Science Doesn't Always Know

Those that throw 'reckons' around will jump down your throat when you bring up a scientific theory, or when you say, "No-one knows".

Oh, so we all understand:

The meaning of the term scientific theory (often contracted to theory for brevity) as used in the disciplines of science is significantly different from the common vernacular usage of theory. In everyday speech, theory can imply an explanation that represents an unsubstantiated and speculative guess, whereas in a scientific context it most often refers to an explanation that has already been tested and is widely accepted as valid.

Not knowing is perceived as a failure, "See, science doesn't know everything", which is then extrapolated as, "Science doesn't really know anything, here have some reckons I was fed on Facebook."

 Some truths*:

• Not knowing something is OK (#39)
• Nearly 'everything' about the universe is unknown
• What we do know has been tested over and over and over and over
• When we don't know we ask better questions

Things we don't know:

1. Dark Matter and Dark Energy
2. The nature of consciousness
3. Matter-Antimatter asymmetry
4. Abiogenesis (The Origin of Life)
5. The Wow! Signal and extraterrestrial life
6. Turbulence in fluid dynamics
7. The Cosmological Lithium Problem
8. Black Hole singularities
9. The biological function of sleep
10. The mechanism of the Placebo Effect

Ok, some of those are big out there things, how about these questions we don't have real answers for:

1. Why ice is slippery
2. How bicycles stay upright
3. The physics of Aerodynamic Lift
4. The biological purpose of yawning
5. The function of dreaming
6. The Mpemba Effect (hot water freezing)
7. The fundamental nature of gravity
8. The evolutionary purpose of fingerprints
9. The multi-purpose function of cat purring
10. The molecular mechanism of general anesthesia

Remember this list next time your cat purrs, or you're in hospital.

We don't know the full answers to any of these, yet! And that's ok as I suspect there are some people out there, amongst the ~8.3  billion humans on the planet, trying to work out the answers.

They will be using the scientific method, asking the question, "Why is ice slippery?", coming up with hypothesis, testing it against nature and seeing if their hypothesis is correct and can be used to predict something. If the hypothesis is wrong it'll still be published so others don't wander down that particular dead end, and around they go again, new hypothesis, new experiments. This can take years, even centuries.

What we can't / shouldn't do is look at ice and then do some "slippery" reckons, filling the void with answers that can't be proved by experimenting. Definitely don't chuck out a, "It's because of God's way."

Not knowing the answers is ok because we don't know the true/fundamental answers to almost any question you come up with (challenge laid down) - although it's awesome when there is an actual answer, stunning! Filling any 'answer void' with BS reckons isn't helpful to anyone, least of you.

Just say, "We don't know!"

Why are we here? How do I live a good life? What's the answer to life the universe and everything? Some questions are not for the realm of scientists, they know that and are happy to leave them for others to have a crack at - priests, philosophers, and social media influencers.

• "You say 'truths' Mike, but my reckons say ..." STOP!

(subscribe/RSS)