Natural Sciences (Intro)

Continuing on with the Natural Sciences...

Having watched the TED Talk based on natural sciences propelled by speaker Adam Savage, the central takeaway from the video, in my opinion, is the fact that simple ideas lead to scientific discoveries and it is essentially a questioning attitude that people need to develop in order to explore larger concepts. Hence, it is fundamentally curiosity that has the potential to transform the world around us. For instance, Aristotle proved that earth is spherical as he observed that different shapes were formed by the shadow of Earth on Moon and that would logically only be plausible if the Earth is spherical. Another example could be Feynman's questioning of the notion of inertia as the simplistic rolling of a ball to the back of a wagon prompted and provoked him to discern what the true meaning of the term inertia truly is.

Moreover, one notion that I couldn't agree more from this video is that Science is not a closed black box, but an open field. I honestly believe that this quote holistically encapsulates the true essence of science as science itself is a constantly evolving and expanding realm and hence, the confines that the external world imposes on the realm of science do not necessarily hold much substance.

The order of the Scientific method: Observation --> Question --> Hypothesis -->  Prediction

A hypothesis is a tentative statement: "If this happens to A, then this will happen to B" which allows the provability of falsification of the statement through direct experimentation or observation. An example of a hypothesis could be- if the temperature of liquid is increased to a certain degree, then it will start boiling.

A law is a statement based on repeated experimental observations that describe a phenomenon of nature (often based on mathematics), proof that something happens exists but without a tangible explanation, but continues to be accepted by society. Newton's Law of Gravity and Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment can be deemed as examples of scientific laws.

An in-depth explanation of a particular phenomenon the other hand can be classified as a theory. A theory essentially provides a logical explanation for a given prediction whereas laws find their base in mathematical foundations and are generally accepted without much questioning. For instance, it is the theory of chromosomal inheritance that provides an explanation for the validity of Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment or Einstein's Theory of Relativity that explains Newton's Law of Gravity.

Contrariwise, a fact can be classified as an observation that has repeatedly been confirmed and hence is considered 'true' in society as empirical evidence bolsters the validity of a fact. For example, the notion that the Earth is spherical is widely established as a fact.

Lastly, belief pertains to an individual's or collective community's acceptance of something being 'true' despite the lack of evidence to support it. A renowned conflict in terms of belief could be considered as an example as some people believe in the possibility of 'aliens' whereas others do not.