Edmund Storms <stor...@ix.netcom.com> wrote: I think what people are saying: The concept of science works but the > application frequently sucks! >
Well, also that the method is not perfect. It works sometimes but not other times. It is like any other technique, or any other institution. Some people have excessive faith in the scientific method. This is like assuming as a matter of faith that the Bank of America can never accidentally debit your account for the wrong amount. The actual nuts and bolts of the scientific method vary from one field to another. Experiments and replication are essential in physics, but they do not exist in astronomy, natural science, or other observational sciences. An industrial chemist once told me that replication is not important in his field. If you make it work, people take it for granted they can make it work eventually. They accept the result at face value. Irreproducible results are rare. Not unheard of, but rare. - Jed
