WHAT IS science?

Science is the collected conclusions based on experimental evidence and accepted theory. It is also the application of rules for conducting experiments, the application of rules for presenting the conclusions of those experiments, and the application of rules for proposing new theories.

Some of accepted theory is questionable at best. Most of it is very sound and only shows limitations under extreme circumstances.

measurements and logic are the ultimate authority of science.

Who presents those measurements is irrelevant, because anyone can make those measurements.

Who writes the logic and the conclusion is likewise irrelevant, because anyone can use that logic and the conclusion follows naturally: It lives with or without an author.

This site is a compilation of fundamental scientific knowledge available today. Scientific knowledge includes MEASUREMENTS and the RULES OF SCIENCE and the conclusions which follow naturally.

The other name for measurement is experimental evidence.

This site details fundamental experimental evidence, the conclusions to be drawn from this evidence, the rules for analyzing experimental evidence, and the rules for analyzing scientific theories. Without such a background, one cannot be a scientist. One might be able to acquire a grant from the United States Government for five million dollars, like two men who claimed to have achieved cold fusion, and one might be extremely intelligent, write a best-selling book about science, and gain world-wide repute, and one might publish articles for scientific peer reviewed journals, but if one ignores fundamental rules such as the need for controls, the need to allow some way to test one's hypotheses, and the need for calibration, people who pursue science won't have time to listen to such ravings, and they will pity the poor public that has to put up with it. (Perhaps there are enough ps in this sentence.)

Rule number one is no personality is an authority in science. There are people who are talented (who know the ideas of this site and don't need to read it) and those who aren't, but the measurements that establish the validity of scientific thought can be made by anyone. Whenever someone says to a scientist: "So-and-so said that blah, blah, blah...." The scientist will either humor the person or make some excuse and leave or just walk off, because, to a scientist, theory without supporting experimental measurements that are critically peer-reviewed isn’t useful. No scientist is interested in hearing about the beliefs of anyone, least of all another scientist. A scientist with beliefs is absurd.

The statement that the measurements can be made by anyone needs qualification. It costs money to buy the equipment and use it. It costs time and money to learn how to use the equipment. It doesn't cost much at all to just watch someone else make the measurement: However, one must spend some effort to understand how the equipment works, or else one can be fooled very easily by someone with an expensive instrument. Once one has spent the effort to understand these things, then one can read about the work of others and be able to judge the credibility of that work. Eventually it becomes apparent that some people can be trusted to make accurate measurements and report them clearly.

Rule number two: expectation causes bad measurements. Hence, a scientist will work to cure himself of the dreaded disease of belief and its cohort expectation.

Good ol' Albert believed the Universe to be static. When someone told him his equations for general relativity said it is not, he quickly changed them by inventing the cosmological constant. Then Marvin and Edwin showed their measurements which proved the expansion of the Universe, and Albert got egg on his face. For the rest of his life, Albert said that the cosmological constant was the biggest blunder of his life.

The sad part of the story is that the cosmological constant has not disappeared. People still try to use it in their equations. Got a problem with an equation? Use the cosmological fixit! You want your equations to work don't you? Of course, you do! Don't you believe in them? That is why we have experimental rules that prevent people from fooling us by artificially supporting their theories with inaccurate/incomplete measurements.

Rule number three: for a scientist, education is a life-long adventure of great fun. It has been said that education is for people who insist on it, and the rest is sheep herding. Scientists are not sheep. They INSIST on getting educated, and will not be discouraged or thwarted in this. The only way to learn science is to learn to insist on getting educated.

Part of being educated is being convinced that what you learn is reliable, and the other part is knowing how limited that reliability is.

Rule number four: How do you know? This question distinguishes a scientist. A scientist will ask this question whenever he hears some new information. Furthermore, he won't trust the new information unless he manages to get himself convinced of its reliability.

Rule number five: You have to discriminate for yourself who and what to trust. The only way to develop good judgment for this is by practice. This means both knowing what is trustworthy and what is not trustworthy, and choosing what is trustworthy. If you don't choose to trust in good things, then you lose the ability to know what is good to trust in.

Rule number six: Science has lead to the development of methods to achieve desires. Herein lies the attraction of science. That desire less state of one who has achieved all his desires is the absolute most excellent party.

Rule number seven: In science, there is no such thing as magic. The human body and the entire Universe is made of things sometimes called particles and sometimes called waves which interact in a predictable way. This predictability is the power of science.

Rule number eight: No scientist has ever studied the mind.

The realm of thoughts and feelings is beyond science. The reason for this is that no one has yet devised a method to measure the effect of mental influence on anything other than the body to which the mind is attached. Even the influence of one's mind on one's body is not understood. This creates difficulty, because mind is the most attractive subject of study. Notice the careful use of the word mind. The brain has been studied extensively by scientists; however, not all study of the brain is scientific, because some people confuse the two things brain and mind.

All of chemistry is explained by quantum physics. All of the characteristics and responses of the human body can be explained by chemistry. Where does mind fit in? What about free will? These aren't science. If you want to understand life, go somewhere else. Science deals only with measurable objects, and nothing else. Science can only help you live your life and achieve your ambitions. Science is only great fun. Science isn't everything.

Rule number nine: These rules aren’t going anywhere. They will be available for questioning and eventual comprehension for a long time to come.