So, What is science? --- Everyone knows the answer. We've studied it all along. Right from the school days, we've been doing science. We have attempted the math problems, the chemical equations, the angular momentum questions, and many many more from Geography to Social Sciences.
But even after so many years, can we define what science is, if asked? That's the question I want to take up today.
At the end of it, some of you will have the "I knew it all along" feeling. In that case, this post will be just a refresher for you smart cookies out there.
"Lets begin at the beginnning" (as the King said in Alice in Wonderland)
We all know that much of what once was Natural Science or Philosophy is now what we call Science. So what made the Natural Science and/or Philosophy into Science. Whats the potion?
Here is one of the definition from Merriam-Webster.
Sci·ence: noun
1 : the state of knowing : knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding
But is this enough? Doesn't seem like it. We want our children to be able to "do" science, but have difficulties in understanding & explaining what it is at the core of it.
Is it just a collection of facts about the natural world?
Is it a set of laws & theories?
Is it the definitions?
Is it the tools you use to solve the problems?
It is all of the above and then some.
It is a way of understanding the natural world. It is way of thinking.
And how it works is extremely important to understand. Because once you have mastered the concept of how science progresses, you might be able to make decisions for yourself and most importantly, it might give you clarity in distinguishing the real from the pseudo.
So lets try to understand the underlying mechanics of it.
In its most rudimentary form, it follows the structure:
First you need a hypothesis;(A hypothesis is not a guess, contrary to popular belief; it has to be testable)
Many experiments are performed;
Large dataset is collected from the experiments;
And finally, Comparison of hypothesis with the results are made.
If the hypothesis and results match, you have a very high degree of confidence in your hypothesis. If on the other hand, the results don't match, you refute the hypothesis and start over.
Following is a great visual explaining the process.
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| Image borrowed from: http://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/0_0_0/howscienceworks_02 |
One of the hallmarks of the process is the provision of falsifying your hypothesis: The circumstances under which your hypothesis would be invalidated. What evidence would one need in order to contradict the idea?. For instance, to disprove evolution, the discovery of fossil mammals in Precambrian rocks would suffice.
In reality there are many layers in each scientific step. It is almost never an individual working out all the details, it is always a cooperative endeavor. Rigorous testing by peers and their reviews are of great importance. You put your ideas out, to be checked, to be criticised, to be evaluated, to be reviewed by the best in your field. Their feedback will always be helpful; either to support and advance the idea or to revise it and sometimes to throw it away altogether and begin anew.
What once was just an idea, once it passes through the fires of test and challenge, once it withstands the scientific rigor, what emerges is extremely stable & fundamentally sound. We are all in this together, we are all scientists in ways - small and large. Whether it is trying to fix a kid's toy or to find out the Schwarzschild radius. We all are scientists.
As Claude Lévi-Strauss, the father of modern anthropology, is attributed to have said,
"The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he’s one who asks the right questions."
Asking questions is almost always invariably the beginning of a great journey which might challenge our own beliefs, some sacred some not so, but we must be steadfast in our desire to get the answers, if we follow the proper process, we will get there. Let us then keep up on this path and begin asking - the right questions.
I might have known (some of)it, but could not have put it across with such clarity & simplicity. Now that this refresher has been refreshing, please keep posting with certainty at almost level.
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