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Scientific truth has been argued since the time of the Greek philosophers. A constant battle between what is science and what is non-science has been debated and rethought continuously throughout the centuries. Since the 1970s, the world has seen advancements that were once unimaginable. Science has often become indistinguishable from magic until explained. The scientific method was key to unlocking the mysteries and proving hypotheses from intuition to concept to verify or disproven.
Preparing for today’s show, I discovered that the scientific method is no longer the gold standard for the academic world. Classrooms K-12 are now using Next Generation Science Standards. These standards explore the nature of science. They claim that “science is both a set of practices and the historical accumulation of knowledge.” Further stated, “the wondering, investigating, questioning, data collecting and analyzing” should be tied to the nature of science.
The issue with this model is the introduction of the demarcation problem. The demarcation problem is the boundary between science and non-science. It often can come down to the fortitude of personal beliefs. There became two worlds, physical science based on fact and metaphysical science based on a theory supported by equations and tests but mainly unable to be proven at this time. Philosopher Karl Popper saw demarcation as the main issue of science, and one that we likely could never solve. Both mathematical and logical science was as valid as much of the metaphysical science.
The demarcation has worsened since the pandemic. Doctors with great scientific backgrounds are labeled as disinformation or conspiracy theorists. Their medical licenses are being suspended, and their careers are ruined for stepping over the line. As Popper stated, falsifiability was a sufficient criterion for separating science from non-science. However, we have seen scientists and doctors with verifiability in their claims be labeled and punished as non-science. Society must examine critical thinking and the rhetoric of science before we censor ourselves from advancement.
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