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Showing posts from May, 2013

The scientific framework

As I hinted in my previous post , there is a framework of mutually supporting fields of exact sciences; the scientific framework. Chemistry, physics, biology, math, all study reality from different angles. Some of these fields are explicitly linked together. For instance; biochemistry, geophysics or astrophysics. Scientific knowledge grows daily. More and more facts are added to already existing facts. Old facts are rarely discarded. Maybe if they are proven to be fabrications (frauds) or otherwise inaccurate. This means that new facts can be tested against old facts. This process works both ways. If new facts enhance old facts, that's great. If new facts contradict old facts, there is a conflict. Either the new facts are wrong or the old facts are wrong. Only by carefully examining the old facts (and the experimental settings) and the new facts (and the experimental settings) can the 'truth' be established. Verification and repetition are central in scientif

The scientific method & evolution.

Sometimes, you hear a phrase and it sticks to your mind. You know something is wrong, but you are not able to put your finger on it. Years may pass until you find out what's nagging you, the original circumstances forgotten. That's what happened to me with the phrase 'science has been proven wrong lots of times'. I saw that phrase again, lately, and I finally realized what's wrong with it. Some scientific theories are proven wrong by using the scientific method, and are replaced with improved scientific theories. It's not the whole of science that has been proven wrong by using science, but 'just a theory'. That's another phrase that sticks to the mind. 'Just a theory'. A scientific theory is an explanation of a number of facts. It's not a bar-room insight that explains some detail. It's the 'Truth as we know it'. Currently, this theory is the best we have. It might be improved in the future. Science starts