The Beginning of Wisdom

 I've got a lot of yard work and things like that to do and I keep getting distracted by it. Plus, there's a thousand and one interesting rabbit holes to go down online, so it's hard to pick one thing to tell you about. Plus, I'm a night owl, so midnight tends to wander past earlier than it should, then I have to remember to head to bed instead of trying to write up something here. I'm trying to do better about that, but...well, midnight happens fast. 

I don't know why this is going on my fact blog instead of my creative side, but I think it's because it's a bit of an explanation for why I love science and totally support scientists even if I also tend to roll my eyes at them and huff about them being ridiculous. 

Science is about asking questions, about accepting a failed experiment and learning from it, and about looking for proof of what we think, then discovering something entirely different. 

The beginning of Wisdom is saying 'I Don't Know'. 

That's often attributed to Socrates, but it shows up in several spots. 

My knowledge of things is miles wide and inches deep. I know enough about most science things that I can accept and understand the news articles that I come across, enough to understand the podcasts on a lot of different subjects, but not enough to say that my opinion of anything is worth more than that of a professional. So, I might think that what I know matches up to the average person on pretty much any scientific topic, but I will not and cannot suggest I know as much about any science subject as a scientist in that field. Even if what I'm thinking about is not their exact specialty, such as my knowledge of the anatomy of primates versus a doctorate in biology with a specification on felines. 

That's actually something that annoys me with a lot of people. Just because you're smart doesn't mean you know as much about a subject as someone that has made it their life's focus. So, if a scientist tells me that something will keep me from getting sick and is willing to at least try to explain their proof of why, and it makes sense, I am pretty likely to trust them on it. If the entire scientific community agrees on something, I'm not going to argue with them. 

They might not always be right, but they're usually willing to admit that, and change their minds. 

There's a quote saying, essentially, 'When the facts change, I change my mind'. Science does that a lot. That's why I trust them. Because I know that what they say is the best that they know, and they will tell me if they are wrong. 

Another quote I adore about science is that the best inventions don't come with a call of Eureka, but an 'hunh, didn't expect that...'. I tend to roll my eyes at scientists a lot because of the number of times a scientist comes out with something like the statement 'the likelihood of a cow standing up increases over time after they lay down'. Yeah, science. Duh. Thanks for proving that though. And, sometimes I think scientists have too much time on their hands if that's what they are studying. But, that was a side-note on a study that had other interesting discoveries. 

So...that's why I love science. I hope it helps you understand why I think this is so cool and why I decided to write up a blog of the fun parts of it. I hope you enjoy the bits I think are the most interesting for you.