The Theme of Beyond Belief: Science without the Hype
An introduction to this substack
Science Is Hard is about science as a discipline, not a belief system. It is my attempt to build an appreciation for how science is done, it’s limitations and how the knowledge should be used. Along the way, I hope to point out errors in the way science is communicated to the public.
Over the past four decades, I have seen science become mis-integrated into the culture. Entertainment like Revenge of the Nerds and The Big Bang Theory have made light of the quirky nature of scientists and engineers. TV shows like Mythbusters highlighted how science is used to solve problems and answer questions. The science of crime solving was central to other shows like Bones, CSI and Dexter. More serious treatments can be found in documentaries featuring science celebrities like Carl Sagan, David Attenbourgh and Neil Degrasse-Tyson
I welcome the attention science has garnered as a result of these shows. But I fear the advancement of science as a discipline has been hampered. “Science” has become a floating abstraction that permeates the culture, only vaguely understood. The examples mentioned above instill an appreciation for the work and may even impart some fragment of knowledege in the audience. But in the end, these popular forms of entertainment have muddled public understanding of science by creating a narrative absent of any real substance. Robert Tracinski describes this process well in his 2017 essay, How Carl Sagan Ruined Science. Science has morphed into “The Science”, a metaphorical stick used as an appeal to authority when a person’s views don’t match the conventional narrative.
I will not be so bold as to say that I can correct these problems with the essays that follow. But I will share my understanding of various scientific issues and attempt to communicate the proper way of viewing science, both as a discipline and a body of knowledge. I will do my best to present the material in a rigorous manner even if it is difficult to follow for the average reader. Because in the end Science, real Science, is Hard.