Wednesday, July 29, 2020

The Collective Power Of Science


Jacob Berkowitz writes that, when most of us graduate from school, we have a pretty fuzzy idea of what science is:

Most of us leave high school, and any study of science, with a fundamentally skewed vision of science’s nature. We tend to think of science as a noun, as facts in textbooks, but not also as a verb, as the doing of research. This is a crucial difference.

But it's wise to consider the etymology of the word:

The word “science” comes from a Latin root for “to know.” Yet on the way to knowing, science is ultimately about the right, responsibility and challenge of living with doubt. As Albert Einstein quipped, “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research.”
The reason we call the period in Europe around 1600 the Scientific Revolution is exactly because it was an intellectual rebellion against the primacy of received knowledge from the church or the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers such as Aristotle. The first scientists, such as Galileo, were fundamentally heretics (from the Greek, “to choose”) because they asserted that the nature of reality could be perceived by individuals in the present through careful experimentation and observation.

In recent years, there's been an effort to turn knowledge into dogma -- and effort which is fundamentally unscientific. People fear uncertainty. And they fear the notion that our knowledge is incomplete. So when scientists change their advice on wearing masks they are called untrustworthy. All they are doing is what scientists have always done -- working collectively:

What gives science its power as a way of knowing is that it’s collective knowing – it’s the facts that we can collectively agree on through repeated experimentation and observation. It’s why Britain’s Royal Society (the world’s oldest science club) has the motto Nullius in verba, Latin for “take nobody’s word for it.” This isn’t about being bull-headed and arrogant, it’s because scientists know that while the truth is out there, it is more often than not incredibly difficult to figure out.

This is not a  time for simple answers. But it is a time to pay attention to collectively gathered evidence -- and to act accordingly.

Image: Google Sites

10 comments:

Toby said...

What puzzles me is that so many people don't understand simple science like water runs down hill or getting hit by a car when riding your bicycle will hurt you more than the car driver regardless of who's right or wrong. People will tell you that it's safe to walk on railway tracks because they can always hear the train coming. Didn't they learn about the Doppler effect in high school? Ask any train driver; trains can sneak up on you.

A big one today is that people don't understand what is meant by exponential. One person wearing a mask won't do much to curb a virus. Two mask wearers won't accomplish much. But lets get out the chess board and double the mask wearers for each square. By the time we get just halfway through the squares 4,294,967,295 people will be wearing masks and that will have an enormous effect on slowing the spread of the virus. Covid-19 spreads exponentially; we have to fight it exponentially. BTW, the same is true for vaccinations.

What is even sadder is that the Internet is well endowed with good explanations about how things work but people prefer gossip.

The Disaffected Lib said...

One of my brothers earned a Master's degree in bio-chemistry. He hoped to start doctoral studies. He needed cash so he thought he would take a year off and gain some experience in a research lab. He discovered two things. Jobs in the pure research field were a near impossible nut to crack and poorly paid at that. Two, most of what was available were sales jobs - chemicals, drugs, even cosmetics. He changed course, got a B.Ed. and taught chemistry and physics in highschool.

I have a couple of Earth-science contacts. They find dark humour in climate denialists who disparage climate scientists as perpetuating a giant hoax to secure massive research grants. They usually quip something about the thirst for a lavish five-figure income.

With climate breakdown already upon us these scientists are the key to identifying, understanding and responding to the challenges we cannot avoid. Countries that have had the best response to Covid-19 have been those where politicians allowed medical science to prevail over political impulses. Trump's America and Bolsonaro's Brazil are poster boys for what happens when pandemics are politicized.

Justin Trudeau promised, during the run-up to the 2015 election that a Liberal government "would follow the science." That's been a promise at times honoured more in the breach. He really needs to straighten up and fly right.

Owen Gray said...

We are flooded with information, Toby. But it appears that we pay little attention to the sources of our information. Just because the information has been made public, there's no guarantee that it's truthful.

Owen Gray said...

There really is a way out of our morass, Mound. But, unless we understand how science really works, we won't make it through.

lungta said...

we have all heard
Los Vegas exists because people can't do math.
following this formula
pick any problem you can think of...exists because people can't understand...insert natural law here
i.e. the 911 narrative stands because people can't do physics.
interesting but it is the people can't do part that kills ya

the salamander said...

.. I wuz 13..

Looking thru the United Breeders catalogue I saw a likely looking Charolais Bull ..
and had a heifer in heat.. The tech came on time .. the heifer impregnated

we had a party line at the farm.. wuz tied up over 12 farms

I went to school without a note.. had to explain in front of the entire class
why I had 'skipped school'.. it did not go over well

I had learned about this thing.. this 'science' via Harrowsmith
and got the bull catalogue.. (I had Black Angus heifers)
and there wuz.. some 'humpin' going on & it mystified me
There were birds n bees.. hardly a concern for me

but....

Science and Biology then became a lifelong quest
& many 'teachers' along the way

Life is a Highway.. Merge Carefully ..
or park in the ditch.. You're choice ..

Owen Gray said...

Ignorance is our biggest liability, lungta. But some people, unfortunately, believe that Ignorance Is Strength.

Owen Gray said...

You got to see science close up, sal. But, to all too many of us, science is an abstraction.

jrkrideau said...

An excellent essay, it is a pity that the author does not know anything about the history of science. The flowering of scientific work in the 16th and 17th century Europe was based on centuries of work across Europe and before that by Islamic scholars. Algebra is not an Anglo-Saxon word.

There was no "intellectual rebellion against the primacy of received knowledge from the church or the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers" but rather an acknowledgement that the Aristotelian world view was not adequate and needed revision. It was more chipped away than rebelled against.

Members of the "church", presumably the Catholic Church, were often major figures in this revolution. Copernicus, for example, was an important church/government administrator in what is now North-Eastern Germany or Western Poland. Kepler, on the other hand was a devout Protestant with rather weird views who flourished in the very Catholic court in Vienna.

Owen Gray said...

I agree that the Church's authority was "chipped away," jrk. But, to be fair, scientists like Galileo did not have an easy time of it.