071 - On The Complexities and Beauty of The Scientific Method

Zengineering: A Philosophy of Science, Technology, Art & Engineering

Howdy, Zengineers!

It's time. What time you might ask? Time to talk about the Scientific Method. Yeah. That method! The scientific one. Yikes! This conversations has been a long time coming and we're so happy to finally be talking about it.

The core here is establishing a clear understanding of deductive versus inductive reasoning. We cannot, according to the philosophy of science, deductively prove things in our universe. We can only deductively DISPROVE them. As Albert Einstein famously said (or said something along these lines) "No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right, yet a single experiment can prove me wrong."

Over time experimenting against inductively based reason creates solid foundational knowledge that we expect to consistently describe the behavior of the world around us. If ever an inductive conclusion is deductively proven wrong, then we must adjust that theory and all branching knowledge. This is the scientific method and what makes this incredible technological and philosophical innovation so damn powerful. Dig it? You should, and you will.

This episode is kind of part of a series. They don't really require that you listen in any particular order, but you may want to check these out too:

Episode 044 — On Experts, Algorithms, and Scientific Thinking: https://zengineeringpodcast.com/episode-044-on-experts-algorithms-and-scientific-thinking-7f9e0e8ba128

Episode 046 — On Experiments, and their Limits in Meat Space: https://zengineeringpodcast.com/episode-046-on-experiments-and-their-limits-in-meat-space-25c8902085c0

Episode 048 - On STEAM Education & The Importance of Curiosity: https://zengineeringpodcast.com/episode-048-on-steam-education-and-the-importance-of-curiosity-906bf0790946

We hope you enjoy the convo. Support the show: http://support.zengineeringpodcast.com and visit our website for more episodes: https://zengineeringpodcast.com

Cheers,

Adam & Brian

Show Notes

What is science and why is it so special? (Towards Data Science): https://towardsdatascience.com/what-is-science-and-why-is-it-so-special-79e166e667c0

What exactly is the scientific method and why do so many people get it wrong?: http://theconversation.com/what-exactly-is-the-scientific-method-and-why-do-so-many-people-get-it-wrong-65117

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