“Trust science, not scientists.”
We often misinterpret the difference between the two, but scientists are not science. Science is the accumulated body of knowledge that has been tested, verified, and proven. Scientists do much of the work, but no one scientist, institution, group, country, organization, or planetary colony has a monopoly on the progress of science.
Still, this isn’t a license to dismiss scientific findings! It is a reminder that scientists are people, and all people come with prejudices and assumptions carried around like intellectual baggage. In time, however, science weeds this out. Don’t trust a recent finding reported by the news? See if you can dig a little deeper into the experiment/study performed, and look critically at what kind of assumptions were made to do the research and what might have been left out or not researched. Still, keep in mind that a reproducible, verifiable experiment or study performed repeatedly under different conditions that produces similar results is likely good evidence that the hypothesis is true.
Usually, if you don’t trust an established scientific theory or concept, you’re probably just fooling yourself. Try to prove it wrong using the scientific method itself! In all likelihood your work will be cut out for you – someone has probably already tried to disprove the concept, and that’s why it’s accepted. Continental drift – the idea that Earth’s continents “floated” on the ocean bed an inner layer of the crust, was an idea that moved in the right direction but still needed to improve. It gave way to plate tectonics, which was tested, proven, and eventually accepted. Now it’s an afterthought within geology. The “Big Bang” theory – which has a terrible name and an interesting history! – is accepted science, but its form has been changing and updated over the past century. Likewise, the concept of biological evolution is an even older, more accepted scientific theory. Note that if you research the history of a theory and/or test it yourself, but still reject the concepts without evidence to support your views, you’re not being scientific, you’re being hypocritical!
Science is self-correcting; and whether it takes months or centuries, theories are overturned and incorrect ideas replaced. This is why it’s a perfect model for human life: science embraces change and new ideas, in the same way that humans must in order to thrive!
In an early science class, we were regularly assigned “Futures” papers, where we would speculate the best direction for current research to go, and formulate direct questions for future studies to look into. Broad questions are always easier: How does this molecular pathway result in this end product? Does more of one form of stimulation at the cell surface result in this change? What does this gene do? Forming specific, testable questions is much more challenging. But let us remember that growth comes from being challenged. Thus, we were encouraged to formulate more specific questions, and actual, testable hypothesis that could be proven or disproven using data from the existing methods.
This is the scientific method, and it’s actually a great change to make to daily life. Instead of thinking, “Hmm, I didn’t sleep well last night,” ask the bigger question, “Why didn’t I sleep as well last night as I normally do?” Then, get more specific with your question: “Did the big dinner I had last night affect my quality of sleep?” or “[How] Does changing my sleep schedule each weekend affect my sleep?” Finally, formulate a testable hypothesis: “Eating dinner an hour before bed makes my sleep of poor quality, subjectively,” and test that hypothesis! In this case, try eating 2 or 3 hours before bed, then try eating 30 minutes before bed. Record the differences if you need to – the information is of no use if you can’t recall it a month or a year late!
Ask other questions, and, as Tim Ferriss preaches, Always Be Learning.
A Tesla Project 