zlacker

>>qqqqqu+(OP)
Sort of meta, but I always shudder when someone says that science has "proven" something.

What sets science apart from most other methods of seeking answers is its focus on disproof. Your goal as a scientist is to devise experiments that can disprove a claim about the natural world.

This misconception rears its head most prominently in discussions at the intersection between science and public policy. Climate change. How to handle a pandemic. Evolution. Abortion. But I've even talked to scientists themselves who from time to time get confused about what science can and can't do.

The problem with believing that science proves things is that it blinds its adherents to new evidence paving the way to better explanations. It also leads to the absurd conclusion that a scientific question can ever really be "settled."

>>aazaa+dy
It kind of floors me that we're taught science the way it is. Much simpler: Karl Popper's conjecture and refutation. So I tell people that science mandates "I believe something, so I should try to prove it wrong." I think understanding that is significantly more beneficial than repeating the arbitrary n- steps of a scientific method. It's two steps. Keep it simple.