The Nature of Science

The Nature of Science

The Nature of Science “Not explaining science seems to me perverse. When you're in love, you want to tell the world.” CARL SAGAN

One of the most beautiful things about science is that it equips you to think for yourself

Adrian Gaylord

Ever since I was very young I've had an insatiable curiosity and thirst for knowledge. I can't remember when I fell in love with science but I guess it was quite early. My mother recounts a story of when I was about 2 years old and took apart my older brother's toy tank. It spit sparks from the the gun on the turret and I wanted to know where the fire came from. The mystery intrigued me. And I just had to know. Of course my brother was pissed because while I could take it apart, I couldn't (and either could he) put back together again.

Science has been my passion. It still is and will always be. Science is behind all of our modern accomplishments and conveniences. But it has also taught us how to think. And perhaps more importantly, how to think critically.

But what is science?

Most people have these common questions at some point in their lives. Who am I? What am I? How am I? Why am I? Perhaps metaphysics and spirituality are best for the why. Empirical science has the best answers for the physical nature of ourselves and the universe. And while I agree with my evolutionary hero Stephen Jay Gould that science and "religion" (as distinct from spirituality) are non-overlapping majisteria, I also agree with my astrophysist hero Carl Sagan that science and spirituality are rather complimentary. There is no need for conflict between them.

Research is essential to science!

Karl Popper on The Line Between Science and Pseudoscience

Baloney Detection Kit  Warning signs that suggest deception.  Based on the book by Carl Sagan, The Demon Haunted World. The following are suggested as tools for testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent arguments:  Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the facts. Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view. Arguments from authority carry little weight (in science there are no "authorities").  Spin more than one hypothesis -  don't simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy. Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it's yours.  Quantify, wherever possible. If there is a chain of argument every link in the chain must work.  Occam's razor - if there are two hypotheses that explain the data equally well choose the simpler. Ask whether the hypothesis can, at least in principle, be falsified (shown to be false by some unambiguous test). In other words, it is testable? Can others duplicate the experiment and get the same result? Additional issues are:  Conduct control experiments - especially "double blind" experiments where the person taking measurements is not aware of the test and control subjects. Check for confounding factors - separate the variables. Common fallacies of logic and rhetoric Ad hominem - attacking the arguer and not the argument.  Argument from "authority". Argument from adverse consequences (putting pressure on the decision maker by pointing out dire consequences of an "unfavorable" decision). Appeal to ignorance (absence of evidence is not evidence of absence). Special pleading (typically referring to god's will). Begging the question (assuming an answer in the way the question is phrased). Observational selection (counting the hits and forgetting the misses). Statistics of small numbers (such as drawing conclusions from inadequate sample sizes). Misunderstanding the nature of statistics (President Eisenhower expressing astonishment and alarm on discovering that fully half of all Americans have below average intelligence!) Inconsistency (e.g. military expenditures based on worst case scenarios but scientific projections on environmental dangers thriftily ignored because they are not "proved"). Non sequitur - "it does not follow" - the logic falls down. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc - "it happened after so it was caused by" - confusion of cause and effect. Meaningless question ("what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?). Excluded middle - considering only the two extremes in a range of possibilities (making the "other side" look worse than it really is). Short-term v. long-term - a subset of excluded middle ("why pursue fundamental science when we have so huge a budget deficit?"). Slippery slope - a subset of excluded middle - unwarranted extrapolation of the effects (give an inch and they will take a mile). Confusion of correlation and causation. Caricaturing (or stereotyping) a position to make it easier to attack. Suppressed evidence or half-truths. Weasel words - for example, use of euphemisms for war such as "police action" to get around limitations on Presidential powers. " An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public"  (excerpted from The Planetary Society Australian Volunteer Coordinators Prepared by Michael Paine )

Why is Science Important?

If you have read all the way down here...

Then you probably have discipline, patience, persistence and maybe passion too. 

The are qualities that I have seen in all the best scientists.

Enjoy

© 2016 MU-Peter Shimon

Funny Wonderful Life

Funny Wonderful Life Physics equations? Are you sure you want to be a cartoonist? A Comment on Insight & Humor As a small tribute to Gary Larson & Stephen Jay Gould

"Science is an integral part of culture. It's not this foreign thing, done by an arcane priesthood.

It's one of the glories of the human intellectual tradition."

Stephen Jay Gould

Insight & Humor The wit and humor in the recognition of a truth are often important inspirations and by-products of scientific insight (and other areas of human endeavor). Humility like science has a tendency toward self-correction. I've always believed you should take your work seriously, but not necessarily yourself too much. We often laugh at jokes or cartoons because of the surprising insight it points to, or to hidden faults in logic it reveals, especially by turning stale ideas on their head. The right twist will get you hooked. Being able to communicate these insights with wit and humor goes deeper than mere entertainment. In my opinion there are no better communicators of  joyous science (and life) insights than Stephen Jay Gould and Gary Larson.  Both obviously passionate about science and life as well as masters at the art of communication. One by words and the other by images (with captions), they put forth revelations about nature, science and especially ourselves with warmth and humor. Sharing with us their precious view of our funny wonderful life!

Jokes can't be explained. The enjoyment comes from just "getting it".  However, when it's rendered with great talent what you get are hilarious perspectives.

Why THE FAR SIDE is a masterclass in storytelling

Gary Larson Species: Garylarsonus (beetle) Serratoterga larsoni (Ecuadorian butterfly)  Strigiphilus garylarsoni Clayton, (owl louse) "I considered this an extreme honor. Besides, I knew no one was going to write and ask to name a new species of swan after me. You have to grab these opportunities when they come along." Gary Larson  The Far Side

My Personal Favorite Strigiphilus garylarsoni

Stephen Jay Gould   From the Foreword of Gary Larson's Far Side Gallery 3 "...I also think I know why Gary Larson is numero uno by a mile among my colleagues - and that gives me something to write about. Being funny is surely a criterion, but simple chuckles do not explain why we have spontaneously chosen Gary Larson as national humorist of natural history. He has won by informal acclamation because he understands science so well. And I don't mean factual knowledge (this is available for the asking from textbooks and courses); I refer to the subtle nuances and insights - hundreds of them, sometimes several per cartoon - showing that Gary Larson knows the intimate details of our daily lives and practices... Gary Larson is a natural historian. The foibles of human relationships with the natural world, and the bad habits of culture and society thus reflected, provide his central theme... Everyone has a favorite based on his own career- and I expect that the items on doors of my colleagues are personal statements. I think we all feel that Gary made one just for us. In mine, a group of Protozoa are watching a slide show, and one says: "No wait! That's not Uncle Floyd! Who is that? Criminy, I think it's just an air bubble!" Why did this put me supine in the aisles? Well, when I took embryology in college, we had to make serial sections through a chick embryo. I made a technically perfect set of sections; I was so proud. But when I put my product under the microscope, I discovered that I had made a perfect serial section through an air bubble, and caught the embryo at some useless angle. I abandoned laboratory work and became a paleontologist. One final comment that says it all. It is the caption of another Protozoan cartoon, but take it more generally as the real reason, not only for Gary Larson's success, but for the deep respect that he has won from us: Two amoeba are watching television, and one says to the other: "Stimulus, response! Stimulus, response! Don't you ever think!" Most of us live like the amoeba, but Larson won't let us. There is no more important intellectual lesson, however it be taught."

1986 Gary Larson interview on 20/20

You might also like: What Theories Need  / Punctuated! Economics? / The Median Is The Message /
A Gould-en Heart

Enjoy

© 2012 MU-Peter Shimon

Tautological Entanglements

or   Extinction of the Unfit

(a bit of spring cleaning) Darwin DID NOT  coin the phrase "Survival of the Fittest" to sum up his theory

"Survival of the Fittest' I mentioned in the previous Darwin post that I had issues with this. First, these aren't Darwin's words either. It was coined by Herbert Spencer as a public short-hand or "sound bite" after reading Darwin's theory. This term strongly suggests natural selection, yet as Spencer extended evolution into realms of sociology and ethics, he also made use of Lamarckism. I just want to point out that it is not Darwin's theory itself, nor Darwin's words. As logical as it may be, it is fuzzy science. it misrepresents Darwin's theory. It should go away. Here's why. It is a tautology. Not that there's anything wrong with that.. as Seinfeld would say. Some tautology is useful especially when dealing with any system of complex interactions. Scientists use them all the time. This is true for science as well as economics.Tautologies are good for identifying all possible cases, organizing them and classifying them.

Logic, Science and Theory

Its just that while perhaps as good a non-predictive logical definition as tautologies may be, they are generally not very good or great science theory nor a good business model either. Let's face it, tautologies  don't really tell us much about the context or details. Here's my problem with Survival of the Fittest.... It fails under these three aspects: Logic, Science and Theory Those that survive are those that are fit and those that are fit are those that survive. I used the word entanglement for this post because although rather different it reminded me somewhat of quantum entanglements. Tautologies are often fantastic 20/20 hindsight. this kind of logical argument is a circular argument based on an premise that can't be falsified, (the invisible hand did it). Survival of the fittest as worded does not readily allow isolating a variable and verifying that there are no confounding variables. In nature, stochastic events and confounding variables abound. Now there is next to no predictive theoretical contribution left in it. I think basing future knowledge and action on this is hazardous. It is missing the visible human hand of science and distorting an understanding of what a theory really is for use as policy. It's good as short-hand or a sound bite. The thing is, it may not be meeting all the nitty-gritty criteria and conditions for good science or business. The real damage of this tautology is that it has been used as a logical model beyond biology and with regrettable results. Tautologies are a form of logic. Also from the root logos or word, it has nuanced characteristics. Differences in the meaning of words can be important to a clearer insight. My apologies to the pure rationalists but although logic looks at all possibilities its has practical limits too. Logic or deductive reasoning can make a valid construct, the field of all rational possibilities. But unbounded and untested information is of little value. Without proof of the particulars, tested, repeatable and falsifiable, in other words the application of a hands-on science, it should have limited use. Logic allows for covering all the possibilities. Science narrows down the search in the mountain of information to the more probable choices. Theories further isolate the search to the most likely or best fit and they offer predictive value. Survival of the fittest meets none of these criteria very well and so... I find it is unfit, maladapted and may be (over) due for extinction. Examples of tautologies and self-correlations abound in science, business and beyond. Mathematical models are logical definitions with numbers and so prone to tautological entanglements as well.

A simple example is generated in statistics by plotting numbers and their inverses. Possible fields are the only things it describes and logic allows only one combination of pairs. It forms a 2 dimensional line and a 2 dimensional insight. Deductions from this are almost trivial. With more complexity, more problems. In even simpler terms, averages aren't great either. With your head in a furnace and your feet in liquid nitrogen, statistically... on average, you're perfectly ok. Something obvious is missing. See what I mean? In statistics, the Greek letter sigma is only an estimate and not the actual parameter. It singles out what we measure. We should not lose sight of that. By the way, coincidently the true parameter estimated by the statistical sample is called by the Greek letter MU. In order to see their implications, more elaborate investigation is needed when dealing with more complex tautologies. This applies to all kinds of equations, including logistic ones. But what is different is they are not really worded right for a hypothesis. Hypotheses can be empirically validated or not. It asks if the observed conclusions can be proven false. And not just from anecdotal evidence. In evolutionary science the difficulty arises in defining fitness. Mathematically the details are a niche that is a mutli-dimensional hypercube. A matrix better deals with this. Again as this is a complex system it can also be a mire of tautological entanglements as logical short-hands become inevitable. But with rigor and caution the entanglements can be dealt with. Coherence is built on conservatism but new "theories" are sprung by daring initiatives. A balanced approach should benefit science and especially Darwinian economics. I think these tools are helpful for evaluating scientific theories, it maybe good for business too. Goal definition                                Relevance Immediacy                                     Operationalism Accuracy                                       Generality Precision                                        Quantification Economy of Effort                          Practicability Simplicity                                       Consistency and extra caution with the last one, Heuristic Power. While heuristics can generate new research,  it should be done with care. Enjoy. © 2012 MU Peter Shimon

My Hut in Spring

or                                                             Zen and the Art of Science

Two Blind Men Crossing a Log Bridge Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768)

My hut, in spring: true,  there is nothing in it, there is Everything! Yamaguchi Sodo (1642-1716)

Ryoan-ji - The Temple of the Dragon at Peace is a Zen temple located in Kyoto, Japan.  It is of the Myoshin-ji school of the Rinzai branch of Zen Buddhism

Carl Sagan -The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean Gone, and a million things leave no trace Loosed, and it flows through the galaxies A fountain of light, into the very mind-- Not a thing, and yet it appears before me: Now I know the pearl of the Buddha-nature Know its use: a boundless perfect sphere. HanShan (circa 630)

Studying texts and stiff meditation can make you lose your Original Mind. A solitary tune by a fisherman, though, can be an invaluable treasure. Dusk rain on the river, the moon peeking in and out of the clouds; Elegant beyond words, he chants his songs night after night Ikkyu (1394-1481)

In its eye the far off hills are mirrored --dragonfly! Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828) A special transmission outside the teachings; not depending on words or letters; directly pointing to Mind; realizing one's True Nature and becoming Buddha." Bodhidharma First Patriarch of Zen Buddhism All sentient beings are essentially Buddhas. As with water and ice, there is no ice without water; apart from sentient beings,  there are no Buddhas. Not knowing how close the truth is, we seek it far away --what a pity! Hakuin Ekaku

Break the Illusion of Limitation I believe Zen, Art and Science to be representational media. When done well, it is only a finger pointing but should provoke thought and stir emotion. "Whether you are going or staying or sitting or lying down, the whole world is your own self. You must find out whether the mountains, rivers, grass, and forests exist in your own mind or exist outside it. Analyze the ten thousand things, dissect them minutely, and when you take this to the limit you will come to the limitless, when you search into it you come to the end of search, where thinking goes no further and distinctions vanish. When you smash the citadel of doubt, then the Buddha is simply yourself." Daikaku

Chaos Theory and Fractal Art A master’s handiwork cannot be measured But still priests wag their tongues explaining the “Way”and babbling about “Zen.” This old monk has never cared for false piety And my nose wrinkles at the dark smell  of incense before the Buddha. Ikkyu (1394-1481) Quantum Art - Theory from an Artist

Empathetic Civilization Jeremy Rifkin To study the buddha way is to study the self. To study the self  is to forget the self. To forget the self  is to be enlightened by the ten thousand dharmas. To be enlightened  by the ten thousand dharmas is to free one's body and mind  and those of others. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this traceless enlightenment  is continued forever. Dogen (1200 - 1253)

When walking, walk. When sitting, sit. Above all, don't wobble. No gate stands on public roads; There are paths of various kinds; Those who pass this barrier Walk freely throughout the universe  Mumon Ekai 1183–1260, The Gateless Gate Yes, I’m truly a dunce.  Living among trees and plants. Please don’t question me about illusion and enlightenment -- This fellow just likes to smile to himself. I wade across streams with bony legs, And carry a bag about in fine spring weather. That’s my life, And the world owes me  nothing. Ryokan 1758–1831 Mountains and plains, all are taken by the snow --  nothing remains. Naito Joso (1661-1704)

How the universe appeared from nothing The body is the tree of enlightenment, The mind like a clear mirror stand; Time and again wipe it diligently, Don't let it gather dust. Shenxiu (circa 638) Enlightenment is basically not a tree, And the clear mirror is not a stand. Fundamentally  there is not a single thing  Where can dust collect? Huineng  Sixth Zen Patriarch in China 638-713 Lawrence Krauss Life, the Universe & Nothing From the first, No thing is Huineng  Sixth Zen Patriarch in China 638-713

[Dragon rising over Mount Fuji].  Between 1890 and 1920 You cannot take hold of it,  but you cannot lose it, In not being able to get, you get it. When you are silent, it speaks; When you speak, it is silent. Cheng-tao Ke 1604-1670   I gained not one thing from Absolute Awakening and that is why it is called  Absolute Awakening Siddhārtha Gautama  563 BCE to 483 BCE

Follow your nature and accord with the Tao; Saunter along and stop worrying. If your thoughts are tied you spoil what is genuine... Don't be antagonistic to the world of the senses, For when you are not antagonistic to it, It turns out to be the same as complete Awakening. The wise person does not strive; The ignorant man ties himself up... If you work on your mind with your mind, How can you avoid an immense confusion? Seng-ts'an 606

Enjoy

© 2012 MU Peter Shimon