What Is Science? From Feynman to Sagan to Curie, an Omnibus of Definitions by Maria Popova “The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious — the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” “We live in a society absolutely dependent on science and technology,” Carl Sagan famously quipped in 1994, “and yet have cleverly arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. That’s a clear prescription for disaster.” Little seems to have changed in the nearly two decades since, and although the government is now actively encouraging “citizen science,” for many “citizens” the understanding of — let alone any agreement about — what science is and does remains meager. So, what exactly is science, what does it aspire to do, and why should we the people care? Stuart Firestein writes in the excellent Ignorance: How It Drives Science: Real science is a revision in progress, always. Science does not purvey absolute truth, science is a mechanism. Carl Sagan echoed the same sentiment when he remarked: Later:
Misconception #1: Scientists Have an Atheist Agenda. | Recovering Fundamentalists Science for the De-Converted – Part I People of every stripe tend to generalize about other groups. We all do it, and it’s mostly subconscious. It makes it easier for us to handle the massive amount of information we hear on a daily basis. Christians do this as well. However, the very nature of the scientific community makes this completely untrue. The Truth: Science doesn’t try to prove a negative. According to SkepticWiki, “Its very difficult to prove the general non-existence of a phenomenon.” I recently read a “fun fact” that said “All Polar Bears are Left Handed.” For the same reason, a wise scientist would never attempt to scientifically prove that there is no god. The Truth: Attempts to manipulate scientific data are sought out and frequently exposed within the scientific community. Scientists are not all friendly with each other, and will not think twice about exposing a fellow scientist as a charlatan if it can be proven. There are no grand conspiracies to fool the uneducated.
What is the difference between a theory and a law? I recently read a journal article* that spurred my curiosity. The author stated, "Individuals often hold a simplistic, hierarchical view of the relationship between theories and laws whereby theories become laws depending on the availibility of supporting evidence." He added, "theories and laws are different kinds of knowledge and one can not develop or be transformed into the other" and, "theories are as legitimate a product of science as laws." Throughout my years of undergraduate and graduate education, I have been taught this "hierarchical view" of theories and laws. As a former biology professor and current teacher of secondary education, I need to know, "What is the difference between a theory and a law?" *Lederman, N.G. 1998. (I was unable to locate The Electronic Journal of Science, so I linked to another presentation of the same material.) This is a common question, and a common misconception. The current consensus among philosophers of science seems to be this:
El algoritmo de Dios El algoritmo de Dios es un término que surgió en la búsqueda de aquel algoritmo que indicara los pasos mínimos que resuelven un cubo de Rubik cualquiera. El término se usa profusamente, no sólo para el cubo de Rubik. Mucho antes de conocer dicho término, cuando me encontraba con diversos tipos de problemas, ya me asaltaba recurrentemente una pregunta irrelevante (para el caso que me ocupaba), pero que espero te haga pensar un poco en la importancia de algunas cuestiones que quizás no conoces: “¿Qué solución daría Dios si fuera él quien resolviera el problema?” Lo más sorprendente quizás, es que “las soluciones de Dios” no sólo no están vedadas al intelecto humano, sino que son numerosas y prolíficas. Poniendo condiciones a Dios “¿cual es la solución/respuesta PERFECTA?” Un ejemplo. Sí, lo se, en realidad los concursos más fascinantes eran las “demos”, en lugar de calcular un aburrido Pi se trataba de crear una “intro” (¡¿tampoco sabes lo que es?! El problema perfecto
Study Unit : When Does a Theory Become a Law? THALER'S QUESTION - An EDGE Special Event LEE SMOLIN Founding and Senior Faculty member at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada; Adjunct Professor of Physics at the University of Waterloo; Author, The Trouble With Physics Perhaps the most embarrassing example from 20th Century physics of a false but widely held belief was the claim that von Neumann had proved in his 1930 text book on the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics that hidden variables theories are impossible. These would be theories that give a complete description of individual systems rather than the statistical view of ensembles described by quantum mechanics. In fact de Broglie had written down a hidden variables theory in 1926 but abandoned work on it because of von Neumann's theorem. For the next two decades no one worked on hidden variables theories. In the early 1950's David Bohm reinvented de Broglie's theory. I cannot comment on why economists made the mistake of thinking about market equilibrium as if it were unique.
10 Scientific Laws and Theories You Really Should Know" The British physicist and novelist C.P. Snow once said that a nonscientist who didn't know the second law of thermodynamics was like a scientist who had never read Shakespeare [source: Lambert]. Snow's now-famous statement was meant to emphasize both the importance of thermodynamics and the necessity for nonscientists to learn about it. Thermodynamics is the study of how energy works in a system, whether it's an engine or the Earth's core. You can't win.You can't break even.You can't quit the game. Let's unpack these a bit. The second statement -- you can't break even -- means that due to ever-increasing entropy, you can't return to the same energy state. Finally, the third law -- you can't quit the game -- refers to absolute zero, the lowest theoretical temperature possible, measured at zero Kelvin or (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius and minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit).
ORNAMENTO Y DELITO- ADOLFO LOOS El embrión humano pasa, en el claustro materno, por todas las fases evolutivas del reino animal. Cuando nace un ser humano, sus impresiones sensoriales son iguales a las de un perro recién nacido. Su infancia pasa por todas las transformaciones que corresponden a aquellas por las que pasó la historia del género humano. A los dos años, lo ve todo como si fuera un papúa.