[MD] What is Science

[Ham Priday]

Okay, we're now playing 'Paul Turner Says':


> Science is supposed to be about the knowledge.

Science in the aggregate is cumulative knowledge of empirical existence.

> I put it to you that Science is in crisis because it can no longer
> describe reality. As such the whole basis for its legitimacy is
> at best suspect.  As far as the Divine world it has no credibility
> even more so.

I see lots of things in crisis today, but Science is not one of them.  What 
reality do you expect empirical Science to describe?  Certainly not 
metaphysical reality, of which we have no direct knowledge.  Science's 
"legitimacy" is based on its ability to provide reliable information about 
the objective world.  Facts and principles obtained from scientific 
investigation have utilitarian value because they are effective in solving 
and predicting "real world" problems.  Science makes no claim to answer 
moral or metaphysical questions.

> Science is based on observation. One of its key underpinnings is
> that when performing an experiment, the Observer (the scientist)
> does not affect the things being measured.  Now this is its big
> problem  - because as we all now know it is impossible to measure
> something without affecting it. We have known this ever since the
> famous experiment was done to detemine what light is. We now
> know that if we want to prove that light is a wave we can prove
> it. If we want to prove that light is a particle we can do that too.
> Ever since empiricism was found out to be flawed in this way
> Science has been in crisis and that my friends - is that - Science
> does not have the answers to our problems and it never could.
> A new Science is needed one which really can describe everything
> not just reality but unreality or non being states.

I think you are asking too much of Science, Paul.  The quantum experiments 
you refer to are a narrow, specialized area of scientific investigation 
which stretches the limits of experiential knowledge.  The parameters of the 
submacro-world are not affected by measurement, and the data obtained from 
such experiments are still useful in substantiating theories.

The limitations that challenge quantum physicists are of a "descriptive" 
nature; that is, it's not possible to determine the structure of an entity 
whose physical parameters are beyond the range of sensible interpretation. 
This is not a flaw in the scientific method but a limitation of human 
experience.  Science was not established to describe "unreality", 
nothingness or states of "non-being".  That's the role of Philosophy and 
Metaphysics which should not be confused with Science.  If mankind had 
access to absolute truth (of "everything") there would be no need for 
Science.

Regards,
Ham