Understanding Weaknesses with Science
This is not saying that science is a bad thing, but it is important to be honest about both the strengths and weaknesses of science.
Quote from [science believer]:The assumption you start with is like any assumption.
Weakness 1: Science starts with an assumption.
To start with, you're starting with a guess. If how the the world works is not intuititive, it may be a difficult guess indeed. Also, there may be a number of competing assumptions that all seem to be valid, but are incompatible with each other.
Weakness 2: Science often depends on former science.
This means that the new science experiments we perform often depend on the assumptions of previous science.
Weakness 3: The evidence in a science experiment is often subject to interpretation
The results of experiments are often not clear cut. There may be a certain amount of error or variability in the result.
Weakness 4: Some areas of science only have limited predictability.
E.g. Weather forecasting. With all the science, how accurate is a 7-day forecast?
Weakness 5: Science only considers part of the evidence
Science is concerned with things that are observable, testable, and repeatable. Science can not explain things that are not. Science does a poor job at describing history and most historical events.
Weakness 6: Some areas of science have much more theory (assumptions) than experimentation.
Also, the assumptions are often not distinguished from experimentation.
Weakness 7: Science has changed often throughout history.
E.g. spontaneous generation, the model of the atom, anthropology, hormone replacement therapy, etc.
Weakness 8: Junk science
Poor science methods can be hidden behind jargon. Science can often be twisted to show a favorable result.
Weakness 9: Science is often can at best indirectly test things
E.g. The big bang, macro-evolution, the age of various objects, forensic evidence
Weakness 10: Science experiments produce evidence, but very rarely proof.
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All this is not to say that science is bad, but just like religion and history, it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the method. These weaknesses need to be managed, just like the weaknesses in the other methods of finding out information.
Science also has its strengths too. Experiments can be repeated. A correct understanding is not always needed to predict events. It is a method.
Just not a method without any weaknesses.
Written March 2008