While I did approach Big History: Connecting Knowledge with an intent to gain a greater transdisciplinary understanding of terrestrial and cosmological history, in retrospect I can see that I have more so gained from the critical thinking aspects of the course and in particular the four claim tester tools: (1) Intuition, (2) authority, (3) logic, (4) evidence. As Jenny Duke-Yonge comments in her lecture segment ‘How do we decide what to believe?’ in which she introduces the claim tester tools: “Even our best scientific theories are subject to revision in the light of new evidence. So, although what you 're being presented with here is the best scientific knowledge we have now, it may turn out that some of it 's false. It 's very likely to turn out that it 's at least incomplete. So as well as providing you with information through the course, we want to provide you with tools to help you deal with information effectively, to help you be selective and discerning about the kinds of things you believe. These questions are important for us because our society is one in which we are constantly bombarded with information from a variety of often conflicting sources.” Certainly when adopting a transdisciplinary approach and being presented with vast quantities of mind-boggling and headache-inducing information, it is very easy to become seduced by knowledge that seems to offer a shortcut and comfortable explanation, but which could in actuality be the completely wrong solution,
Kathryn Schulz argues in “Evidence”, a chapter of her book called Being Wrong, that we need to “learn to actively combat our inductive biases: to deliberately seek out evidence that challenges our beliefs, and to take seriously such evidence when we come across it” (Schulz, 377”). By attending to counterevidence we can avoid making errors in our conclusions.
He explains why UCTs are as popular as they are in modern society, and why people should nevertheless disregard and approach them with caution. What Keeley refers to as “virtues” are the reason for the popularity of UCTs. He gives the virtue of explanatory reach as the first and main reason for UCTs popularity, which is the account of all knowledge including errant data. This is in stark contrast to the received theory, which is imperfect by nature. This quality of UCTs is particularly attractive because it appeals to human rationality by allowing for no loopholes. Keely argues that errant data alone is not significant enough, and that a theory should never fit all of the data. This leads into one of the main points, concerning falsifiability and skepticism. Unfalsifiability is acceptable when the item or person under investigation is not actively trying to escape from the investigator. Keeley contends that the problem is not the innate unfalsifiability, but rather the increasing amount of skepticism required. Keely seeks a hole in the concept of conspiracy theories that accounts for a person’s innate sense that belief in a particular conspiracy theory is not justified. In the case of the natural sciences, falsifiability is acceptable because of the rigorous protocols in place, and therefore, we are warranted in believing scientific claims.
John Barry starts out his argument by using the anaphora of uncertainty. He repeatedly uses the word, uncertainty, to make his point. Barry is emphasizing that scientists have to possess the strength to move past the feeling of doubt. He states that science is filled with uncertainty, “science teaches us to doubt” (line 12). The scientific
Christians today have a biblical principle and opinion of the universe existence. Christians believe that God created earth and that he accomplished that in only six days. Genesis 1 explains the creation and the interpretation is so utterly clear and one writer states “Thus, any interpretation that goes beyond a clear plain meaning of the text is considered to compromise Biblical authority and capitulate to evolutionary theories”. One look at the Young Earth View is said to be formed from the Modern English
The solar system was created 4.6 billion years ago by a gravitational collapse. A solar system is a star that has planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and meteoroids travel around it. The solar system contains eight known planets which are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune. There is around several hundred dwarf plants but only five are currently recognized. The solar system has about 181 moons which orbit around the planets in the solar system. There is also about 150 million asteroids and 3,406 comets also in the solar system.
The science that is connected with planet earth encompasses geosciences or earth science among others. Containing old histories, this is considered as a part of planetary science while it possesses holistic and reductionist approaches in the science of the planet Earth. This discipline can cope with lithosphere, atmosphere, biosphere or hydrosphere. Quantitative understanding has been developed by the scientists to understand the ground systems with the tools by mathematics, physics, chronology, biology, chemistry alike that help to know how the universe is evolved.
I support the idea that scientists’ theories cannot be completely objective, because scientist are people and everyone has opinions and biases not matter what they say. An example of this in the article would be how Blumenbach’s teacher, Linnaeus had his basic four classifications for humans in which had characterized them by their color, humor, and posture. His biased views really
• Medes settled in the northwest and came under the influence of the ancient centers in
Barry illustrates the risk of wrong decision making in the quote: “There a single step can take them through the looking glas… A single step can also take one off a cliff.”, creating an image of pioneer scientists in uncharted wilderness having to figure out what steps to take with no tools at their disposal. Once they figure out where to go, and what tools work as well as which ones don’t, the precedent that they set further discovery a much simpler task. A series of questions are also included in the essay to display the process of deduction a scientist must stick to as they are figuring out which steps to take, “... is there another way of getting information about what the rock holds?... Would analyzing water after it passes over the rock reveal anything useful?” The use of these questions allow readers to simulate the thought process of a scientists and see how uncertainty plays a role in the decision making
Throughout history, science has always faced challenges from outside groups who work to mold science to their beliefs, ignoring evidence and commonly held facts. Following in the legacy of the flat world and an Earth centered Universe, young Earth creationists bend science to fit their explanations of the Earth’s origin and timeline. Evidence for the ancient age of the Earth is present in every discipline of Earth science and directly refutes claims made by young Earth creationists. It is important to examine these claims and rebut them, as their denial of proper scientific understanding hampers progress and has wider implications for the future of our society.
The classmate had assumed that the information was correct, since it came from a Kleist scholar, and had not bothered to check the information for himself. The professor said, “Let that be a lesson to you. Never trust anyone. You must examine the source yourself” (1990, pg. 443-444). According to Plummer, we must “develop a healthy distrust of authorities and experts” and seek for knowledge and understanding that we gain on our own (1990, pg. 443).
“There must be no barriers to freedom of inquiry. There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors. Our political life is also predicated on openness. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it and that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. And we know that as long as [we] are free to ask what [we] must, free to say what [we] think, free to think what [we] will, freedom can never be lost, and science can never regress.”
In the episode “Scientific Studies” on the tv show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”, he employs a plethora of rhetorical strategies to depict his point that not all “science” is necessarily science as most might assume; and how we as a people have become blinded and misled because these scientists are contradicting each other's’ findings. He does so by using humor, making comments that some people might be able to relate to, and by presenting basic logic and common knowledge.
Manned spaceflight is a crucial argument in society. Two writers, Seth Shostak and John Logsdon, both believe that America is making a mistake by ending manned space exploration. Seth Shostak is the author of the article “Why Hominids and Space Go Together” in The New York Times Room for Debate; his article is about how President Obama’s new vision for the NASA program is not a good plan. John Logsdon also wrote an article for The New York Times Room for Debate called “American Patrimony.” His article is more focused on how it will be a loss of patriotism to end manned spaceflight in the United States. Both Shostak and Logsdon agree that manned space travel should continue, but Shostak’s rhetoric is more effective because his argument is well organized and credible, he ties in his readers’ emotions efficiently, and he logically explains his beliefs.
"A planet is a celestial body that revolves around a central star and does not shine by its own light " (Grolier, 1992). The only planetary system that is known to man is our