Dragaera

Double Helixes and Double Crosses (was: Favorite NON-fiction)

Tue Jan 28 09:37:42 PST 2003

[snip stuff that I don't disagree with]

>And if you want a great lie in science. . .how about the scientific method 
>as taught in grade school?

I'm familiar with the example and I consider very tenditious.

What is taught in grade school is a simplification.  As an approximation of 
the methodology of science, I actually consider it a very good one. [1]

The way that science is actually conducted in the lab and in the field is, 
of course, more complicated and subject to variation between disciplines 
(would we expect a theoretical physicist to use the same methodology as a 
field archaeologist?), but, on the whole, as a first approximation, it isn't 
that far from the way that science, in general, is practiced, with the only 
serious omission, IMO, being the importance of peer review.

To call it a "lie" is, in my not at all humble opinion, dogmatic.

--

[1] By "it" I mean:

a) Gather Data
b) Form a hypothesis
c) Test the hypothesis via experiment
d) Form a theory based on the results

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