Re: science myth

["Dewey Dykstra, Jr." <dykstrad@EMAIL.BOISESTATE.EDU>]

> Remember, Tim didn't ask whether we thought the duck question was a
> worthy question or a meaningful challenge to our beliefs; he asked how
> he could verify/falsify it.  A call for verification/falsification is an
> outright challenge to our accepted premises.  The only resolution of
> such a challenge is rigorous experimentation and careful interpretation
> of the physical evidence.
>
> I understand syllogism, and I think I understand it well enough to
> understand that we must be prepared to abandon it immediately when a
> challenge is made to one of the premises of our "best knowledge".
>
> Bernard, I'm in total agreement with your other message on this topic, a
> mechanical duck call is not a duck's quack.  Which is why I get cautious
> when I am asked to believe that a computer simulation is a substitute
> for physical evidence, as I get uneasy when I am asked to believe that a
> syllogism is a substitute for an experiment.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Larry

One thing ya gotta watch out for is the notion that all of science is based
solely on specific, direct measurements.  My students decide that they need
to measure all of the forces on an object at constant velocity.  They are
surprised to find that not only was the outcome decided indirectly but that
we only measure things we "claim" are due to forces (usually the
deformation of some object), not forces "themselves."

There are some pretty fundamental ideas that are decided indirectly, yet we
never share this fact with them.  Instead we show them things like
electrostatic repulsion and attraction and act as if that "proves" there
are two types of charge.  Do this enough times to the students and it
should be no surprise that most students have such naive views of science.

What it boils down to is that often enough fundamental ideas are the result
of careful interpretation of rigorous, but indirect, experimentation.

Dewey


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Dewey I. Dykstra, Jr.                 Phone: (208)426-3105
Professor of Physics                  Dept:  (208)426-3775
Department of Physics/MCF421/418      Fax: (208)426-4330
Boise State University            dykstrad@email.boisestate.edu
1910 University Drive                 Boise Highlanders
Boise, ID 83725-1570                  novice piper: GHB, Uilleann

"As a result of modern research in physics, the ambition and hope,
still cherished by most authorities of the last century, that physical
science could offer a photographic picture and true image of reality
had to be abandoned."  --M. Jammer in Concepts of Force, 1957.

"If what we regard as real depends on our theory, how can we make
reality the basis of our philosophy? ...But we cannot distinguish
what is real about the universe without a theory...it makes no sense
to ask if it corresponds to reality, because we do not know what
reality is independent of a theory."--S. Hawking in Black Holes
and Baby Universes, 1993.
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