24. Creation: How Does Science Work?

Many modern scientists don’t seem to understand how science actually works. In this week’s episode, I try to provide a basic description of the scientific process as a setup for thinking through the questions surrounding evolutionary theory.

Key Takeaways

• Science involves four key steps

  • Observe patterns in the natural world
    E.g., I’ve only ever seen white swans.

  • Formulate a theory to describe those patterns.
    E.g., Theory: all swans are white.

  • Make a prediction based on that theory.
    E.g., If all swans are white, then no one should ever find a swan of any other color.

  • Examine physical evidence to attempt to prove that prediction false. If the prediction can be shown to be false, then the theory must be false.
    E.g., James Cook discovered black swans living in Australia in 1698, proving the theory “all swans are white” false.

• Science is strictly limited to addressing questions about the natural world.

  • E.g., the claim “God exists.” is not a scientific claim. It cannot be falsified by the examination of physical evidence.

  • E.g., the claim “George Washington was the first president of the United States” is not a scientific claim. It is a historical claim, so it is scrutinized by the examination of written documents (not observation of the natural world).

• Even the very best scientific investigation in the world cannot ever prove a theory. It can only “fail to disprove” a theory.

• A good scientist will rejoice when a theory is disproved because that means we now know more than we used to. We have ruled out one possible theory!

Summary

In some sections of society, it seems as though science is treated as a nearly miraculous process where the truth is somehow divined by an experimental procedure. Unfortunately, because of this highly elevated view of the scientific process, scientists are often granted an inordinate amount of authority to simply tell us “what is” when in reality their task is to figure out “what is not.” Good scientists are carrying out the difficult task of slowly chipping away at the enormous uncertainty of the natural world, gradually discerning what is definitely not true so that, over time, we are left with an increasingly clear picture of what might be.