Science is not Science. It is not a religion, or another god to be worshipped.
Science is to question, scrutinize, and rigorously verify. It is a practice, or a methodology. An approach to understanding reality.
It is NOT to be followed. On the contrary, the results of scientific inquiry must withstand criticism. Testing, validating, proving. It is not unlike the annealing process steel undergoes whereby intense heat is applied to iron-out the impurities.
In order to pursue scientific inquiry, it requires freedom and by its nature, critical thinking, by individuals. Groupthink is the enemy. In order to doubt, and subsequently, question any genuine scientific theory, an individual must be free to think on their own without the biases and influences that the group espouses. Even the individual struggles against their own internal prejudices, and historical experiences, in being able to clearly observe phenomena with an objectively critical lens. The power of the group will only further diminish the individual's ability to put scientific theory through the proverbial litmus test. Thus, authoritarian appeals are not what substantiates scientific study.
Skepticism and validation are necessary but insufficient. Often, it requires deeper thinking to criticize and challenge the currently accepted "science". Creativity is also integral, as so much of science is based upon intelligently crafted guesses that then guide the research. This requires one to be capable of seeing a problem differently than before and to imagine alternative explanations.
But ultimately, even the best science, at the time, is susceptible to error and incompleteness. It is not pure, perfect, and above scrutiny. It is not knowledge that is ultimately permanent. It requires humans to constantly challenge, correct for errors, improve upon and make better explanations of reality.
Do not blindly follow the Science. Rather, practice the science, by doubting the currently accepted knowledge, questioning it, and opening it up to criticism. Allow for the freedom to explore alternative explanations. If the knowledge revealed by science is true, if it is indeed a good explanation of reality, and it holds under the stress of rigorous analysis and time, then perhaps it is some good science, for the time being. But don't close your mind to its need to change or to be strengthened further, or ripped apart entirely. New information, and new ways of thinking and operating in the world, might one day weaken or obliterate strongly held beliefs, and make way for some new, better understanding and hence new and better ways of doing things.
Science is to question, scrutinize, and rigorously verify. It is a practice, or a methodology. An approach to understanding reality.
It is NOT to be followed. On the contrary, the results of scientific inquiry must withstand criticism. Testing, validating, proving. It is not unlike the annealing process steel undergoes whereby intense heat is applied to iron-out the impurities.
In order to pursue scientific inquiry, it requires freedom and by its nature, critical thinking, by individuals. Groupthink is the enemy. In order to doubt, and subsequently, question any genuine scientific theory, an individual must be free to think on their own without the biases and influences that the group espouses. Even the individual struggles against their own internal prejudices, and historical experiences, in being able to clearly observe phenomena with an objectively critical lens. The power of the group will only further diminish the individual's ability to put scientific theory through the proverbial litmus test. Thus, authoritarian appeals are not what substantiates scientific study.
Skepticism and validation are necessary but insufficient. Often, it requires deeper thinking to criticize and challenge the currently accepted "science". Creativity is also integral, as so much of science is based upon intelligently crafted guesses that then guide the research. This requires one to be capable of seeing a problem differently than before and to imagine alternative explanations.
But ultimately, even the best science, at the time, is susceptible to error and incompleteness. It is not pure, perfect, and above scrutiny. It is not knowledge that is ultimately permanent. It requires humans to constantly challenge, correct for errors, improve upon and make better explanations of reality.
Do not blindly follow the Science. Rather, practice the science, by doubting the currently accepted knowledge, questioning it, and opening it up to criticism. Allow for the freedom to explore alternative explanations. If the knowledge revealed by science is true, if it is indeed a good explanation of reality, and it holds under the stress of rigorous analysis and time, then perhaps it is some good science, for the time being. But don't close your mind to its need to change or to be strengthened further, or ripped apart entirely. New information, and new ways of thinking and operating in the world, might one day weaken or obliterate strongly held beliefs, and make way for some new, better understanding and hence new and better ways of doing things.