Felix Bast

Have a look around you; perhaps you are reading this on a smartphone or a computer. If indoors, perhaps you are in a well-lighted room with LED bulbs, a fan, perhaps an air-conditioner… all powered by electricity. If outdoors, perhaps you can see vehicles, concrete buildings, steel, plastics, people wearing earphones, smartwatches, the list is endless. All these are products of a revolution that happened to humanity merely around 500 years ago, the so-called scientific revolution. What really happened then, and why does it matter?

Science, at its most fundamental level, is a method to determine the truth by learning from mistakes systematically. It is not a collection of facts, but a process of determining objective reality through a series of observations and experiments. Instead of coping with uncertainty via faith and belief, science systematically quantifies it and tries to minimise it. It is a journey towards diminishing uncertainty. Science deals only with objective reality, not subjective opinions. For instance, consider nuclear fission, a product of science. How will you make use of this fission energy? For peaceful electricity generation, or to make atom bombs? That is a question of ethics and morality. Personal opinions and points of view are immaterial in science; it doesn’t matter do I believe in climate change or not, but as per science, climate change is real. Technology is indeed part of science; the term specifically refers to ‘applied science’: scientific advancements that specifically address our everyday problems…read more on NOPR