Science and ignorance

There is new book which captures essential nature of science. “Ignorance” by Stuart Firestein proposes that it is not the certainty that drives science but uncertainty. Facts are not drivers of science. It is the mystery, suspense that drives science. The reason science is exciting is this eternal incompleteness of science. As knowledge increases , ignorance also increases but in greater proportion. Science will never be finished. Universe is like onion that yields layers upon layers of knowledge.

General public thinks that science is like authority which pronounces on the truth of the universe. But science knows its limitations  and is a essentially humble enterprise. Science is like a game in which endless records are being created. Fun lies in playing the game rather than  win or loss. Riddles  continue to unfold at the frontiers of knowledge.

Science as a way of knowing

                                                                                                                                                            Science is a one of the ways of knowledge. Others are faith, testimony, written word, revelation, intuition, emotions. All of these can be used by science as raw material of scientific  knowledge. So scientific research can start with  seemingly unscientific ways. 


Kekule had a dream about chemical structure of benzene. Ramanujam  saw theorems  as gift of goddess. Einstein performed fantastic thought experiments on light waves. 


What distinguishes science from non-science and pseudoscience is insistence on independent verification, embededdness  in theoretical framework ,openness to doubt and various other measures to bring objectivity into it. So we may have many psychological  intuitions but to qualify them as science we have to pass them through acid test of scientific method.

End result may look obvious but it is tried and tested result. Even then that result may be overturned by different observational criteria and theoretical framework. So science is always tentative. Tentativeness of science is its  strength. It is always arriving at the truth. Science never attains absolute truth unlike religion. Religion claims certainty. So religion will always give peace of mind. 


Our brain craves certainty like sugar. Science cannot give you false hopes . Religion will always remain popular for this reason. Though people will use gadgets ,instruments and systems based on science  their soul will remain with religion. Only education which teaches critical thinking, scientific method may make them rational .But our emotional brain continues to be burdened by superstition, fear and magical thinking. Our reason is hijacked by our emotional brain for its own end. So animals are not prey to religion even though their brain is lacking frontal cortex. They are simply unable to spin webs of myths, miracles and spiritual mumbo-jumbo  that is the hallmark of human symbolic world. 


Both emotion and reason contribute to creation of religion.  Surprisingly both emotion and reason are also necessary for the advancement of science.             

Science-subject or a method?

Science is often considered as a subject such as physics,chemistry, biology, geology etc.But actually it is a method of obtaining sound knowledge about the world.The method consists of well known steps such as observation,hypothesis,experiment,theory,deductions,confirmation not in a strict order.


In some subjects such as astronomy experiment may not be possible.But basically scientific method consists of common sense methods with emphasis on objectivity,verification,falsification and various other checks put in to eliminate normal human biases and prejudices.So scientific results can be counter intuitive and surprising to human brain.


In this blog I propose to write about whatever catches my fancy about science and scientific results.My main source will be popular science books,websites and other blogs.My principle will be that no subject is untouchable to science. So psychology,sociology  are in.Philosophy will be considered as ally of science in gaining truth.


Philosophy complements science.Philosophy can give helping hand to science in exploring borderline subjects and topics.