Additional Comments on What is Science?
From the book Voodoo Science by Robert Park:
“Science is the systematic enterprise of gathering knowledge about the world and organizing and condensing that knowledge into testable laws and theories.” E. O. Wilson
The success and credibility of science are anchored in the willingness of scientists to obey 2 rules:
(1) Expose new ideas and results to independent testing and replication by other scientists.
(2) Abandon or modify accepted facts or theories in the light of more complete or reliable experimental evidence.
The cure for pseudoscience is to increase science literacy – some basic concepts for a scientifically literate society to know are Darwinian evolution, conservation of energy, the periodic table, and something about the explosive growth of scientific knowledge in the last half of the twentieth century.
A scientific worldview is needed – an understanding that we live in an orderly universe, governed by physical laws that cannot be circumvented.
A public debate between a scientist and a challenging non-scientist is usually not productive. The simplistic arguments and homespun humour of the challenger are usually more effective in such a debate than the scientist citing the evidence and the laws of science.
Naturalism and Religious Experience 