WEBVTT - How the Scientific Method Works 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:04.040 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:13.160 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:17.119 There's Charles w Chuck Bryant, There's Jerry Stuffy. Should know 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:20.680 why grinning. It's been a while, man. Know it's funny, 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:22.880 like those words come pouring out of my mouth and 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:25.119 then it's cool. You wake up in the middle of 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:27.000 night saying that, and you mean like slugs you in 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:32.120 the face. She's sleep She has to dry my brow. Yes, 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:36.239 we prerecorded some for December, as we like to do 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:37.560 to take a little time off at the end of 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:40.960 the year and not explain things for a few weeks 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:44.400 in our real lives. Like people ask me things like 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:47.080 what happened to that stick of butter? Yeah, I don't know, 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:49.640 don't ask don't even ask me. I could tell you, 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:52.280 but I'm not gonna exactly. That's how it goes in 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:56.760 my house. Find your own butter. December was find your 0:00:56.800 --> 0:01:00.240 own butter money. That's a good that's that's a good one. 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:02.280 That should be a T shirt. Stuff you should know 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:05.360 find your own butter or December is find your own butter. 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:07.680 M Yeah, that's right. Maybe a stick of butter and 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:11.520 some Garland on it. Yeah, I like that. So it's 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:13.479 good to see you again. Man's gonna be back in here. Yeah, 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:15.440 it is nice to be back. As much as the 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:18.120 break was great, I'm happy to be explaining things again. 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:20.440 Well that's good because if we got in here and 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:22.240 you're like, I can't do this, I can't do it again, 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:24.800 we'd be in trouble. Yeah. So I'm glad we're all 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:27.880 feeling good. Jerry, you're feeling good. Jerry's got two thumbs 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:31.240 up in a big goofy smile, two of her three thumbs. 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:35.000 She looks like Bob from that male enhancement pill ad. 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:38.639 Oh see the guy, the old man that's like super Buff, 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:41.640 I would call him old. He was middle aged. He 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.679 looked like kind of a Bob Dobbs type dude. I 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:46.520 think that's kind of who he was modeled. You see 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:49.600 the guy that's super muscling. Now I'm thinking of someone different. 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:52.360 I think, are you thinking of Jack lo Lane? No? No, no, no, 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:54.520 just there's some ad. There's some old man that looks 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.760 like really creepy because from the next super Buff looks 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.200 like it's twenty five year old. No, remember that was 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:03.000 like a male enhancement pill and I'm making air quotes 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:06.400 here for erectile this unsion. Well, there go the air quotes. 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:10.760 But yes, And it was like in the early two thousands. 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:14.560 I think maybe late nineties, but I think early two thousands, 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.440 and these ads were everywhere, and there was Bob and 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:19.880 like all these great things happened to him because he 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:22.160 started taking this pill. I can't remember the name of 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:25.040 the pill. But the company like got into a lot 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:28.040 of trouble because it was basically like a subscription service 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:30.320 and like you gave him your credit card and you 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:32.920 got this free trial, but then they started sending it 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:35.200 to you and it was like next to impossible to 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:38.680 cut off service. Interesting, They're like, no, we want your 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:43.440 mailness to be enhanced. So you you've seen these ads. 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:47.000 I was gonna start asking questions, but why bother? I 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:49.760 will I will YouTube. I will find it on YouTube. 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.840 I'll be like, oh, Bob, yeah you will. You'll go, Oh, 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:55.200 I want to come back in and record an insert 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:57.040 the guy that's on the back of all these pill 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:02.520 bottles in my bathroom. Oh, chuck, I don't even remember 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:05.120 how we got Oh yeah, Jerry did that. That was 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:10.280 Jerry's fault. But um, you remember we did the Enlightenment episode. Okay, 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.799 we talked a lot about how there's this kind of 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:21.720 um tug of war over the human psyche between rationalism 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:25.400 and mysticism. I guess you could you could put it well, 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:28.040 I feel like we're talking today about the scientific method. 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:30.959 Great idea, by the way, Thank you very much. It's 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.280 been a long time coming. Um, because I realized, like 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:38.480 I don't understand it as fully as I don't understand science. 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:40.840 I understand the scientific method because it's pretty cut and 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:43.680 dry and it's beautiful and elegant and simple. But then 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.360 you just take this thing and it came out of 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:49.840 the birth of rationalism, and when you place it into 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:53.920 the world and make it function, there's a lot of implications. 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:57.280 Is it being used properly? Is it being used responsibly? 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:00.680 Like are we putting what constitutes f E than to that? 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:02.960 You know, like it just raises all this other stuff. 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:06.240 And it made me realize, like I don't understand science 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:08.480 as much as I want to, So researching this it 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:11.280 was awesome. Yeah, and this is a cool episode, I 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:13.240 think because not only are we going to talk about 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:16.360 the scientific method, but we're going to talk about just science, 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:19.440 like what is science in general? And some of the 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:23.240 rock stars along the way, who really you know, laid 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:28.040 out the path remarkably in like many many years ago, 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.200 like coming up with these amazing discoveries that still like 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:34.200 hold you know, you can like hold their feet to 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:36.200 the fire for a lot of this stuff. Yeah, because 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:40.919 if you come upon a universal truth, you know it 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:42.640 is what it is, like you got to be the 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:45.479 person who discovered it because you know, you saw it, 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.760 you realized it a certain way, but ultimately it was 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:51.080 there already. Yeah, like Newton, I mean, we'll talk about 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:52.640 all this stuff, but it's not like now we're like, 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:55.359 oh Newton, most of what he said was wrong, But 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:58.160 that's understandable because it was a long time ago. Like 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.400 his stuff holds up really well. I was wondering if 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.040 he on his deathbed was just like, oh, man, I 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:08.680 contributed so much to humanity it's mind boggling, but I 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:12.560 couldn't enhance my malehood. Well, Bob hadn't come along yet, 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:16.920 So Chuck, let's let's just quit stalling and talk about science, 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.880 like what is science? Well, I hate the old elementary 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:24.680 school uh defined as, but it's a pretty good place 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.960 to start here to get a base definition of science. Yeah, 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:30.320 Old William Harris did a great job with this. Yes, 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.800 William Harris did a great job. Uh. Science the intellectual 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:36.960 and practical activity encompassing the structure and behavior of the 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:43.440 physical and natural world through observation and experimentation. Uh So 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:47.279 the first part of that is science is practical and 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.000 it is you know, they make a good he makes. 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:52.200 Bill Harris makes a great point in here. It's not 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.840 just stuff you do in a lab, and it's not 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:58.760 just for scientists. It is all about being hands on 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:02.840 and active, and it's about discovery and asking questions about 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:06.680 I mean, that's how everything is ultimately solved, is by 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:09.440 someone looking at something and having a question about it exactly. 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.000 And then the scientific method comes in when you say, 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:16.799 and this is how you properly get to that answer exactly. Um. 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:20.240 And he makes another good point to that. The idea 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.520 that there's a method, a scientific method, makes it seem 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:29.680 like it's it's secreted away among the the fraternity of scientists. 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:32.480 And like you said, any anybody can use it. It's 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:34.400 just kind of part of being a curious human is 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:37.240 it's not even anyone can use it everyone does use it, 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:39.720 you just might not even know that you're using it, 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:42.120 like if you I mean one of the examples that 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.880 use later is if like your car overheats, when you 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:49.000 figure out why and fix it, that's the scientific method, right, 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:53.880 playing out exactly based on reasoning. Yeah, okay, and deduction 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:57.479 and induction. Man, there's so much to talk about. Okay, 0:06:57.520 --> 0:06:59.919 So let's let's talk about that definition that you had. 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:04.000 So the first part is that science is it's a 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:09.880 practical activity. So science is practical, right, It's it's this, Um. 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:13.400 The basis of the whole thing is discovery. Right, you 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:16.560 see something, You see birds in flight, and you say, 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.840 where are those birds going? And if you just went 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:21.840 and laid down on the ground and went to sleep 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:24.920 after that, then you're not you're not carrying out science. 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:26.800 But if you went, I want to find out where 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:29.160 those birds are going, and you follow them and you 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.520 start taking notes, that's that is the basis of science 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:36.760 is discovery. Yeah, and that's the observational part as well. Um, 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:39.960 sometimes you're using a microscope or a telescope, sometimes you're 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:44.120 using your eyeballs. But no matter what your tool is, uh, 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:48.800 you're gonna be watching something and recording. What's called data 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:51.960 or data depending on I don't know what kind of 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:55.480 person you are. What do you say I think? I 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:59.960 say both. I think data. Yeah, I don't think I've 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:03.600 don't think. I say data data, I say data data. Yeah, 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:06.440 all right, we'll go with data. You say both. I 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:08.000 feel like it just comes out of my mouth one 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:09.640 way or the other, and I don't really think about it. 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.520 I think that's like being ambidextrous. Yeah. Yeah, I'm a 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:18.360 data datas Yeah. Uh so once you are observing this data, well, 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:22.080 there are a couple of kinds. There's quantitative data, which 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:26.880 are numbers, like you know, your body temperature is point six, 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:30.640 although I think that's changed slightly now, didn't it. Yeah? Yeah, there. 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:32.680 You used to be like, if you were a human being, 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:35.520 your body temperature is point six, and they it's like, no, 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.120 there's a little more variation than that. But any kind 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:45.360 of just numerical representation is quantitative, whereas qualitative is behavioral, 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:49.640 like I'm gonna watch that bird um eat in poop 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:53.360 for the next week, right, or what happens if I 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:55.319 what will the slug do if I put a bunch 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:58.199 of salt on it? Do you know I don't do that. No, 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:00.640 you really should not do that. No, it's awful. But 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:04.560 the reaction of the slug is gathering qualitative data. And 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:08.280 depending on who you talk to, there isn't qualitative data 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:12.120 and science that it should all just be quantitative because yeah, 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:20.000 because quantitative data is reproducible. Qualitative data is. It's not 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:23.959 necessarily reproducible. You can observe the same phenomenon, but you're 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:28.000 not necessarily controlling it. Okay, well, I guess I get that. 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:30.360 But I agree with Bill here and that they are both. 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:33.160 They go hand in hand, and neither one is more 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:34.679 important than the other. You need to have both. Well, 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:36.600 a lot of people do, and we'll talk more about 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:40.160 it later, because without the idea that qualitative data is 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:44.559 acceptable and scientific, you don't have the social social sciences, 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:47.920 like they don't exist. Yeah, that's a good point, but yes, 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:51.720 we have quantitative data and qualitative data. I agree with you. 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:57.640 They're both useful. Uh. It is an intellectual pursuit um, 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:00.360 So you can make observations on data all day long. 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:04.040 But until you bring reason, in this case inductive reasoning, 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:09.480 which is driving a generalization based on your observations, then 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:12.280 it's just data sitting there on a piece of paper 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:15.839 like it's supposed to lead you somewhere right exactly, And 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:18.679 so we should talk about inductive and deductive reasoning and 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.000 it depending. Again, it's really weird, But one of the 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:25.239 things that came across is that there's not a universal 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:29.600 agreement on how science is carried out. Like I saw 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:32.120 some places where there's like there's no place for inductive 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:35.800 reasoning in science. Then other places they're saying, well, you 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:39.439 have to have science using inductive reasoning. Everybody seems to 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:43.960 agree that deductive reasoning is the basis of science, but 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:46.599 that you also have to have inductive So deductive is 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:52.120 basically taking a big, broad generalization and saying that it 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:57.720 applies to something specific more specific. Yes, Uh, inductive is 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:02.160 the opposite where you say, I've noticed these different data points, 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:08.199 and uh, that means that this broad generalization is true. 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:13.280 So you go from specific, small observations to a broad generalization. 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:15.360 And the reason that a lot of people say, well, 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:18.920 inductive reasoning doesn't have any place in science is because 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:25.439 you're saying those birds over there are all brown, Therefore 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:27.520 all birds of that type of brown, even though I 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:30.000 haven't seen every single bird of that type in the world. 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.120 I'm saying that all those birds are brown. And a 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:36.080 lot of people say there's no place for that in science. Well, 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:37.920 if you want to go out and prove that, then 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:40.720 that's your business. You know. You can't just say that 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:43.680 and be like and I'm done, right exactly. I guess 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:46.880 you could. But much of scientists, right, but the the 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.800 you can use it to formulate hey, hypotheses. Right, so 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.559 you can say I've generated all these data points, I'm 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.800 gonna put them together and see if this broad generalization 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:59.880 is right. Okay, so there is a place for inductive 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:03.880 seeing science. But everybody says deductive reasoning is the basis 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:08.640 of science. Well, Bill Harris does. Uh. He offers a 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:12.839 great example for inductive reasoning with Edwin Hubble of the 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:17.320 Hubble Telescope. Uh. He was looking through the Hooker telescope, 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:21.400 which at the time at California's Mount Wilson. Is that 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:26.640 the one from Rebel Now that's um Griffith Park Observatory, 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:32.160 which has been redesigned, and uh, it is really cool now, yeah, 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:33.560 I mean it was kind of cool before, but it 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:37.640 was definitely like, uh, sort of the bass music in 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:40.280 the time forgot. Oh really, so they've updated it. I'll 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:42.320 bet that was cool though in its own way. Yeah, 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:43.720 it was neat. I used to live near there, so 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:46.000 it was kind of But that's like the famous one, 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:47.920 at least in the movies. Yeah, that's where they have 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:50.439 the big knife fight. Yeah, and there's this James Dean 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:55.760 statue there too. I didn't like a bust um. So yes. 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:58.440 Edwin Hubble he's at Mountain Wilson and he's looking through 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:01.480 the Hooker telescope, which was the biggest one. And at 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:03.920 the time, everyone said, the Milky Way galaxy is it? 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:07.760 That's what we've got going on. Did you know this? Uh? Yeah, 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:11.600 I knew that because we're talking. Yeah, not that long ago. 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.400 Did not realize this. And he started looking through this 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.280 telescope and said, you know what, these nebula that everyone 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:19.640 says are part of our galaxy look to me like 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:23.400 they're beyond our galaxy. Not only that, they look like 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:27.480 they're moving away from us. So he made this, uh 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.480 with through inductive reasoning, made this observation that you know what, 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:34.040 I think there are many many galaxies out there, and 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:37.280 not only that, I think they are expanding, and uh, 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:42.080 through technological advancement with telescopes over the years, scientists, you know, 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:45.400 it proved to be true. Yeah, pretty cool. So this 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.080 is a really good example of him saying, like, I've 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:51.640 made some observations, and now I'm going to say this 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:56.760 broad generalization. Right, So these these galaxies appear to be 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.640 moving away from me, not another. So the whole universe 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:05.800 is expanding. Right, that's inductive reasoning. It's a pretty brave thing, uh, 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:09.199 especially back then, because you're really putting your reputation at stake, 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:13.040 you know. So what Hubble was, what Hubble did was 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:17.040 what we've come to see as science. He made some observations, 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:20.960 he came up with a hypothesis, um, and then it 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:25.640 was tested later on. It's not you don't necessarily as 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:30.120 a scientist. You're a part of a larger collective of scientists, right, 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:33.920 And every scientist needs one another. It's why there's journals 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:37.840 and and um conferences and things like that to share information, right, 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:41.200 And the party and the party, and and Hubble came 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:45.080 up with his own observations. And rather than just experimenting, experimenting, 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.880 experimenting himself, which I'm sure he continued to do, he 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:52.080 created this basis of work that he probably realized is 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:57.120 going to survive him. Right, And then later on scientists 0:14:57.120 --> 0:15:00.560 came down the road and they tested his hypothesis and 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:04.400 they found it was correct, and so his hypothesis became 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:06.720 a theory. It eventually became part of the basis of 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:09.480 the Big Bang theory that the universe started as a 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:15.000 huge explosion and it's expanding still because we're because it 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:18.600 exploded at one point, right, And they did that by 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:24.160 carrying out other tests or experiments exactly. So this is 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:26.840 how science works. Like some guy back in in nineteen 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:32.200 nine makes some observations in California, he proposes this big, 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:36.480 broad generalist generalization, and over the next like ensuing half 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:40.160 a century, more and more scientists all around the world 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:43.680 start testing his hypothesis and find it to be true, 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:47.160 so it becomes a theory. Yeah. Well, well let's finish 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.280 up here with science. The last part of the definition 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:54.760 is that it's systematic and it's methodical, and it requires 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:59.960 testing and experiments, and it requires those experiments and tests 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:04.560 uh to be repeated and verified, and it is is 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:07.840 it's a system. It's a way of working things out. 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:11.560 It's a way of working That is the scientific method basically, Yeah, 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:16.200 you have your idea, you pose a question, you theorize 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:19.080 hyper you put a hypothesis out there, and then you 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:22.320 go about trying to either prove it or disprove it. Yeah, exactly. 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:24.280 And then the way that you go about proving or 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:27.880 disproving it, that's the scientific method. Everything else is just 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:32.080 scientific inquiry. The way you go about, the standardized way 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.440 of going about scientific inquiry is the scientific method. And 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:39.160 we friend, we'll talk about the scientific method right after this. 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:54.680 All right, you brought up a point. I think we 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:57.200 should go ahead and just get right to my friend. 0:16:57.280 --> 0:17:02.480 Let's do hypotheses and theories. One thing to say together, No, 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:08.400 One thing that really chase my hide is, uh, when 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:11.959 you hear poopo ors of whatever scientific theory say, well, 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:14.800 it's just a theory. And you where was this thing 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:18.320 that you found that poo pooed that? Do you remember 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:23.320 what website that was? No? No, although I do want 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:24.760 to give a shout out now that you mentioned it. 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:29.840 Two explorables. It's like an online university basically of free courses, 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:34.439 and uh, there is one on scientific reasoning that is 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:36.959 just amazing. It's like a huge rabbit hole. You go 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:39.879 down and you start clicking on the embedded links and 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:42.959 you end up like understanding all sorts of stuff. So 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:45.679 go check that one out if you like understanding stuff. 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:48.479 So that's one of the things that bug me if 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:50.600 someone says it's just a theory, and this does a 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:54.800 great job of kind of throwing that out the window. Um, 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.680 because it's basically mixing up the two definitions of theory. Yeah, 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:01.920 there's like a colloquial definition that people use every day 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:04.000 that it doesn't really have much to do with the 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:08.080 scientific use. Like, I got a theory that Jerry entered 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:11.960 one hour bathroom breaks every day is really playing uh 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:15.960 words with friends in the lobby. I think your theory 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:20.320 is correct. So that's a theory in the colloquial meaning. 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:24.000 As far as science goes, the theory is not just 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:27.119 something you postulate, say if this may or may not 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:30.680 be true. The theory is beyond the hypothesis, and it's 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:35.439 something that is strongly supported in many different ways and 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:38.399 all there's all kinds of evidence to support something that 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:42.000 eventually becomes a theory. Right, So, um, what you your 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.520 theory about Jerry's bathroom breaks in the scientific world would 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:50.199 be a hypothesis. In fact, yeah, it would be a 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:54.480 scientific law, but ultimately it would begin as a hypothesis, 0:18:54.480 --> 0:19:00.360 a hunch based on intuition, based on the data you've collected, observeyations, 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:03.399 that kind of stuff. Where like, you know, you've seen 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:06.280 that Jerry goes to the bathroom for like an hour 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:10.760 to stretch frequently. When she comes back, she's um finishing 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:14.920 up a game of words with friends. You've heard that 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:18.000 she's been spotted in the lobby during these times. So 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:22.000 your hypothesis is that while she is gone for these 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:24.440 hour long bathroom breaks, she's actually down the lobby playing 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:28.800 words with friends. Right, based on knowledge, observation, and logic. Right, 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:31.440 So let's say that you decided to set up an experiment, 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.159 and you experimented, and you went and you found Jerry 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:38.240 playing words with friends five different times, and you told 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:40.280 me about it, and I was like, I'm going to 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:43.560 run that same experiment exactly the way you did, Right, 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:47.040 I would test that same hypothesis. If I found the 0:19:47.040 --> 0:19:49.600 same results to be true, then what you would have 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:52.760 come up with, your hypothesis would move to basically a 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:57.320 theory that is, this widely accepted thing, this explanation that 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:01.720 Jerry is not actually in the bad room, she's downstairs 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:04.760 playing with friends. Would be the Jerry bathroom break theory, 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:09.240 that's right. And then if it turns out that you 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:13.239 find that Jerry spending an hour a day pretending to 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:17.520 be in the bathroom but actually being downstairs playing words 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:22.640 with friends, if the universe couldn't exist without her doing 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:28.639 that every day, you would have a scientific law. That's right. Yeah, 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:30.600 I think that was a good example you came up 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:34.280 with as a great example. As it turns out. Uh, 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:36.520 I guess the point here is when you hear someone 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:39.800 say in an argument, well, that's just a theory, just 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:42.520 punch him in the head and then tell them what 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:45.400 we just said about the bathroom breaks and they'll say, 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:49.120 who's Jerry? Or just just queue up that whole bit 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:52.640 and stand outside of their window wearing a trench coat 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:54.679 and holding a boom box over your head with the 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:58.880 smug look on your face. Uh all right, So should 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:01.159 we go back in the old way back machine a 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:03.000 little bit and just talk a little bit about how 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:14.840 the scientific method came to be? Yes, man, this this thing, 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:19.240 what are you running this on these days? Straight? Kerosene? 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:23.480 The fumes in here killing me. Sorry about that? Trying 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:27.879 to go green? You know, kerosene is not green diesel. 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:32.159 Maybe I'm choking bio diesel. How about that? Okay, the 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:34.600 way Back machine will run French freed grease. That would 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:37.080 be fine. I'll get to work on that. I could 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:40.560 handle this. So you you tease us with the Renaissance, 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:43.719 and the reason the Renaissance was so awesome and necessary 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:46.440 it was because of something else we talked about, which 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:50.520 was the Dark Ages, Uh when, which you remember, that's 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:56.800 the rationalists disparaging term for this era. That's right, but 0:21:56.880 --> 0:22:00.480 I think sort of rightfully so because right before the 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:03.239 Dark Ages until about a century after, there was not 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:07.320 much advancement at all in the realm of scientific advancement. 0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:11.040 Uh No, it's it's true. That's hard to argue with that, 0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:14.120 and and the reason why is again, science wasn't really 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:17.960 born yet, and there is a huge struggle between rationalism 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:21.359 and mysticism, and ultimately we're living in the age of 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:24.359 rationalism now. Yeah, and we should point out too that 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:28.280 this was mainly in Europe over the Islamic world. As 0:22:28.480 --> 0:22:30.560 I think we had a listener mail point out, there 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:33.480 are a lot of advancements being made uh just sort 0:22:33.520 --> 0:22:36.960 of flying under the European radar at the time, because 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:40.880 some say the Catholic Church kind of kept science under 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:44.160 its thumb for a while, and it's a pretty big threat. 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:47.000 He said, you know, you can't do this stuff, you 0:22:47.040 --> 0:22:51.040 can't experiment like this, and don't ask these questions because 0:22:51.080 --> 0:22:54.920 here are your answers. But eventually the Renaissance came about 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:58.320 in the twelfth century and people woke up and I 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:00.480 saw some of the work in the Islamic world and said, 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:03.320 you know what, maybe let's start reading up on Aristotle 0:23:03.359 --> 0:23:06.199 and told me and euclid it once again. Yeah, they're like, 0:23:06.240 --> 0:23:09.080 we forgot about these guys. I mean, it literally kind 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:11.920 of vanished for a while. It did from the West. Yes, 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:15.040 fortunately it was still around, you know, and in its 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:18.080 home places. But yes, in the West they were lost. 0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:21.480 The Roman stuff was almost entirely lost because it was 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:24.159 being suppressed by the locals, and I think the Greek 0:23:24.240 --> 0:23:28.400