Leaving the Church of Science

Instead of demanding certainty or pretending to know things that are unknowable, we should be more okay with recognizing the limits of science and knowledge and saying what we believe.

I’d argue that Science is the process of moving beliefs along the Faith - Math spectrum. It adds explanatory power to our various beliefs so we have knowledge closer to Math to hang those beliefs on and do not need to rely as much on Faith. There is still an element of Faith involved, but the more science we do around an idea, the more Math-y we sh... See more

You'll probably end up believing a host of things that turn out to be wrong later, but as long as you can keep weeding those out you'll get a better view of reality over time. You just have to want to learn more than you want to be right.

There's nothing wrong with the scientific method. But there is something wrong with assuming all science is done to the highest standards, and with assuming everyone reporting on science knows what they're talking about and is free of their own biases.

But we've forgotten that all science can do is falsify hypotheses. It's a process for belief refinement through falsification. It does not prove things. It gives us reasons to rely less on faith, and more on math, when trying to know certain things about the world. That's all it can do.

And it means anyone should be able to earn trust in a domain simply by showing they do good research with verifiable results. Anyone on Twitter can be a good oracle for scientific information if their synthesis turns out to be robust when you dig into it. Having a certain degree or job does not necessarily mean someone is a better sifter of knowled... See more

Learning to read and creating your own relationship with scientific knowledge is not some panacea. It won’t bestow you with a comprehensive knowledge of the world. But it will give you the tools for getting closer to the truth on your own. Tools for creating your own relationship with knowledge, instead of letting others create that relationship fo... See more