Row and Bee

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The Backwards Method

Kilre

on Oct. 28, 2009

If there's a fault of humanity, it's that we tend to assign false conclusions to various coincidental circumstances.

Like, say, life. The universe. Everything. 42. Sorry.

I know I went over this in an earlier post, but it bears repeating.

The scientific method is the best known way, currently, to get rid of a person's bias, and make the conclusions reached through their tests be that much more representative of the natural world–world in the universal sense–and not just what that person thinks the world happens to be. It is this reason, as well, that not one person is assigned the important task of figuring out the way(s) the world works, but is left in the hands of anyone and everyone. We are all able to use the scientific method to glean knowledge from our surroundings.

The problem arises when we bring a bias into our findings. That is why we have others review what we find, so that they, hopefully with a more critical eye than than the pair that produced the original work, will pick out any remaining biases. Adding personal bias to a conclusion is like adding too much salt into a cookie mix. Sure, you'll get an interesting flavor, but it's not going to be the same cookies anymore, and no one's going to want to have nasty, salty cookies…except if you're into that kind of thing.

What does this have to with today's rant? Why, those that inject bias into science and distort the scientific method make up a decent sized chunk of the population here in the US of A.

It is not science when you start with "everything we find through science demonstrates [my] god's wonderful achievements". That is starting with a conclusion, that is not supported by evidence, and then running headlong into a hypothesis. Not only is it intellectually dishonest, but it attempts to undermine real science. Creationists do this all the time. Just watch the "Why do people laugh at creationists?" series on YouTube, by the ever-amazing Thunderf00t. While you're at it, read through Answers in Genesis' website, and watch in slack-jawed horror and awe as they twist and contort real science to fit their view of the world.

Another good YouTube personality, QualiaSoup, explains this perfectly:

Skewed views of science - QualiaSoup