An analysis by the physicist and science journalist Florian Aigner.
No, you haven't disproved science!
“Look at these numbers and you'll see that the official doctrine of science is wrong!” We've probably all heard this battle cry of pseudoscience before - from climate to chemtrails. But that's not how science works.
Basically, it is positive when someone critically presents real figures and facts as an argument. I much prefer people like that to anti-scientists who say “I just feel that it’s different” or “my holy book says the opposite.”
But many people don't understand how to deal with scientific facts. You find a number somewhere that somehow doesn't seem to fit with other numbers and immediately conclude: It's all a lie! This must be a big conspiracy!
Their thought process is simple: in science, everything has to fit together logically. So if I find a discrepancy somewhere, the house of cards of science collapses. That is understandable, but not correct in this form.
The Science of the Pencil
Let's imagine we want to measure something very simple - for example the electrical resistance of pencil leads. Then we have to think about what we want to investigate specifically. A specific pencil? How long is he? Should it be sharpened beforehand? At what temperature do we measure? Or are we interested in a typical average? Which brand of pencil? Or are we looking for the average value of all commercially available pencils? Weighted by number of units produced? Where and during what period?
It's always a long journey from reading a meter to the published number. Not because you want to gloss over or distort something, but because science is a difficult matter. Climate research, for example, is much more complicated than a pencil.
So if two people come up with different numbers, that doesn't mean that one of them is wrong. One meeting is often enough to discuss the models in more detail, to understand the differences and to realize that there is fundamental agreement. Perhaps certain variables have been defined in different ways. Maybe measurements were taken under different conditions. Perhaps one measurement is only a partial aspect and the other is more general.
Therefore, it makes no sense if, as a layperson, you come across a number somewhere that seems to contradict someone and then declare an entire theory refuted. Does not work like that. You almost always have to delve much deeper into the matter.
What looks like a mistake doesn't have to be taken as wrong
This is exactly how a dissertation defense typically works: You have written a doctoral thesis for years and subject experts have read it through. They have encountered discrepancies that they do not understand - not because the work is bad, but because it cannot be avoided. And during the exam they ask exactly about these discrepancies. As a doctoral candidate you should hopefully be able to answer the questions and explain why these are only apparent discrepancies.
So it's good to study facts carefully and point out inconsistencies. It's good to ask experts why the numbers are the way they are. But it is not wise to rush to judgment and immediately believe that you have refuted the scientific consensus. Of course, you should never blindly trust experts. But it's a good general rule to assume from the outset that the experts have already thought reasonably well about what they are saying.
Author: Florian Aigner
Florian Aigner is a physicist, science journalist and author. In addition to natural science, Florian Aigner also deals with the topic of esotericism, which often disguises itself as science. Aigner's column, entitled “Science and nonsense”, can be found at Futurezone at https://futurezone.at/author/ .
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