41
The scientific method is only used to validate provisional models of reality against observation—it makes no ontological claim about the nature of reality itself.
this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2025
41 points (100.0% liked)
Showerthoughts
34076 readers
697 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Which is why philosophers of science like Lee McIntyre do not use the scientific method as their basis for defining science. Instead, there’s a way to flip the strategy on its head: define science not by its method but by its attitude. Funnily enough, the attitude is precisely what the comment says: embrace empiricism; assume reality is real and that we can understand it.
Fine, replace "reality" with "working model" then.
Besides evidence (what you see in front of you), there's also reason (what you can deduce from first principles).
I'd say the key concept of science is that knowledge can be built upon. That there is not yet an answer to every question. That you can say "We don't know but we're working on it". This was absolutely revolutionary in human affairs.
Maybe in the past? Modern science has shifted away from direct observation and more towards targeted probing. Modern science is about setting up intricate systems to answer a very specific question such that no matter what happens, you learn something new
IMO the key takeaway of modern science is that things are always more complex than we thought
It's a little more complicated than that obviously. If you want the details once you get out of the shower, you can start here: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-method/
There are always random flukes, or correlation confused with causation. I would probably add: The more consistent the observations, the closer they are to reality.
Einstein might have something to say about that. Not necessarily a counter argument. But something for sure. Or maybe his chauffeur...
Actually there are whole segments of science that deal with the problem of observation. Many things are altered by the very act of observing. Some of those are easy to understand. Like photons being used to observe things will drastically alter subatomic particles. Other are a complete mystery.
I am not qualified in the sciences, just what I've picked up a long the way.