Here I am, about to talk about science on Travel-Wise! I see an overwhelming misunderstanding of what science is or isn’t, and I hope to set the records straight. I want to spell it out so we understand how it benefits us and knows it’s a tool for any of us to use to prove our arguments. So let’s dive in and ask ourselves, what is science?
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The argument
As long as people differ in opinion, people will argue. Arguing is good. Without different opinions, we would not question others, and more mistakes would happen. There is no such thing as a perfect human, and with the assumption that no mistakes can be made or slip of the mind from our great leaders, we leave ourselves on dangerous grounds. The argument is how several individuals can get together to prove who is right and who is wrong. Most importantly, agree on what to move forward with.
Through our many technological growths and changes as a species as long as we’ve been on Earth, one of the simpler mechanisms we toyed around is how to win an argument. Of course, there are many emotional theorems, dominance strategies, authoritative strategies, and so forth. But a straightforward king of the argument is science. Science, by nature, was created to trump all arguments to allow arguing folks to agree to an understanding of something. That’s all it is—a way to win arguments. Expensively, I might add; however, it is king and the trump card (except to those who have no idea why science truly is).
It is worth noting, though, that science is hard. It is an exact hypothesis with the same experiment to prove the hypothesis. So there could be holes in the hypothesis or the experiment that can be picked apart and cause arguments about the setup. However, this collaborative nature of science presents itself as a tool to create alignment around trying to solve these very problems of what we don’t understand and how to prove hypotheses around them.
The scientific method
The scientific method, in a nutshell, allows anyone to form a hypothesis. Once a hypothesis is formed, you must “prove it” by experimenting, which anyone should be able to reproduce with the proper time and resources. Then, the experiment must be made available and shareable for others to try and convince themselves. If the experiment proves the hypothesis, you’ve effectively used the scientific method to prove your point. It can be shared to win your argument, and others can critique your experiment, leaving room for feedback or new ideas to add to the experiment or hypothesis. If the hypothesis is proven, it becomes a theory. Over time, a theory can become a law if it is a fundamentally accepted theory that most cannot fathom being incorrect.
This process of open critique of an experiment hypothesizes room for more arguments, growth, and stepping stones deeper into the recesses of humankind’s most fascinating questions. What is important here is that a proven experiment cannot be explicitly refuted. However, it does work if the scientific method is used correctly. I won’t delve into too many details here. Still, the experiment must be repeatable by anyone. If used on random elements, let’s say people, for example, you must use empirical statistics to prove the hypothesis to ensure your sample is a significant size.
Science experiments cannot be explicitly told they are wrong, but you are free to take part in science and try to repeat the experiment and see if you can find holes. Thus, perhaps contributing to new fascinating curiosities and directions to our fundamental understanding of reality. No one is restricted from doing this, although perhaps some science experiments require access to resources that are harder to acquire.
Beliefs
What science isn’t is a system that can help confirm or deny anyone’s personal beliefs. Science is a tool to win arguments and prove your hypothesis. However, not all things can be proven via an experiment, or at least no one knows how. This leaves room for spiritual or religious things, even in people who believe in science. They don’t contradict each other. Even in the depths of what science has been used to tell us this far in our civilization, we still don’t understand many things. Science experiments have answered many extraordinary things and proven hypotheses that sound off the wall, yet we don’t know why. We have an experiment to tell us that it is unarguably true. Anyone can pick up that experiment and try to offshoot the hypothesis of the original and see if they can uncover more clues.
Folk who consider themselves religious and spiritual also use science to prove their beliefs to others. If a belief cannot have an experiment to prove it, that’s okay. As we continue to use science to explore and build off the hypothesis, theories, and laws of the past, we continue to get more questions and answers. We may never honestly know everything there is to know, as there always seems to be more. One must ask themselves if that means reality itself is spiritual or religious. Nonetheless, science is a tool anyone can use to win arguments and does not oppose or disallow anyone from believing in something that no experiment can exist for. This notion I hear from time to time is nonsense and requires a scientific experiment to prove they don’t oppose each other.
In conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this article and learned a thing or two. If so, please check out more of my articles. This is often misunderstood in my travels. I wanted to do my part for those who enjoy travel to help spread the word that science is not magic or something that contradicts beliefs. It is nothing more than a tool used to make a convincing argument. So stay safe out there, and happy travels!