Brain Candy #95 - "If You Could Teach the World Just One Thing..."

I'm concerned about the state of science in our society. I cringe when I hear someone state that some scientific principle they don't like is "just a theory." This implies to the average person that it has no special validity beyond what an imaginative ten-year-old might conceive. This isn't true, of course. A scientific theory is not just something thought up by some science guy and laid out on the table. It may start out that way, but it gets nowhere without some hard facts to back it up. The best way to add value to a scientific theory is for a scientist to attack it with all the tools he or she can bring to bear. Other scientists will join in if the theory is important or interesting enough, all trying to bring it down. It may not survive even one experiment, in which case it becomes a failed theory. Science has had many of these. It may be found to be only partially true or incomplete - experimentation establishes the data to improve and refine it. After surviving enough attacks and subsequent refinements, it becomes an established scientific theory. It has taken considerable pounding and survived. Belief in its value requires no faith on the part of an observer. It has proven itself. Still, as scientists learn, they continue the attack. The attacks continue to add value, either by refining the idea, or adding validity to it. Occasionally, a competing theory can challenge an old established scientific theory. Classical physics was, in a sense, toppled by quantum physics, although as a simple description of the world we all live in, classical physics still works fine. For one thing, it fits our common sense observations of how the world works and it is relatively easy to apply. When we try to understand atoms and sub-atomic particles, how things behave near the speed of light, and other areas which we are unable to personally experience, classical physics does not work well. Quantum physics does seem to deal well with such phenomena.

As I recently reviewed Marylaine Block's ever-useful "Neat New Stuff on the Net" website at marylaine.com/neatnew.html , I found a web site full of things to think about concerning science. It's called "If You Could Teach the World Just One Thing..." at www.spiked-online.com/Sections/science/sciencesurvey/ . It's the Spiked E=mc2 centenary survey. In honor of the 100th anniversary of the publishing of Einstein's greatest works, the editors of Spiked asked over 250 renowned scientists what they felt was the most important thing they would teach about science.

I won't get into much detail of what the scientists said. I didn't get through more than about a hundred of them, but I started writing down some really interesting observations and questions about science, its practice, and its role in the world. Can science, in theory, explain everything? Are there areas where we can never know we're wrong? Are there things we can never know? Can any scientific theory be accepted as fact or as 'the truth'? One respondent pointed out that among all of the scientific disciplines, mathematicians alone can prove their ideas with certainty. Is he right? Are there things we can't imagine? Are there things we can't imagine now, but will be able to eventually?

There were many specific suggestions of things to teach. The most common were the scientific method, evolution and the theory of atoms, but there were also some surprises. Respondents suggested such topics as plate tectonics, Bayes' probability theorem, osmotic theory, and nanotechnology as things that everyone should know about. There were several votes for teaching the science of energy and how it relates to just about everything in our experience.

I'd suggest that if this site interests you, that you visit it several times, sampling the articles that sound interesting. It's a bit tough to try to read all of the monographs in order. As one reads through the observations, he or she can see where science has its controversies and where it is relatively in good agreement.

Science, engineering, and medicine have been the prime drivers for human progress throughout our history. As societies turn away from these powerful tools for solving problems, we should expect the benefits from them to fade away. We may even lose ground as our problems intensify. A return to "the good old days" would prove to be not nearly as desirable as some might wish to believe.