[ SECRET POST #2767 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2767 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Work. Again. Sorry if response time is slow. :(

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 011 secrets from Secret Submission Post #394.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big (also random unsubstantiated claims about famous people) ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Those are the products of science. So, yes, science is obviously useful for everyone in that sense. But that's obviously not what we're talking about here. I mean, I'm honestly not sure how you could have confused the two concepts. Science is useful, but knowing about science is not. Knowing the specifics of scientific theories and facts would not be useful for Penny in any way. It might be enjoyable or interesting, but it's probably not going to be useful in any meaningful way. And science isn't the only thing it's possible to learn about. She could learn about all sorts of other things, and not be ignorant or uneducated. As the person you're replying to suggested that she do.

I mean, I know I'm going against Internet dogma here by implying that science is anything less than the best & most important thing in the universe at all times, but let's be real.

[(Anonymous)]

da - I know a lot of people think this, but I disagree. Science isn't just scientific theories and facts (though suggesting those are somehow completely removed from everyday life is kind of weird and inaccurate), it's a method of critical thinking that can and should be applied to everyday life. If you drive, you may not be acquainted with the fine points of Newton's laws of motion, but you know damn well that if you dart out suddenly in front of a semi going 85 mph, you're in for a bad time, therefore you don't do it because you don't want to crash your car. Science in action, you guys.

If I'm frying bacon and turn off the stove, I know the pan will still be hot for some time afterwards, so I'll be careful in handling until I can be reasonably sure it's cool. That's the laws of thermodynamics in action, even if I don't realize it. Likewise, I may not understand what happens with electrons and neutrons and how conductivity works, but I know not to jam a fork into the toaster to pry out a slice of bread when it gets stuck. That's pretty useful.

Is science the best and most important thing in the universe? Probably depends on who you ask. But to pretend like the value of science is purely theoretical is to completely miss out on the fact that science really IS behind how everything works.

[blitzwing]

....But you don't actually have to know anything about science to know those things. Illiterate, completely uneducated people learn not to touch recently heated things (even small children learn that, from being burned). Likewise, before people knew of "gravity" as a thing, they knew if they dropped something, it wouldn't float up into the air.

Natural laws are always at play, whether you know they're there or not, and for most people, they don't need to study or understand the science behind natural laws to get through their daily lives.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, okay, there's multiple things going on here, I think.

First, yes, science-as-critical-thinking is important, but I would argue that it makes more sense to think of it as, you know, critical thinking. I think that makes a lot more sense and is a lot clearer. And yes, being able to think well is generally useful - but that's not what the original poster of the thread, or really anyone else, was talking about.

Second, I don't think that science is useful only theoretically. I think and said that it has a great variety of practical applications. And I agree completely that science informs all of our actions and that it's the best method for a real understanding and explanation of the world around us. But I also said that you don't have to know about those as science to benefit from them or be knowledgeable about them. And I think the same is true here, mutatis mutandis - you don't have to know the underlying theory to be able to engage with the practical effects. You don't need to know anything about Newton's laws of motion to comprehend the way that momentum and speed and car crashes work. In fact, I think almost everyone has at least some intuitive understanding of Newtonian mechanics, if on no other basis than experiential, whether or not they understand the underlying principles. You point it out yourself - pans stay hot for a long time, whether or not that you know that it's a principle of thermodynamics or whether you simply know that hot metal things stay hot for a long time. And you don't have to be intensely learned about the underlying scientific principles of these things to be a knowledgeable person. Of course there are certain fields of interest where it helps in specific and practical ways, but as a general point, it's not necessary.

I didn't say that the value of science was purely theoretical, any more than the OP said that science never produced anything of value to anyone. I seriously have no idea where these misunderstandings keep coming from. You and the other anon have come up with a great many ways of refuting a number of arguments against science that I never made, and demonstrating the value of science in ways that I never said weren't valuable. It's very strange.

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you. I can't understand how that commenter misunderstood as much as they did.

[blitzwing]

You must not have paid enough attention in science class I guess :)