Science

nolaegghead

Do you believe in it?  Do you trust it? 

Why or why not.  Go.

SciAggie

We ask questions of the world around us. We get the answers through science. 

When Galileo looked through his telescope and saw the moons of Jupiter it didn’t matter what anyone “believed” - there they were. We observe nature and the physical world - it is what it is. 

Trust?
Maybe not one study. Multiple studies? Peer reviewed? Information/consensus/ trends over time? Yeah, I trust that. 

Accurate interpretation of the observed behavior or phenomenon takes time to develop. It also changes as understanding or new observations are made. 

Science 101 stuff as you know. 

HeavyG

^^^  ditto  ^^^

Wolfpack

To play the devils advocate here...even multiple studies have the chance to be influenced. 

I’m thinking of the many studies in the nutrition world. There seems to be an ever changing set of rules and guidelines. Many of the initial FDA guidelines were influenced by lobbying groups- pointing at you Sugar. Can’t remember the title, but there was an interesting documentary on Netflix- edit think it was Fed Up. 

Eggs, cholesterol, fats, red meat, etc have all been in and out of favor over the years. 

Nutritional studies are difficult to control and often have a lot of opinions and inferences based on trends. So hardly the tightly controlled studies that we can rely on.

But, as @SciAggie so accurately describes above it often takes time to refine and tune what we know and learn:

“Accurate interpretation of the observed behavior or phenomenon takes time to develop. It also changes as understanding or new observations are made. “

I will also say there is a huge difference between science and public opinion. Science is good and pure, it’s when it get influenced by $ that things can go sideways. 

JohnInCarolina

I don’t believe in science.  I know that science doesn’t care what I believe, because  I practice it.

It’s not bulletproof.  Science is performed by scientists who are human and humans make mistakes. But collectively, we tend to get things more right than wrong, especially over time.  

As for trust, the funny thing is that scientists are trained not to trust any single result.  Science is the practice of not only asking why but also questioning - why not?

paqman

science?

alaskanassasin

Unfortunately you have to follow the money in many cases.

JohnInCarolina

alaskanassasin said:

Unfortunately you have to follow the money in many cases.

What percentage of scientific studies are influenced by money, do you imagine?

I think what some people don’t realize is that million dollar research grants aren’t money the scientists are pocketing.  The vast majority of the funds goes to overhead, staff salaries, equipment, and etc.  With academic PIs for example, we are on base salaries provided by the University.  My ability to increase that through grants is limited.

alaskanassasin

Published: 3:47 PM EDT October 5, 2020

Updated: 3:52 PM EDT October 5, 2020

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevent has officially updated its guidance to acknowledge that airborne spread of the coronavirus is possible and should be taken seriously. 

The agency had previously taken down similar guidance last month, saying at the time that it was posted in error.

alaskanassasin

I was by no means implying the scientists were getting rich. A example would be scientists at Monsanto say roundup is not harmful to humans. Do I believe that, no.

JohnInCarolina

alaskanassasin said:

Published: 3:47 PM EDT October 5, 2020

Updated: 3:52 PM EDT October 5, 2020

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevent has officially updated its guidance to acknowledge that airborne spread of the coronavirus is possible and should be taken seriously. 

The agency had previously taken down similar guidance last month, saying at the time that it was posted in error.

You realize that this isn’t reflective of science so much as the politicization of science by political appointees, right?

JohnEggGio

I believe in the Scientific Method.  Issues can arise surrounding interpretation of data.

alaskanassasin

JohnInCarolina said:

alaskanassasin said:

Published: 3:47 PM EDT October 5, 2020

Updated: 3:52 PM EDT October 5, 2020

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevent has officially updated its guidance to acknowledge that airborne spread of the coronavirus is possible and should be taken seriously. 

The agency had previously taken down similar guidance last month, saying at the time that it was posted in error.

You realize that this isn’t reflective of science so much as the politicization of science by political appointees, right?

Exactly. And with that I’m out! 

JohnInCarolina

The other aspect on the influence of money in science, particularly in the US but elsewhere too, is to realize that the vast majority is government sponsored by agencies like the NIH, the NSF, DOE, and DoD.  Those agencies are interested in fundamental science.  They are providing funds to investigators to explore particular topics, sure, but they aren’t telling them what to find.  They don’t even express a preference.  Program managers aren’t out there telling PIs that they have to show X from their study of Y if they want their funding to continue.

dmchicago

JohnInCarolina

alaskanassasin said:

I was by no means implying the scientists were getting rich. A example would be scientists at Monsanto say roundup is not harmful to humans. Do I believe that, no.

Fair enough.  My point would just be that corporate funded research is a fairly small piece of the overall pie.

johnnyp

Heresy!

HendersonTRKing

I’m not blinded by science. But I sure as sht trust the scientific process and the pursuit of truth and fact over opinion and conjecture. 

fishlessman

i just want to know where the boats go when they disappear over the horizon    every weekend just about someone says all the boats are fishing the other side and pointing at boats that are less than half way there, seems impossible to explain to them that you cant actually see the boats on the other side of the lake

ColtsFan

The wife works in Research Admin at IU. Every grant the University is awarded goes across her desk. They were awarded 740+ million dollars for the past fiscal year in research grants.

Yea for science!

dbCooper

Once upon a time I dated a lady that Blinded Me With Science, physiology in particular.  Been a believer ever since.

alaskanassasin

I believe in science. I also believe that almost everything in this country boils down to money. And finally I believe that common sense used to be common but is now a super power. 

Dobie

caliking

SciAggie said:

We ask questions of the world around us. We get the answers through science. 

When Galileo looked through his telescope and saw the moons of Jupiter it didn’t matter what anyone “believed” - there they were. We observe nature and the physical world - it is what it is. 

Trust?
Maybe not one study. Multiple studies? Peer reviewed? Information/consensus/ trends over time? Yeah, I trust that. 

Accurate interpretation of the observed behavior or phenomenon takes time to develop. It also changes as understanding or new observations are made. 

Science 101 stuff as you know. 

Well said, Gary.

lkapigian

Science is very broadbase , there are aspects I trust completely ....The science of Fermentation I totally trust , how else would I leave meat hanging in a closet for a week and believe that the metabolic process that produces such delicious foods 

@SciAggie , great post 

sumoconnell

The phrasing is the issue in the question -  using the word belief is kind of odd.  It's not a religion, it's a group of methodologies to better understand and explain the world around us, and it evolves as we learn. 

cookingdude555

All of my Facebook friends are scientists. 

HeavyG

alaskanassasin said:

I believe in science. I also believe that almost everything in this country boils down to money. And finally I believe that common sense used to be common but is now a super power. 

So... the more things change the more they stay the same.

Nostalgia - there's a lot of science to it. 

SGH

I use to be very skeptical of science. But once they discovered ShamWow and Alien Tape I was convinced. Hard to deny the science behind them. 

SGH

Looks like this thread has been stampeded 🤔 

caliking

As usual, @Botch has been up to no good...