Got Science?
  by Groff Schroeder

Faith makes determining truth easy. In most religions, truth is what the [insert religious text name here] says. If the [insert religious text name here] says it is true, then it is true, no matter what. Religious leaders can also define truth, even when it is not actually spelled out in the [insert religious text name here]. While the truths identified by these sources are often in conflict, they are usually considered to be absolute by the faithful.

In contrast, finding truth with science is hard, perhaps even impossible. Science is often minimally described as an iterative method of discovery involving the performance of research, creation of a hypothesis, testing of the hypothesis with observation or experiment and publishing the results for others to research. Generally, science is a multifaceted international cooperative process that shares and tests observations, hypotheses and experiments through competitive validation.

Research often includes analyzing scientific journals that describe work that has been performed and includes the raw findings (data) and mathematical analyses of experiments or observations. Once the scientist has learned about existing ideas and the work of others, they may perform more observations or form a new hypothesis. A hypothesis is a formalized educated guess which can be tested by an experiment.

An experiment is a formal test of a hypothesis in which observation results in the collection of data that is carefully documented for later publication. Once the observations are complete, the scientist draws conclusions based on the data, writes a formalized paper describing the work and submits the work for publication. After peer review, in which other scholars in the field review the work for errors, the article may be published in a scientific journal. Other scientists read the publication, recreate controversial experiments or observations, validate or question the data and conclusions drawn by the original scientist, and once again publish their work. Hypotheses are often modified during this process.

Over time, repeatedly validated hypotheses emerge. When a hypothesis has been validated for a long time, perhaps 100 years or more for observation based science, the hypothesis is considered to be a theory. When the theory is supported by even more repeatedly validated observations and experiments, the hypothesis becomes a scientific law. The laws of gravity, conservation of energy, and conservation of mass are examples.

While all of our technology is built upon these laws, which are about as close to scientific truth as is possible, even they can be questioned at any time by new data that appears to challenge their validity. Natural selection may be "only" a theory, but since before the Civil War, countless observations and experiments have supported it in virtually every branch of the life sciences.

As with religion, the meaning of science depends on the point of view of the observer and how they choose to interpret the evidence it provides. Science resulting in medical "miracles" or electronic gadgets is much easier to accept than science that suggests a continuously growing mega-population of internal combustion engines belching heat-trapping pollutants at 1400 Fahrenheit are an imminent threat to the stability of our finite ecosystem.

Some claim that science is actually faith, but this denies the inquiring competitive foundations of science. Faith is unquestioning belief that ignores inconvenient evidence. In contrast, science is always open to question and actively seeks new evidence to test, validate and improve itself.

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