Saturday, December 24, 2005

Science is what it is, no more, no less

Most in the scientific community have responded with relief over the Dover ruling. However, a professor of philosphy has written an interesting response to the ruling...which I disagree with wholeheartedly, hence this long post.

In his piece, Professor George argues that there is no strict dichotomy between science and non-science. He gives three points that I'm contesting:

1) "Science employs the scientific method. No, there's no such method: Doing science is not like baking a cake."

Actually, yes there is. As any science student knows, the general scientific method that ALL science experiments use are based on 3 main principles: hypothesis, experimentation and observation of the results. If the observations follow the hypothesis, then it leads to a scientific theory that holds for now but could be disproved in the future. The other requirement is that the experiment is repeatable by others (one reason why we don't have cold fusion, or clone humans). If your claim doesn't meet these requirements, it's not a valid scientific inquiry. Thus, using his analogy, just as there are many different recipes to bake a cake, the general principle of how to bake a cake still holds. So yes, there is such a thing as a scientific method.

2)
"Science can be proved on the basis of observable data. No, general theories about the natural world can't be proved at all. Our theories make claims that go beyond the finite amount of data that we've collected. There's no way such extrapolations from the evidence can be proved to be correct."

First off, you can't prove "Science." It's not a thing TO BE proved. I'll attribute that to...sloppy writing. As scientists, our theories can never prove til the end of time that something is what it is. Scientific inquiries only state that based on the available data and knowledge and experimentation, X holds. If Y, also based on scientific inquiry, comes and contradicts X, then X no longer holds and we have to This is why there is such a push to try to reconcile general relativity with quantum physics because one is contradicting the other in different areas. Thus, general relativity is still being used at a macroscopic level to explain gravity because no other explanation works but isn't used when studying quantum events. Perhaps scientists have done a poor job to convey that, but it doesn't mean we should scrap the whole notion of scientific inquiry altogether.

3)
"Science can be disproved, or falsified, on the basis of observable data. No, for it's always possible to protect a theory from an apparently confuting observation. Theories are never tested in isolation but only in conjunction with many other extra-theoretical assumptions (about the equipment being used, about ambient conditions, about experimenter error, etc.). It's always possible to lay the blame for the confutation at the door of one of these assumptions, thereby leaving one's theory in the clear. And so forth."

Scientists aren't trying to lay the 'blame' on the extra assumptions to protect one's theory (well, they shouldn't). However, we want to be able to consider as many possibilities as possible about why such an event occurred as it did. We want other scientists to show that these extra assumptions either do or do not affect our results and thus either validate or refute our theory. If there are indeed that many caveats, then it would never be used as a general explanation for something until they are explained away using scientific inquiry

At this point, it seems like this professor has a poor notion of science that any undergrad science student could refute his points. But it gets better. He goes on to argue that astrology or parapsychology should be accepted as 'science' (
DAMN! Brought my crystal ball into my biology exam and my dissection kit into my astrology class...) and instead teaching 'science' should be based on the 'best science':

"Intelligent design shouldn't be taught in the science classroom any more than Ptolemaic astronomy and for exactly the same reason: They are both poor accounts of the phenomena they seek to explain and both much improved upon by other available theories."

My question are, what standard does one judge what best and poor science are? And who gets to be the judge? Since he's robbed the authority of the scientific community to decide whether a theory was reached using accepted scientific methods, what are the new means then? He doesn't provide an answer to that.

Two more quotes and that's it:

"We should be less proprietorial about the unhelpful moniker "science" but insist that only the best science be taught in our schools."

...so the moniker 'science' is unhelpful, but it's ok that he uses 'best science'? I'm confused.

"If we're to be honest, either we should find alternatives to the courts to protect our curricula from bad science, or we should start arguing in court that the separation of church and state would be violated by intelligent design's injection into the science curriculum on account of its predominantly religious motivation." (emphasis mine)

Let me answer the emphasized part with Judge Jones' actual ruling:

"To briefly reiterate, we first note that since ID is not science, the conclusion is inescapable that the only real effect of the ID Policy is the advancement of religion" (pp. 133-134)

"The proper application of both the endorsement and Lemon tests to the facts of this case makes it abundantly clear that the Board’s ID Policy violates the Establishment Clause...We have concluded that it is not, and moreover that ID cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents." (p. 136).

I didn't even have to read the entire ruling but skim the Judge's conclusion to find this. Did Prof. George even read the ruling or do ANY research? I'm an amateur blogger at best and I found this out in five minutes.

There's my response. I'll be awaiting yours...if you're willing to wade through all of this.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Add this to your blogroll...RIGHT NOW!

Boing Boing is probably the best blog I've started reading in the last 6 months. Not because of it's insightful analysis but because the stuff that get's posted are either ridiculous and hilarious. Here's a sampler as my Christmas present to you:

New Swiss Money has AIDS, A fetus, and skull

Cute Overload...seriously...

Everything You Know About Sex Is Wrong...WRONG WRONG WRONG!

Waiter, there's a rooster in my Soup!

Droidel, Droidel, Droidel (You heard me)

Park(ing) in San Francisco

Who steals a Penguin...seriously? It's like someone throwing a shoe...

Trouble with the Little Red Book

Fish With Two Mouths...GROSS!

If not one of these stories appeal to you...then I can't help ya.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

And another year ends

First to answer some earlier questions, my 'self' that needs to slip away is a metaphorical one, not a physical one...the physical self stays.

Before I continue, I think we need something light-hearted, say two students from U Michigan running around their library as Pac-Man and the Ghost (Quicktime, Courtesy Boing Boing).

Now onto more mundane things. My third term of my Master's has ended and I'm about to go home for a 2 and change week's worth of respite. For what it's worth, it's been a mixed-bag term.

Academically, it's been horrible. My thesis has been untouched and our project course brought neither joy, wisdom or anything of worth save maybe our report that could be used in my portfolio. Frankly, there was such little innovation bound in those pages that it probably ain't worth much anyhow.

Personally, it's a strange journey. Many of the people I have met are great people, as I've blogged about before. I've also grown to intimately know the friends still here as well, and that too is something to be enjoyed. However, in other areas there is no progression, no regression, nothing. People around me get hurt and there's very little that I can do, and it's a shitty feeling. I guess it also doesn't help that it's December and I miss that feeling of fingers touching...

One bright spot is our victorious intramural volleyball team, which one the rec-league this Fall. We're all jonesing for our t-shirts, but I've a feeling that Duane Parliament's gonna conveniently forget that he promised us these items.

There were definitely high hopes for this term, from me and some of my friends. It's darkly funny how it's turned out instead. And while I would normally say, 'oh well, next term's going to be better,' I'm gonna hedge my bet just a little this time around.

The Canadian election's about and I've no frickin' clue what's going on. Trying to keep up with the world this term has been excruciatingly tough, no thanks to our Project Course and Ga-TI-neau. What I do like is that there's a lot more policy being bantered about, particularly from the Conservatives, for which I give them kudos. Whether I'll agree with their policies or not remains to be seen, but at least it's making me want to read about what their plan is for Child Care or Defense, and it's making everyone (including me) play catch-up. It's too bad their leader's Stephen Harper. Otherwise, I'd definitely consider voting Conservative...but for now, I'll stick with the Greens until I've finished digesting the respective platforms.

Finally, on two points that gives me a sliver of feeling of hope that humanity isn't as bloody useless as it's making itself to be,

First, the minority US Senate has successfully filibustered the Defense Bill that has the scenery-chewing Alaskan Senator Ted Steven's tacked-on provision to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Instead, the bill will be passed without the ANWR provision and once again, the Refuge will indeed be a refuge...until Ted Stevens decides once again to tack it onto every bill that passes through the Senate...

Second, while Kansas' Board of Education decided, in an act of supreme arrogance and stupidity, to rewrite the definition of 'Science,' a federal judge in Dover, Pennsylvania has ruled that Intelligent Design is, well, not so intelligent; and neither can one really rewrite the definition of science. You can read the full decision HERE, and the kicker is that the judge is Judge John E. Jones III, a Republican appointed by Bush...I'd like to see Bill O'Reilly spin this one (though if he can spin Jon Stewart's show as one against Christmas, then I guess he can spin anything)...

Well, that should leave you with enough of me to chew on. Hope it's delicious.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

My self isn't slipping away

The path I walk now is a day to day struggle still. Particularly in social situations, my old self keep creeping back, and thoughts slowly insinuate itself back in. It is a difficult situation to want to let go while half of you still hold on to the loose threads. Everyday I try to fight it off and some days are certainly better than others. But there needs to be a solution to this. I can't afford to keep going the way I am going. I need to lose my self. That seems to be a workable solution. I don't know how it can be done. I am looking for guidance. Because going back to the way things were just makes the situation more and more difficult for myself. I didn't like who I was then. But slowly, it's creeping back into me.

And I worry.

Three's company

Three interesting items that came to my attention today:

1) Courtesy Bourque, In an attempt to become more neutral, the Red Cross is considering changing their logo from a Swiss cross to a diamond, so that more aid organizations from various cultural backgrounds can be part of the international organization. I personally don't like the logo all too much, but I can understand the sentiment.

2) Courtesy metafilter and Jen, Forbes recently put out the 15 richest fictional characters. A fun little thought exercise.

3) Courtesy Yahoo News. A satellite image of the polar regions and the distribution of sea ice. the yellow line indicates the extent that it used to be. Instead, we're probably seeing the continual loss of sea ice. It is hard to say how this will affect the gulf stream or the North Atlantic current. But the loss of this much sea ice is disconcerting...

Friday, December 02, 2005

Blame Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Ramadan, etc.

According to Workopolis, a website devoted to employment searches, work productivity declines as we approach the holiday season.

I just love it when I get to shift blame on something or someone else. See, my slackery is not due to my poor work ethic...it's because the holidays are coming! They're the ones enabling me, or not enabling me, as the case may be...

A smorgasbord of 'On'...

There are so many places to begin. Not posting in the last three weeks has irritated me to some degree, not so much because there wasn't any interesting stories happening but rather nothing really stood out. But since I'm trying to avoid work right now, it's a pretty good time to write about everything that's been going on. Beware: It's going to be long, but it's a smorgasbord, so I guess you can pick and choose...

On not working
My work ethic is atrocious. Someone needs to pistol-whip it into shape. Not that blogging right now is of any help. My friend Tara has an insatiable ethic that is to be admired and copied. She's given me many fishes, I'm just not learning how to fish (weird metaphor, I know). Maybe I need to be her protege or something....

On silence in the blogosphere
I've been noticing that quite a few of the blogs I regularly frequent are shutting down, particularly my friend Matt, who was the one who convinced me to start blogging in the first place. Not that it's new, but there are others, more prominent than our little corner of the blogosphere, who've retired because of other commitments and such. While there are many new ones popping up everyday, I've yet to find those who have the same level of passion, skill and often times humour, as the blogs of old. I've yet to decide whether to update my blogroll to reflect these changes (as it would also be time consuming) but it is a shame to see them go.

On salmonella kicking my ass
Part of the reason why I've been slacking off and reading blogs is due to the fact that I contracted salmonella with some of my friends, unfortunately, through some contaminated bean sprouts at a Phnom Penh in Kingston. It's now been linked to a distributor, not the restaurant (God knows I love that place, not that, well, I believe that God exists. But anyways). And while the Ontario Medical Officer of Health has put out advisories about this issue, people are still getting sick. In any case, with a clean bill of health, I've to catch up on everything else. Still, being part of the initial cases that blew the lid on this was kinda cool (but medically speaking, very not cool). I was part of the tipping point, as it were. A tipping point of salmonella.

On Hating Gatineau
A mandatory project course on developing land in Gatineau, Quebec that I'm taking in fulfillment of my planning degree is leaching my soul drop by drop. I've no time to concentrate on my other courses, innovative thinking is stifled, my thesis has been untouched since September, and emotions are running high as the end approaches. I've just lost complete interest in the project but it still consumes my life like spontaneous combustion. I'm glad I don't have to sell our plan to the clients, because it would be the worst piece of salesmanship since the Bloody Zit Froster incident.

On the fall of the Canadian government and the subsequent election
I'm WAY to late out of the gate on this one, since the election's been called for Jan. 23rd and campaigning is in full swing. My brief thoughts are this: the Liberals can't stay in power, the Conservatives can't win a majority on their issues, the NDP can't win a majority because no one likes them enough, and the Bloc Quebecois just needs to go away. So, ideally at this point, is a Conservative minority government propped up by the Liberals or NDP from time to time, hopefully moderating some of the Tories more...extreme social views. These next few weeks will be oodles of mudslinging, policy bashing fun! You'll feel dirty, but at least you won't contract any diseases afterwards.

On how the environment will be FUBARed still
If you don't know what FUBAR means, rent the movie Fubar. Moving right along. I don't have 8 years to discuss how we are continually damaging our environment, from the contamination of rivers in China to the inactivity on climate change (though apparently they've finally agreed on the rules). When no one's willing to lift a finger until 8 years of meetings have been concluded, I have little hope left for the natural environment that we rely on everyday of our lives.

On the overwhelming stories of the day
This is part of the reason why there's been no daily blogging. Too many interesting stories pique my interest but not enough time for a deeper analysis. Again why the smorgasord analogy is so apt. Why savour a particular dish when you can just gorge at the trough?

On TV
The Daily Show is doing more different things (they had the White Stripes performing last night) and while I don't know if it's any better, but I've certainly been more impressed by the Colbert Report since it's inception into the Canadian airwaves. Both shows commented on the fall of the Martin government this week and the fact that some Canadian news outlets thought that this was news made me sad...but what does make me happy is the fact that the first season of This is Wonderland is now for sale. A wonderful Canadian legal drama that is well casted, funny and endearing at the same time. Go out and buy it or watch the third season that's currently on the CBC, wednesday's at 8pm EST.

On happiness
It's just a good feeling to make someone else happy, especially through simple gestures like a card, chocolates, or flowers. Oh, if only everything else was so simple...

On traffic calming
I can't just leave this post without something quirky. Courtesy of Metafilter and Urban Cartography, a British citizen has employed novel ways to slow down the traffic that race through his neighbourhood. No rumle strips or speed bumps. Instead, 11-foot rabbits, a giant bed, and the placement of an entire living room in the middle of the road are used to force drivers to slow down and for the rest of us to think about how we conceive of the use of a road. A must read even if you have no interest in traffic calming.

So I've stuffed myself with blogging, but the irony is that I haven't eaten yet, so off to lunch I go. Until next time.