Forward: I wish I had read a short summary or two of what science is about way back in grammar school. That almost certainly would have whetted my appetite for more. It could have made a huge difference in my subsequent choices. But I was a poor kid who hovered for too many years at the subsistence level. There likely have been many other persons since those days who have written about science with the objective of de-mystifying it. I have never read their compositions. Without apologies, therefore, here is my condensed version. I hope it is illuminating. It applies to both the physical and the social sciences.

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Science is not about the search for truth. That is a common, non-scientific belief. Science is the way to find heretofore unrevealed information that extends our knowledge of a given subject. Its conclusions are nearly always better than assertions, beliefs, surmise, guesses, hunches, religious dogmas, family traditions, old wives tales, tea leaf readings, crystal ball gazing, numerology, astrology, cult creeds, wishing on a star, or many of the proclamations from political candidates, or by actual legislators. Actionable beliefs based on “alternate” facts is the road to disaster. Imagine the consequences of launching a probe to Mars based on “alternate” facts. Or conducting a war. Or managing an economy. Or teaching almost any subject. “My beliefs are as good as your facts” is a brutish affront to knowledge, and to the pursuit of excellence. It is no way to build a mouse trap, or to launch a spaceship, or to pull a lever in a voting booth. It is ignorance, the antithesis to knowledge, and the bane of science.

Science does not require 8 or 10 years of intense study. Once your discipline is chosen, however, your decision is not easily reversed. You are hooked. Still, we all can learn how to conduct truncated, but useful scientific tests of claims, so as to separate the ridiculous from the useful, the lies from the meritorious, the harmful from the good. The method of science consists of these steps: learn the rules of logic, observe, test, measure; analyze; synthesize; evaluate; draw limited conclusions; then tell others about the accuracy, the reliability and the usefulness of your findings. Document your sources, reveal your tests, show your conclusions. Back them up with a narrative that tells your peers and your readers the state of knowledge before and after your efforts.

A single study is not a paradigm shifter. It could be only a pilot study leading to more intense study. Many cult followers, religious adherents, and self-serving political devotees will refuse to believe yours or thousands of others’ findings. They choose to believe what their cult leaders tell them. That is a problem for you if one is your boss. It’s everyone’s problem if they are a decision maker, or they are registered to vote.

Science is not concerned with proving any of the foregoing methods of inquiry are false. The asserter is responsible for proving his or her own case for establishing the accuracy, reliability, and the usefulness of his own assertions. Scientists do not waste their time and resources chasing foolish assertions. That is a compelling reason for never appointing a non-scientist as the principle decision-maker within any scientific or complex institution.

Science is the method for rejecting that which is demonstrably false, while it fails to reject that which remains tenable. Something tenable could still be false. A scientific finding becomes the state of knowledge by surviving more and more investigations using different methods, different subjects, and different forms of analysis. Once completed, you must specify with great clarity what your findings mean to others. You must never let others make (unrebutted) false claims about your work.

But this essay is not about dragging the reader through the minutia of conducting a scientific investigation. It is concerned with introducing others to the “walking around” or the “pocket” version of the scientific method. It could be very useful when you become stranded on a deserted island, when you need food, shelter, or safety; or when you evaluate the honesty of a political candidate. It isn’t glamorous, it’s not sexy, nor will it help you find a compatible mate.

The internet is your friend for finding information fast without leaving your home. A thousand libraries cannot compete with the world-wide web. The internet is great for finding facts; for fact-checking others; for becoming well-informed on a variety of subjects; and for writing articles and essays on topics of interest to you. You can do the same.

Science shows us how to examine life; how to cut your search times down considerably when learning about about nearly any subject—without the need to hang a diploma on your walls for all to see. The observation phase that usually starts with looking, listening, touching, smelling, tasting often can be eliminated in the social sciences; not so much in the physical sciences. We collect and record our data. The more authentic our sources, the better our investigations become. Beware of fake or misleading sources on the internet.

Formal science rests upon premises that arise from observations, that have been passed on by virtue of their having gathered support and relevancy over time and circumstances. For example, Socrates told us that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Humans learned the wisdom in that observation in many ways. We live to do, to think, to love, and to find a bit of honor in ourselves. We don’t build houses along river banks that flood; we must continually grow edible crops and other food sources, or we will die. We prepare for cold winters and hot summers. Climates do change. Resources are limited. Cooperation and dialogue are preferable to starting a war in order to resolve differences. An examination of the human condition tells us that these are all wise choices, and they need to be learned at an early age. Science at its best is not wisdom, but it can be useful in helping the curious to find wisdom. It almost always requires a good foundation in math, an inquisitive mind, deep knowledge of your subject matter, and a lot of creative thinking.

You can still learn a lot about a combustion engine without setting a foot in school. You can find a few quick and easy ways to test your temperature, your blood oxygen level, and make an informed decision about whether it is wise to seek out further tests and evaluations about whether you could be infected with a deadly virus.

You might even learn how to build musical instruments out of trash found in land fills just as a group of children did in Paraguay. That revelation was the most inspirational and humbling experience for this writer that I have felt in a very long time. The scientific mind might ask: “What else is possible from all those hills and hills of trash?” The answer is “Perhaps nothing, unless you ask a group of young people who have little but the clothes on their backs, dreams in their heads, and a willingness to learn. Then everything is possible.”

Check them out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxUuKthY1dQ