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Asked by anon-253415 to Josh on 20 May 2020.
Question: Does "Science" always tell the truth?
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Josh Wolstenholme answered on 20 May 2020:
Good question!
Science is more of a process, rigorously testing different hypothesis and theories until one makes sense. For example, the theory of plate tectonics is actually relatively new (about 1950’s), before that we thought that the earth was one fixed surface. Scientific knowledge is always evolving, and there are always new things to be learnt!
Comments
Poppy commented on :
This is a great question, although not an easy one to answer. As Josh said, science is a process that relies on “best current knowledge” which is constantly changing as we prove or disprove theories. Published science goes through a process called peer review, which means that other experts go over your work and will question it if it doesn’t seem accurate or truthful. Of course there are occasional examples of errors or purposefully misleading science, but these really are a rare exception!
Kenneth commented on :
Quite a philosophical question. The ultimate goal of science is the best description of the world (or maybe universe!) around us. In that sencse it can’t tell a lie because it tries it’s best to do this.
As Josh above said, as new knowledge is revealed this might mean old scientific ideas are discarded. It can look like scientists are changing their minds or not telling the truth when things like this change. But this is part of the process of coming to an agreement on the best description of the world.
You should always remember that science is done by people. Nobody is perfect, I certainly haven’t met a perfect scientist!
Jamie commented on :
Great question! That’s the thing about science, it’s constantly changing. Some of the things we know about, for example, the Earth, have changed so much over the last few centuries to be unrecognisable. We used to think the Earth was the centre of the universe and that it was flat – these days if you think that you’re probably a little bit crazy 😉 And that’s what I think is beautiful about science – it’s always evolving, varied and unpredictable – there’s always something new to be learned and a theory to be refined.
Emily commented on :
Science and evidence is constantly evolving so what we understand to be ‘true’ at one time can later be disproved or improved later and we come to learn and understand more through new innovations, technologies and ways of working. It is important to share science so others can review it, learn from it and have the potential to take it forward and improve or discover more.