Periodicals>Journal Article:  Flatow, Ira (11/2012), Truth, Deception, and the Myth of the One-Handed Scientist, Humanist, November / December 2012 , Retrieved on 2013-01-06
  • Source Material [thehumanist.org]
  • Folksonomies: science art science appreciation

    Memes

    06 JAN 2013

     Teach Science Appreciation

    When you study art, nobody expects you to become Picasso, but you’re taught how to appreciate Picasso: What goes into making great art? What motivates the artist? Why is it important? We don’t teach science that way. We teach science as if everybody’s going to practice it. Why can’t we teach science so students understand what the scientific method is, who the great scientists were, what motivated them, the important role that science plays in society, and what critical thinking is?
      1  notes

    Ira Flatow observes that we teach science as if everyone is going to practice it, not so everyone can learn to appreciate it.

    06 JAN 2013

     The Question of God is Not Valid to Science

    I don’t think you can refute creationism. Science only explores the natural world, not the supernatural world, and God is a supernatural question. Even creationists will admit that God is supernatural. The question of God is not a question that’s answerable by science because you can’t create an experiment that shows God doesn’t exist. That’s what scientists do. They create experiments to prove the negative. In fact, most of science is failure—failure to prove your hypothesis. If...
      1  notes

    You cannot prove God does or does not exist, and science is concerned with what is provable.

    06 JAN 2013

     There's No Such Thing as a "One-Handed Scientist"

    The rub, of course, is that everybody else thinks that science should provide the answers. Remember the Concorde? Back in the early 1970s, Congress was debating supersonic transport, trying to decide whether such aircraft would represent a danger when flown over the United States. Would their big engines flying high in the sky cut a hole in the ozone and let in solar radiation? Would the plane make sonic booms as it flew over people’s neighborhoods? And so on. Senator Edmund Muskie (D-ME) ...
      1  notes

    Scientists must consider all the evidence and factor nuance into their positions. This is illustrated with an interesting historical anecdote about a Congressional review concerning the safety of the Concord jet.

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