Seven Statements people say that indicate that they don't understand science

These cause alarm bells to ring.

1.Myth: Science proves X to be true or false.

Reality: Science doesn’t prove anything. Proof is a mathematical concept. Science operates within an inductive framework offering up evidence in support or against a particular hypothesis or another. Any scientific explanation is one fully verified piece of empirical contradiction from being tossed into the garbage heap of failed ideas.

2. Myth: If the majority of scientists agree with the explanation then it must be correct.

Reality: Science is about the evidence and is not a popularity game. If the evidence backs up the lone dissenting voice then that dissecting voice is the one we give credence to until better evidence to the contrary surfaces.

3. Myth: Scientists are objective.

Reality: Science itself ought to be objective but scientists themselves may not necessarily be so. File that under the category of being human.

4. Myth: Science will unravel the truth.

Reality: Perhaps but what is the truth. We may not even be close. The whole universe could be a hologram and we would not know it. However this is not what science does. Science functions on a pragmatic level building better and better models that have stronger explanatory capability within an empirical framework. Anything else is a combination of gravy and wishful thinking.

5. Myth: Science and Reason are synonomous.

Reality: Science requires two key aspects Reasoning/ Rationalism and more importantly Empirical evidence. If the Empirical evidence is impossible to come by then the avenue of investigation cannot be classified as scientific.

6. Myth: There is no scientific evidence for God therefore God doesn’t exist.

Reality: Science operates within the material which may or may not be all that exists. If God does exists and does transcend the material then scientific investigation will prove incapable of identifying it anyway. If God exists within the material then science could theoretically discover God. The fact that science has not discovered the material God would then strengthen the case that God doesn’t exist.

7. Myth: There is a single scientific method.

Reality: There are several ways in which a phenomenon is investigated. However the exact order of steps varies based on the problem being looked at. Some would even make the case that there is no fixed scientific method. Opinion | There Is No Scientific Method and The Scientific Method is a Myth