The Nature of Science: An Analysis

If one views science as an extension of human nature and tries to regard it in that sense, you have to research the scientists who perform the science and determine whether the nature of the work they are doing is good or bad. Even then, the nature of science is still up to whoever is interpreting the science being performed. Building an atomic bomb was a wonderful physics experiment to some, but from a philosophical standpoint, the fact that people wanted something that's only purpose was to destroy as many people as quickly as possible and destroy the environment around them is absolutely insane. Science is really no different than studying politics, or dating, or any other thing in life that requires experimentation, and one of the few places this differs is in religion. However, later on, I will attempt to prove how religion actually works on the scientific method as well.

On the other hand, in my own personal opinion, "to do science," is a simple concept. Doing science is nothing more than applying the scientific method to activities that people do every day. Whether you are dating, or trying different study techniques, or switching majors repeatedly, the scientific method is used. So truthfully, I am going to go ahead and give the opinion that the nature of science is great, but that the nature of mankind tends to be not so great. For one, our current technology has given us a chance to cure many diseases and crack the genetic code. Science has also given us the knowledge of our surroundings beyond our planet, and been able to reassure us thus far that there are no intelligent life forms out there bent on destroying our world like most science fiction movies will have us believe, or at least they haven't shown up yet to destroy our planet because they're hundreds of thousands of AU's away. Science has also brought us the scientific method which is an almost perfect way of achieving a goal. To the average person, the scientific method is nothing that important, but all it boils down to is an experiment in trial and error. Science has brought us things like the theory of evolution, the knowledge that the universe is not geocentric, stem cell research and various other wonderful scientific finds that have helped our society move forward.

Since we have been able to mess with the genetic code, our scientists today have found genes that show someone will be more likely to get one disease than another, and they've isolated a lot of the genes inherent in certain behaviors and life functions. They have been able to show which chromosomes are affected when someone has a birth defect such as downs syndrome or various other diseases of that nature. Unfortunately, to counter balance the good that this has caused, we have encountered many a crazy person who promotes lots of evil things, like for instance, eugenics. Eugenics was a big deal in the Nazi regime because they wanted to create a master race of people that were tall, athletic and had blond hair and blue eyes. The idea that we have to stop experimenting on the genetic code just because some people are crazy and want to use it to their own advantage is rather ill-conceived however.

If it wasn't for science and Astronomy, humans wouldn't understand the nature of the universe or what the stars in the sky were. They wouldn't understand just how big the sun is, or that it takes 80 years for light from a star to reach us, or that Pluto is an actual planet. Basically, Astronomy helps us understand the solar system, galaxy, and the universe. If it wasn't for something like this, we wouldn't know that black holes can eat our entire planet up or that gravity is different in space. Unfortunately, space exploration has started to be exploited by power hungry merchants of death who want to make weapons based on space that can destroy the planet, as if nuclear/hydrogen bombs weren't enough for them.

The scientific method is brilliant. As far back as I can remember I have adhered to this method in everything I do. This is what people do when they are in the dating field and eventually intend on getting married. If step 1 is observation, then this is what you do when you go to a function somewhere (be it school, bars, supermarkets, work, or book stores) intending on meeting a woman. After a few times, you might come to the hypothesis that the type of woman you'd like to meet would be a bookstore. You then make a back up plan for a different location. After trying a certain amount of times to meet a girl/guy, you then modify your original hypothesis if you have failed and experiment on a different location. Say you don't fail though, is that still science? Dating is nothing more than experimenting with a different person until you might your soul mate (assuming you believe in soulmates.) Eventually, you meet someone and your hypothesis proves true. After a few years, you can then theorize that a bookstore is a great place to meet someone for you. That becomes law in your head. However, doing the scientific method when it comes to different testing methods wouldn't be helpful if you're a teacher because students tend to learn differently than other students. Some might like multiple choice tests while others will like essay questions.

My fourth example of the wonders of science is where things start to become controversial. Stem Cell Research, Cloning, the theory of evolution, and all the other political topics that have a basis in science are ones that have been in direct conflict with the religious in this country for a long while. While Stem Cell research and cloning have a direct positive effect on mankind, and the theory of evolution has yet to be disproved, there are still millions of people who are convinced that Stem Cell research is immoral because you have to kill fetuses (which isn't true), and Cloning shouldn't exist because god is supposed to create people or because we'll just be harvesting clones to use body parts (I agree that cloning shouldn't exist, but not for that reason. I'm more afraid that we'll have a Hitler enthusiast out there who might end up desiring his perfect society once again and make a clone army to do this.) Will the benefits outweigh the negatives? We'll never know. I wrote earlier that a lot of people don't think religion is scientific and I was going to disprove that. I can't really disprove it is much as I can point out how throughout history, people have decided they didn't like their religions anymore and then set out to create their own (Martin Luther, a king of England, Calvin, L. Ron Hubbard, and various other people.) However some people will just accept the religions they worship and never question it. This is how science is bad, because people are sometimes a little too willing to accept anything someone says to you because it is easier than trying to figure out the truth.

If humans would stop being as inherently lazy as we have been, and our leaders would stop encouraging that we only do certain things rather than try to solve the big picture (treating aids rather than curing it) and they would fund more of our research than they do our military, science could be used for a good purpose. However, with most of the countries funding going to military purposes, they end up doing the research and it is never for a peaceful purpose. So, until the world gets its priorities correct, science will continue to be under funded and treated as an arm of defense.