is so frightening….