WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How the Scientific Method Works 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:04.280 Hi, everyone, Happy Saturday. This is Charles W. Chuck Bryant here. 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:07.360 I hope you slept well. Hope you're feeling good because 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:10.480 you're about to listen to How the Scientific Method Works 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:14.560 is from January of two thousand fifteen, and boy, this 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:16.840 is a good one. I really loved it because we 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:19.239 love science around here and we love the scientific method 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:22.400 and proving stuff out. So check it out right now. 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:27.840 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of My 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:36.920 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:40.360 I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:44.360 Stuffy should Know grinning. It's even a while. I know, 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:47.279 it's funny, like those words come pouring out of my 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:49.640 mouth and then it's cool. You wake up in the 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:51.640 middle of night saying that, and you mean like slugs 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:55.280 you in the face. She's sleep She has to dry 0:00:55.320 --> 0:01:00.640 my brow. Yes, we prerecorded some for December, as we 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:02.120 like to do to take a little time off at 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:05.240 the end of the year and not explain things for 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.399 a few weeks in our real lives. Like people ask 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:11.440 me things like what happened to that stick of butter? Yeah, 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:13.760 I don't know, don't ask. Don't even ask me. I 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:16.760 could tell you, but I'm not gonna exactly. That's how 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:21.039 it goes in my house. Find your own butter. December 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.280 was find your own butter Munthy. That's a good that's 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:26.039 that's a good one. That should be a T shirt 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:28.840 and stuff. You should know. Find your own butter or 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:31.240 December is find your own butter mundy. Yeah, that's right. 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:34.240 Maybe a stick of butter and some garland on it. Yeah, 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:37.080 I like that. So it's good to see you again, man. 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:38.880 Good to be back in here. Yeah, it is nice 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:40.959 to be back because as much as the break was great, 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:43.720 I'm happy to be explaining things again. Well that's good 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:45.640 because if we got in here and you're like, I 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:47.320 can't do this, I can't do it again, we'll be 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.320 in trouble. Yeah. Yeah, So I'm glad we're all feeling good. Jerry, 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:53.200 you're feeling good. Jerry's got two thumbs up in a 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:56.960 big goofy smile, two of her three thumbs. She looks 0:01:56.960 --> 0:02:01.000 like Bob from that male enhancement pill. I had. Oh 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.440 see the guy, the old man that's like super buff. 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:06.480 I would call him old. He was middle aged. He 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:09.480 looked like kind of a Bob Dobbs type dude. I 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:11.120 think that's kind of who he was modeled. And I 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:13.760 see the guy that's super muscle. Now I'm thinking of 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:17.200 someone different. I think you're thinking of Jack La Lane. No, no, no, no, 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:19.320 just there's some ad. There's some old man that looks 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:22.560 like really creepy because from the next super buff looks 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:25.520 like it year old. No. Remember, there was like a 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.440 male enhancement pill and I'm making air quotes here for 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:32.280 erectile dysfunction. Well, there go the air quotes. But yes, 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:35.800 and it was like in the early two thousand's, I 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:39.400 think maybe late nineties, but I think early two thousands, 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.240 and these ads were everywhere, and there was Bob and 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:44.680 like all these great things happened to him because he 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:46.959 started taking this pill. I can't remember the name of 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:49.880 the pill. But the company like got into a lot 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:52.840 of trouble because it was basically like a subscription service 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:55.200 and like you gave him your credit card and you've 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:57.720 got this free trial, but then they started sending it 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:00.079 to you and it was like next to impossible to 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:03.480 cut off service. Interesting They're like, no, we want your 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:08.200 mailness to be enhanced. So you you've seen these ads. 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:11.560 I was gonna start asking questions, but why why bother? 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.560 I will? I will YouTube. I will find it on YouTube. 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:17.640 I'll be like, oh, Bob, yeah you will. You'll go oh, 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:19.640 I won't have to come back in and record an 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:21.639 insert the guy that's on the back of all those 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:26.880 pill bottles in my bathroom so chucky. I don't even 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:29.760 remember how we got Oh yeah, Jerry did that. That 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:32.120 was Jerry's fault. But um, you remember we did the 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:37.800 Enlightenment episode. Okay, we talked a lot about how there's 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:42.880 this kind of um tug of war over the human 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:48.160 psyche between rationalism and mysticism. I guess you could you 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:51.720 could put it well, I feel like we're talking today 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:54.440 about the scientific method. Yeah, great idea. By the way, 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:57.880 thank you very much. It's been a long time coming. Um, 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:02.000 because I realized, like I, I don't understand as fully 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:04.680 as I don't understand science. I understand the scientific method 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:07.040 because it's pretty cut and dry, and it's beautiful and 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:09.960 elegant and simple. But then you just take this thing 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:13.640 and it came out of the birth of rationalism, and 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:15.600 when you place it into the world and make it 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:20.560 function there's a lot of implications. Is it being used properly? 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:23.760 Is it being used responsibly? Like are we putting what 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.840 constitutes faith into that? You know, like it just raises 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.080 all this other stuff. And it made me realize, like 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:31.960 I don't understand science as much as I want to, 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:34.919 So researching this it was awesome. Yeah, and this is 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:37.400 a cool episode, I think, because not only are we 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:39.279 going to talk about the scientific method, but we're going 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:42.520 to talk about just science, like what is science in general? 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:46.920 And some of the rock stars along the way who really, 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:52.000 you know, laid out the path remarkably and like many 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:55.279 many years ago, like coming up with these amazing discoveries 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:58.520 that still like hold you know, you can like hold 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:00.719 their feet to the fire for a lot this stuff. Yeah, 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:05.520 because if you come upon a universal truth, you know 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:07.279 it is what it is, like you got to be 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:10.279 the person who discovered it because you know, you saw it, 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.560 you realized it a certain way, but ultimately it was 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:15.880 there already. Yeah, like Newton, I mean, we'll talk about 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:18.320 all this stuff, but it's not like now we're like, oh, Newton, 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:21.120 most of what he said was wrong, But that's understandable 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:23.479 because it was a long time ago, like his stuff 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.320 holds up really really well. I was wondering if he 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.560 on his deathbed was just like, oh man, I contributed 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:33.880 so much to humanity it's mind boggling, but I couldn't 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:38.479 enhance my malehood. Well, Bob hadn't come along yet, So Chuck, 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:42.400 let's let's just quit stalling and talk about science. Like, 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:46.080 what is science? Well, I hate the old elementary school 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:49.599 uh defined as but it's a pretty good place to 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:52.760 start here to get a base definition of science. Yeah, 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:55.120 old William Harris did a great job with this. Yes, 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:58.600 William Harris did a great job. Uh. Science the intellectual 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:01.760 and practical activity encompassing the structure and behavior of the 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:06.200 physical and natural world through observation and experimentation. Boom end 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:09.800 of podcast. Uh So, the first part of that is 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:14.040 science is practical and it is you know, they make 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:16.360 a good he makes. Bill Harris makes a great point 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:19.080 in here. It's not just stuff you do in a lab, 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.960 and it's not just for scientists. It is all about 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:25.760 being hands on and active, and it's all about discovery 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:30.240 and asking questions about I mean, that's how everything is 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:32.760 ultimately solved, is by someone looking at something and having 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:35.720 a question about it exactly. And then the scientific method 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:37.839 comes in when you say, and this is how you 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:42.240 properly get to that answer exactly. Um. And he makes 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:46.160 another good point to that the idea that there's a method, 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:50.400 a scientific method, makes it seem like it's it's secreted 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:55.680 away among the the fraternity of scientists. And like you said, 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:57.880 any anybody can use it. It's just kind of part 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:00.320 of being a curious human is it's not even anyone 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:03.000 can use it. Everyone does use it, you just might 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.479 not even know that you're using it, like if you 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:07.560 I mean, one of the examples that use later is 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:11.320 if like your car overheats, when you figure out why 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.480 and fix it, that's the scientific method, right, playing out 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:20.480 exactly based on reasoning. Yeah, okay, in deduction and induction. Man, 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:23.040 there's so much to talk about. Okay, So let's let's 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.880 talk about that definition that you had. So the first 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:30.080 part is that science is it's a practical activity. So 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:35.400 science is practical, right, It's it's this, Um. The basis 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.880 of the whole thing is discovery. Right. You see something, 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:41.720 you see birds in flight, and you say, where are 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:45.040 those birds going? And if you just went and laid 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:47.200 down on the ground and went to sleep. After that, 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:50.040 then you're not you're not carrying out science. But if 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:52.040 you went I want to find out where those birds 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:55.040 are going, and you follow them and you start taking notes, 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.400 that's that is the basis of science, is discovery. Yeah, 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:02.440 and that's the observational part as well. Um, sometimes you're 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:05.720 using a microscope or a telescope. Sometimes you're using your eyeballs. 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:09.400 But no matter what your tool is, uh, you're gonna 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:14.200 be watching something and recording what's called data or data, 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:17.960 depending on I don't know what kind of person you are. Yeah, 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:21.760 what do you say? I think? I say both. I 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:25.240 think data. Yeah, I don't think I've I don't think 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.720 I say data data, I say data data. Yeah, all right, 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:31.640 we'll go with data. You say both. I feel like 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:33.040 it just comes out of my mouth one way or 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:34.600 the other, and I don't really think about it. I 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.640 think that's like being ambidextrous. Yeah. Yeah, I'm a data 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:43.160 data Yeah. Uh. So once you are observing this data, well, 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:46.880 there are a couple of kinds. There's quantitative data, which 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:51.680 are numbers, like you know, your body temperature is point six, 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:55.440 although I think that's changed slightly now, didn't it. Yeah, yeah, there. 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:57.480 You used to be like, if you were a human being, 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:00.360 your body temperature is point six and they's like, no, 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:02.920 there's a little more variation than that. But any kind 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:10.199 of just numerical representation is quantitative, whereas qualitative as behavioral, 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:14.440 like I'm gonna watch that bird um eat and poop 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:18.160 for the next week, right, or what happens if I 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:20.160 what will the slug do if I put a bunch 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.000 of salt on it? You know, I don't do that. No, 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:25.440 you really should not do that. No, that's awful. But 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:29.360 the reaction of the slug is gathering qualitative data, and 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:33.080 depending on who you talk to, there isn't qualitative data 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:36.920 and science that it should all just be quantitative, because yeah, 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:44.800 because quantitative data is reproducible. Qualitative data is it's not 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:48.760 necessarily reproducible. You can observe the same phenomenon, but you're 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:52.800 not necessarily controlling it. Okay, well, I guess I get that, 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:55.160 But I agree with Bill here and that they are both. 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:57.920 They go hand in hand, and neither one is more 0:09:57.960 --> 0:09:59.480 important than the other. You need to have both. Well, 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:01.400 a lot of people do, and we'll talk more about 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.960 it later. Because without the idea that qualitative data is 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:09.359 acceptable and scientific. You don't have the social social sciences, 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:12.400 like they don't exist. Yeah, that's a good point, but 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:16.280 yes we have quantitative data and qualitative data. I agree 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:20.520 with you, they're both useful. Okay. Uh, it is an 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:24.360 intellectual pursuit um. So you can make observations on data 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.840 all day long. But until you bring reason, in this case, 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:32.959 inductive reasoning, which is driving a generalization based on your observations, 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:36.760 then it's just data sitting there on a piece of 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:40.160 paper like it's supposed to lead you somewhere right exactly, 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.199 And so we should talk about inductive and deductive reasoning 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:45.800 and it depending. Again. It's really weird. One of the 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:50.040 things that came across is that there's not a universal 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:54.040 agreement on how science is carried out. Like No, I 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:56.320 saw some places where there's like there's no place for 0:10:56.400 --> 0:11:00.440 inductive reasoning in science. Then other places they're saying, well, 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:04.200 you have to have science using inductive reasoning. Everybody seems 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:07.960 to agree that deductive reasoning is the basis of science, 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:11.280 but that you also have to have inductive So deductive 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:16.720 is basically taking a big broad generalization and saying that 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:22.360 it applies to something specific more specific. Yes, Uh, inductive 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:26.040 is the opposite where you say, I've noticed these different 0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:32.520 data points, and uh, that means that this broad generalization 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:36.360 is true. So you go from specific, small observations to 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:39.200 a broad generalization. And the reason that a lot of 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:42.320 people say, well, inductive reasoning doesn't have any place in 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:48.280 science is because you're saying, those birds over there are 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.679 all brown. Therefore all birds of that type are brown. 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:53.960 Even though I haven't seen every single bird of that 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:56.960 type in the world. I'm saying that all those birds 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:59.079 are brown, and a lot of people say there's no 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:01.600 place for that in science. Well, if you want to 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:03.720 go out and prove that, then that's your business. You know. 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:06.680 You can't just say that and be like and I'm done, 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:10.760 right exactly, I guess you could, but be much of scientists, right, 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:15.439 But the the you can use it to formulate hey hypotheses. Right, 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:18.200 So you can say, I've generated all these data points, 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:20.880 I'm gonna put them together and see if this broad 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:24.200 generalization is right. Okay, so there is a place for 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:28.160 inductive reasoning science. But everybody says deductive reasoning is the 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:33.480 basis of science. Well, Bill Harris does. He offers a 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:37.640 great example for inductive reasoning with Edwin Hubbell of the 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:42.120 Hubble Telescope. Uh. He was looking through the Hooker telescope, 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:46.199 which at the time at California's Mount Wilson. Is it 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:49.680 the one from Rebel Without a Cause? Now that's um 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:55.520 Griffith Park Observatory, which has been redesigned, and uh is 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:57.600 really cool now, Yeah, I mean it was kind of 0:12:57.600 --> 0:12:59.920 cool before, but it was definitely like, uh, sort of 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:04.360 a bass museum that time forgot. Oh really, so they've 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:06.360 updated it. I'll bet that was cool though in its 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:08.000 own way. Yeah, it was neat. I used to live 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:09.840 near there, so it was kind of But that's like 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.400 the famous one, at least in the movies. Yeah, that's 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:14.400 where they have the big knife fight and there's this 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:17.120 James Dean statue there too. Oh I didn't like a 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:22.520 bust um. So yes, Edwin Hubble, he's at Mountain Wilson 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:24.839 and he's looking through the Hooker telescope, which was the 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.800 biggest one. And at the time everyone said the Milky 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.480 Way Galaxy is it? That's what we've got going on? 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:33.319 Did you know this? Uh? Yeah, I knew that because 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:37.560 we're talking. Yeah, not that long ago did not realize this. 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.079 And he started looking through this telescope and said, you 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:42.679 know what, these nebula that everyone says are part of 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:46.360 our galaxy look to me like they're beyond our galaxy. 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:49.400 Not only that, they look like they're moving away from us. 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:53.600 So he made this, uh, with through inductive reasoning, made 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.320 this observation that you know what, I think there are 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.640 many many galaxies out there, and not only that, I 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:04.400 think they are expanding. And uh, through technological advancement with 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:07.760 telescopes over the years, scientists, you know, it proved to 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:10.600 be true. Yeah. Pretty cool. So this is a really 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:14.040 good example of him saying, like, I've made some observations 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:18.280 and now I'm going to say this broad generalization. Right, 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:23.040 So these these galaxies appear to be moving away from another. 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:27.920 So the whole universe is expanding. Right. That's inductive reasoning. 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:31.640 It's a pretty brave thing, uh, especially back then, because 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:34.720 you're really putting your reputation at steak. It really is, 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:37.920 you know. So what Hubble was, what Hubble did was 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:41.840 what we've come to see as science. He made some observations, 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:45.800 he came up with a hypothesis, um, and then it 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:50.440 was tested later on. It's not you don't necessarily as 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:54.920 a scientist. You're a part of a larger collective of scientists, right, 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:58.720 and every scientist needs one another. It's why there's journals 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:02.640 and and um conferences and things like that to share information. Right, 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:06.280 the party into party, and and Hubble came up with 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:11.160 his own observations, and rather than just experimenting, experimenting, experimenting himself, 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:14.360 which I'm sure he continued to do, he created this 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:17.240 basis of work that he probably realized is going to 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:22.280 survive him. Right. And then later on scientists came down 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:26.000 the road and they tested his hypothesis and they found 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:29.640 it was correct, and so his hypothesis became a theory. 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:31.840 It eventually became part of the basis of the Big 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:35.320 Bang theory that the universe started as a huge explosion 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:40.640 and it's expanding still because we're because it exploded at 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:43.960 one point, right. And they did that by carrying out 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:49.920 other tests or experiments exactly. So this is how science works. 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:53.080 Like some guy back in in n makes some observations 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:59.360 in California, he proposes this big broad generally generalization, and 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:02.960 over the next like ensuing half a century more and 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:07.240 more scientists all around the world start testing his hypothesis 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:10.800 and find it to be true, so it becomes a theory. Yeah. Well, 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:13.960 well let's finish up here with science. The last part 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:17.880 of the definition is that it's systematic, and it's methodical, 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:22.880 and it requires testing and experiments, and it requires those 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:28.760 experiments and tests to be repeated and verified, and it 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:31.360 is is. It's a system, it's a way of working 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:34.480 things out. It's a way of working and that is 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:38.080 the scientific method. Basically. Yeah, you have your idea, you 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:42.720 pose a question, you theorize hyper you put a hypothesis 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:45.240 out there, and then you go about trying to either 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:47.560 prove it or disprove it. Yeah, exactly. And then the 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:50.240 way that you go about proving or disproving it, that's 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:54.360 the scientific method. Everything else is just scientific inquiry. The 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:57.560 way you go about, the standardized way of going about 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:01.880 scientific inquiry is the scientific method. And we, friend, we'll 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:24.119 talk about the scientific method right after this. All right, 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.199 you brought up a point. I think we should go 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:28.800 ahead and just get right to my friend, let's do 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:34.840 hypotheses and theories. One thing to to stay together. One 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:39.639 thing that really chase my hide is, uh, when you 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:43.119 hear poop o ers of whatever scientific theory say, well, 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:45.920 it's just a theory, and you where was this thing 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:49.479 that you found that poop poo that Do you remember 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:54.480 what website that was? No? No, Also, I do want 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:55.920 to give a shout out now that you mentioned it 0:17:56.000 --> 0:18:00.480 too Explorables. It's like an online university basically of free 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:05.359 courses and uh, there is one on scientific reasoning that 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:07.960 is just amazing. It's like a huge rabbit hole. You 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:10.919 go down and you start clicking on the embedded links 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.920 and you end up like understanding all sorts of stuff. 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:16.840 So go check that one out if you like understanding stuff. 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:19.640 So that's one of the things that bug me if 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:21.800 someone says it's just a theory, and this does a 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:25.960 great job of kind of throwing that out the window, um, 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:29.800 because it's basically mixing up the two definitions of theory. Yeah, 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:33.040 there's like a colloquial definition that people use every day 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.159 that it doesn't really have much to do with the 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:38.879 scientific use. Like I got a theory that Jerry and 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:42.760 in one hour bathroom breaks every day is really playing 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:47.120 words with friends in the lobby. I think your theory 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:51.480 is correct. So that's a theory in the colloquial meaning 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:55.879 as where science goes. The theory is not just something 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:58.680 you postulate. So if this may or may not be true, 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:02.119 the theory is b on the hypothesis, and it's something 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:06.880 that is strongly supported in many different ways and all 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:09.960 there's all kinds of evidence to support something that eventually 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:13.560 becomes a theory. Right, So, um, what you your theory 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:16.880 about Jerry's bathroom breaks in the scientific world would be 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:21.359 a hypothesis. What In fact, yeah, it would be a 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:25.720 scientific law, but ultimately would begin as a hypothesis, a 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:31.480 hunch based on intuition, based on the data you've collected, observations, 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:34.520 that kind of stuff, where like, you know, you've seen 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.400 that Jerry goes to the bathroom for like an hour 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:41.919 to stretch frequently. When she comes back, she's um finishing 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:46.080 up a game of words with friends. You've heard that 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:49.160 she's been spotted in the lobby during these times. So 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:53.160 your hypothesis is that while she is gone for these 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:55.560 hour long bathroom breaks, she's actually down the lobby playing 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:59.879 words with friends. Right, based on knowledge, observation, and logic. Right, 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.600 So let's say that you decided to set up an experiment, 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:05.320 and you experimented, and you went and you found Jerry 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:09.400 playing words with friends five different times, and you told 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:11.440 me about it, and I was like, I'm going to 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:14.720 run that same experiment exactly the way you did, Right, 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:18.159 I would test that same hypothesis. If I found the 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:20.760 same results to be true, then what you would have 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:23.919 come up with, your hypothesis would move to basically a 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:28.480 theory that is, this widely accepted thing. This explanation that 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:33.160 Jerry is not actually in the bathroom, she's downstairs playing 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:37.040 with friends, would be the Jerry bathroom break theory. Right. 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:41.080 And then if it turns out that you find that 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:44.679 Jerry spending an hour a day pretending to be in 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:49.280 the bathroom but actually being downstairs playing words with friends, 0:20:50.960 --> 0:20:55.040 if the universe couldn't exist without her doing that every day, 0:20:55.119 --> 0:21:00.159 you would have a scientific law. That's right. Yeah, I 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:02.000 think that was a good example you came up. Well, 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:05.639 it's a great example, as it turns out. Uh. I 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:08.000 guess the point here is when you hear someone say 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:11.680 in an argument, well that's just a theory, just punch 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:13.800 him in the head and then tell him what we 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:17.119 just said about the bathroom breaks, and they'll say, who's Jerry, 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:21.160 or just just queue up that whole bit and stand 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.080 outside of their window wearing a trench coat and holding 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:26.720 a boom box over your head with the smug look 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:30.280 on your face. Uh all right, So should we go 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:32.600 back in in the old way back machine a little 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:34.200 bit and just talk a little bit about how the 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:46.000 scientific method came to be? Yes? Man, this this thing? 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:50.400 Where are you running this on these days? Straight? Kerosene? 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:54.640 The fumes in here killing me? Sorry about that? Trying 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:59.040 to go green? You know, kerosene is not cream diesel. 0:21:59.080 --> 0:22:03.280 Maybe I'm choking bio diesel. How about that? Okay, the 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:05.720 way back machine will run French free Greece. That would 0:22:05.760 --> 0:22:08.200 be fine. I'll get to work on that. I could 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:11.000 handle this for you. So you you teach us with 0:22:11.040 --> 0:22:14.080 the Renaissance, and the reason the Renaissance was so awesome 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:17.320 and necessary was because of something else we've talked about, 0:22:17.359 --> 0:22:21.640 which was the Dark Ages. Uh when, which remember that's 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:27.840 the rationalists disparaging term for this era. That's right, Uh? 0:22:27.880 --> 0:22:31.560 But I think sort of rightfully so, because right before 0:22:31.560 --> 0:22:34.240 the Dark Ages until about a century after, there was 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:38.480 not much advancement at all in the realm of scientific advancement. 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:42.199 Uh no, it's it's true. That's hard to argue with that, 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:45.040 and and the reason why it is again, science wasn't 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:48.320 really born yet and there was a huge struggle between 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:52.440 rationalism and mysticism, and ultimately we're living in the age 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:55.360 of rationalism now. Yeah, and we should point out too 0:22:55.440 --> 0:22:59.080 that this was mainly in Europe over in the Islamic world, 0:22:59.240 --> 0:23:01.320 as I think we had a listener mail point out, 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:04.399 there were a lot of advancements being made. Uh, just 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:07.160 sort of flying under the European radar at the time, 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:11.760 because some say the Catholic Church kind of kept science 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:14.800 under its thumb for a while and it's a pretty 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:18.080 big threat and said, you know, you can't do this stuff. 0:23:18.080 --> 0:23:20.800 You can't experiment like this, and don't ask these questions 0:23:21.920 --> 0:23:25.639 because here are your answers. Yeah. But eventually the Renaissance 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:28.400