Science Stuff

I thought that it would be appropriate to discuss the role of science in humanity's evolution and civilization.

What you see today in everyday life is the product of man's pursuit of scientific truth. The reason I call it truth is because the primary goal of science is to discover the truth about the natural world. Science is a very disciplined endeavor. In order to establish the truth about how nature works, scientific experiments and observations must be verified and be repeatable.

Let's say that I have some idea about how things work, such as how paper burns, knowing that things burn by combustion with oxygen. I analyze paper and discover that it's mostly cellulose, a natural polymer that contains lots of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Then I determine that paper is combustible and burns to form mostly carbon dioxide and water. This establishes that paper has a lot of carbon and hydrogen atoms. At first my idea is only a theory, but other scientists verify my work, which establishes it as fact. This is how science is supposed to work. Experiments and observations must be verified and repeatable to establish science fact.

This is a simplistic example of a much more complicated process, but the basic concept is sound. Science depends upon peer review and verification.

Despite this, people deny scientific fact. They base their disbelief on religion or preconceived notions that are often similar to superstition. Recently, ultra conservatives have become deniers of climate change, which has been verified by climate scientists all over the world.  Despite their political objections, the planet Earth will become a much warmer place in the future. It will take time but the end result is inevitable. To deny it is to pass the suffering onto our future generations.

There is no doubt that we would not be here without science. Mankind would be still living in a medieval agrarian culture that would resemble Game of Thrones. Science has allowed the population of Earth to increase and live in reasonable comfort. However, this is not the case in many places on this plane, such as Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria and South Sudan. Some of the famine in these locations is the result of war, and some of it is the result of climate change.

However, the goal of science is to understand how things work, not necessarily to make life better. Many improvements in life have come from science, especially when it comes to medical science, which has greatly extended the life expectancy of humanity and has created solutions for many of the human diseases that once resulted in early death. Again, there is much more work to be done, but future advances will be accomplished with science.

The pursuit of science is the most important aspect of human evolution. Humanity has advanced to a point at which we understand more about how the universe works and how we got here. Obviously, we have a long way to go before we really know the universe in all its amazing complexity, but at least we're on the right path. It's difficult to judge the pace of scientific discovery, but as long as the world remains reasonably stable, these discoveries will evolve.

In my opinion science is a pursuit that must be followed and even expanded. It's the mark of an advanced civilization and is the ultimate goal of a sapient species. Science may not solve all of mankind's problems, but it could go a long way to allowing us to survive the changes to our planet and to our solar system.

Thanks for reading