Science Advocacy

My worldview is founded, in the deepest sense, upon science. A good definition of science appears in Wikipedia as follows:

In the broadest sense, science (from the Latin scientia, 'knowledge') refers to any systematic methodology which attempts to collect accurate information about the shared reality and to model this in a way which can be used to make reliable, concrete and quantitative predictions about events, past, present, and future, in line with observations. In a more restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on the scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research. Science as defined above is sometimes termed pure science to differentiate it from applied science, which is the application of scientific research to specific human needs.

The Process of Science
While that is a big definition, the most important part is that science comes from the Latin word for knowledge. I named this section Defending Science because I fear that too many today have been tuned out from science because they fear that it is too difficult to understand or that it does not connect with their humanity. It is my belief that it just doesn't have to be this way and that if we as a global people are to continue to thrive we absolutely must embrace science and its humble practice of asking questions to attempt to show that past ideas are wrong or incomplete and should be revised.

Indeed, this is really all science is at its core. Each of us approaches his or her everyday life in much the same way. You think about doing something, you determine what the best strategy to do it should be, either based on past experience or by hunch, you attempt it, you think about how well it conformed to your initial expectations, and you revise your strategy for the next time. Scientists do much the same thing in attempting to figure out how the universe works. One big difference though is that scientists must submit their strategies and ideas (hypotheses, experiments, and observations) to other scientists who must attempt to repeat them and arrive at the same results. In order for one scientist's scientific hypotheses to reach the level of scientific theory, such as the scientific theory of evolution by natural selection, they must have been tested or observed many times over by other scientists. This is how scientists pass down and share knowledge.

Science is Founded Upon Doubt
Suffice it to say, the pursuit of science is humbling and cutthroat! If you have an idea about how something works, and you design an experiment that other people then try to replicate and they find a way to show that you were wrong, then you revise your ideas and try again, or even toss them out completely.

In a very real sense, we can say that the process of knowledge making and remaking through the scientific method is simultaneously the most conservative in practice and the most liberating in product of all disciplines. This is so because at its core science requires that claims about how the laws of the universe operate must be open to revision and falsification. Those who doubt a theory are always welcome to disprove it by presenting evidence to its contrary.

This simply means that in order for an idea to be considered scientific then it must be logically possible to present evidence to show that it is false. It's not possible to disprove the assertion that purple dragons brought to Earth by space aliens once roamed around Australia, therefore scientists don't concern themselves with people who make such claims. They stick to things they can, in theory, prove to be false. The reason I say that they don't try to prove things to be true is that all scientific theories are always provisional and open to revision. They exist in context with other axioms and other theories.

Thus, in a very real sense, the foundation of science is humility and doubt. If I am scientist, then I must be humble enough doubt my own ideas enough to ask you and other fellow scientists to attempt to prove me wrong. You, in turn, must be humble enough to doubt your own ideas enough to ask that even more colleagues review your work in order to make sure you are not wrong.

The Disconnect Between Science and Humanity's Desire for Certainty
Because the scientific pursuit of knowledge, founded upon humility, doubt, and experiment, is so rigorous and conservatively exacting, there are many competitors to science in the world that are very different. People naturally want to be certain of things, not doubtful. This is why many people look for alternative ways to learning about truth. While this is fine at face value, there is a dangerous problem when these other ways of looking at world prevent people from accepting, or even considering, the findings of science.

Most often this occurs when scientific knowledge appears to be at odds with dogmatic religious teachings. In today's world, the most prominent example of this comes from the alleged controversy over the scientific theory of evolution through natural selection that some Christians and some Muslims try to foment. While it is true that scientific theories are always open to revision and modification, that does not mean they do not make testable or observable claims. Realizing this, it is extremely important to recognize that there is no controversy among scientists about the fact of evolution by natural selection. That evolution has happened is a fact of reality. The explanation for how it has happened is the scientific theory of evolution by through natural selection.

At its core, evolution can be defined as "the change in allele frequencies over time". There is no doubt that organisms have changed over time or that modern humans and other primates share a predictably large amount of DNA. Scientists do not know exactly how the changes occur, but that does not negate the fact that evolution has occurred throughout the nearly four billion years that organic life of some form has been present on our planet.

Thus, the fact that our understanding of the details is always subject to revision and change can make people feel uneasy in a search for certainty in an uncertain world. But, what could be more certain than the fact that we do not know everything and thus we should continue to try to learn and revise our ideas about how nature works?

The Refusal to Explicitly Deny Possibility is Not the Same as Affirming Actuality
So, the supposed controversy over natural evolution is one example of where the exacting nature of science comes into conflict with the human desire to be sure, but there many others examples. Science has thus far offered absolutely zero evidence for a rational belief in life after death, yet many religions base their entire philosophy of life in this world upon the belief of promised rewards in another world. A trip to any large modern museum with Egyptian artifacts reveals how elaborate and sophisticated the Egyptian beliefs were about the after life. Yet, would any Muslim or Christian of today believe for one second in the old Egyptian traditions? Probably not.

Why then do scientists not just say outright that it is impossible for there to be life after death? They don't say this because they simply cannot disprove the assertion that some thinking, feeling, tangible representation of your or me lives on in some totally undetectable realm. No one can disprove that assertion. It is therefore not a scientific claim. No one can disprove that when I die I become reincarnated in a can of Dr. Pepper either. Nevermind that I would prefer Mr. Pibb, but this comes back to the ideas of humility and doubt again.

While a true scientist cannot dogmatically claim that there is no such thing as life after death, he or she can explain in great detail what happens to the physical body in this world after death. It's pretty basic. The forces of nature cause the body to decay naturally back into the Earth. I had an 11th grade chemistry teacher who explained to us why she didn't think time travel was very likely because she knew that part of her body today was two days ago sitting in on the shelf in the grocery store in the form of zucchini before it made its way onto her plate and then to her stomach. So, she reckoned, if you were to speed your body back in time, wouldn't all of your molecules that came from your food also have to go back in time to where they came from?

Room for Symbolism and Tradition
While there is no rational basis for believing in things like angels, demons, resurrections, or a non-corporeal soul that lives on after physical death, there is much to admire in religious and mythological texts. The people who wrote these texts were trying to explain the reality in which they found themselves immersed. They did so as poetically and as courageously as they could given the knowledge and tools they had. I greatly enjoy reading and reflecting on the parables of Jesus and others. There is no rational basis for discounting everything that religions have given us simply because we no longer believe them to be supernatural in origin.

But, we live in a world that houses more than just Muslims and Christians. It also has Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, and countless other peoples with passed-down tribal belief systems. What way of viewing the world can unite all of us? The only thing I can think of is science and its deeply humble quest for truth. When public health practitioners from places like the CDC visit far off places in Africa to educate about the fact that viruses and bacteria cause illness, not demons or curses, they are doing a service to all of us.

Joining Science to Humanity
While the process of science is rigorous and challenging and not for the faint of heart, there is no doubt that the fruits of science have left this world a far better place. It is not that far in the past that people had no idea about the germ-theory of disease, but instead thought that demons and evil spirits caused physical illness. Most of us today take it for granted that our internet connection can bring us knowledge and entertainment from around the globe. Even I, born in 1977, remember when this was far from true!

When I was a small child I used to gather rain water from the little puddles in the field behind my house. When I got home I would put it under a microscope and observe the amoebas and paramecia swimming around. What a wonder this was to someone who previously saw nothing but clear water. It showed me that there is so much more to the natural world than is visible at first. Because of this, I do not feel it is worthwhile to seek supernatural explanations of anything. I am overwhelmed by the idea of just trying to learn about all there is to learn about nature.

Looking in the other direction, through the telescope, astronomers in 2003 estimated that in the known visible universe there are likely to exist 70 sextillion stars! How can we make a number like that easy to grasp? Just imagine that you were to walk every beach on earth, then cruise through every desert and while doing this you could count every grain of sand. When you finished, you'd have not even one tenth of 70 sextillion! This is a simply staggering realization!

My greatest fear at this time is that too many Muslims and too many Christians around the world are placing their hopes in an after life, one for which there is absolutely no rational basis for believing even exists. By doing so, they fail to see that there is nothing more beautiful and perfect than the natural world around us right now. We are already home.

Even as our telescopes find evidence of not-so-distant Earth-like planets, there is quite frankly no guarantee that any human being will ever live anywhere other than Earth. This is our true home and we must take care of it. This universe and our small planet within it are irreplaceably precious, and we must take care to ensure that our children, grand-children, and great-grandchildren live to see a world as good or better than we have seen.

Irreplaceably Precious
I am reminded of the precious beauty of this world, in the here and now, whenever I look at the wonderful and serene paintings that my own great-grandmother Carola has graced our family with for the past 96 years of her life. I invite you to view here paintings on her web site at http://www.CarolaGough.com and would love to give you a tour of her 3D virtual reality gallery in Second Life sometime. Just look me up. My avatar's name is Josh Jeffries. It is my sincere hope that someday when I am 96 and have great-grandchildren that I can say to them that those of us in my generation took on the responsibility of pulling people back from dreams of heaven and helped them plant their feet right here on the ground, in this world.

For, after all, life in this world is the only thing of which we can be absolutely certain. And, that is indeed, irreplaceably precious.

Please join me in conversation.