20160829 (knowing)

Nice painting but anything like the truth?

Do you believe in Science? Depends

On what you mean when you use

The capital S for science. If you

Mean, “Does the scientific method

Allow us to obtain useful facts

Reliably?” Sure, I’m on that train.

But if you mean, “The scientific

Method is the only reliable path

To any and all truth,” then I’ll

Let that train go and wait at the

Station. For centuries now we’ve

Enjoyed a whirlwind of discovery

Which challenges so much of 

Our unscientific thinking we

Feel it only natural to question

Everything. “Question Authority”

Is a fairly straightforward rule

For maintaining independence

While annoying just about

Everyone in sight. It’s a judgment

Call to accept common practices

Out of deference to the numerous

Others who have found obedience

To be beneficial if not always

Justifiable. It’s reasonable to

Plant corn in rows as one’s

Forefathers did and we’ll learn

The reasons why once we’re

Old enough to discuss the 

Matter knowledgeably with

“Those who know.” At least

If they accord us the respect

Of sincere curiosity rather than

Deem us mouthy young

Whippersnappers. But that’s

Accepted technology of which

One doesn’t find all that much

Dispute. Touch on, “Why is 

Marrying your sister wrong?”

And you’re on shakier ground,

More so if you and your sister

Have been rumored to be 

Especially close of late. Several

Years ago asking why marrying

Outside your ethnic group,

Nationality, and God forbid, race

Was wrong could get you at least

A bloody nose if not tarred, feathered,

And run out of town. These last

Queries were not scientific in 

The manner of “Why do our cattle

Weigh less than Rancher X’s at

Round up for market?” They are

Questions of governing human

Behavior which seem more products

Of primeval understanding rather

Than contemporaneous choice.

Only now is science looking at

The roots of “accepted human 

Behavior” through the lens of 

Evolutionary psychology to 

Explain basic morality as well

As other articles of faith which 

Resist being taken into a lab. 

We’re not about to test facts 

About murder from letting one

Group murder and comparing

It to a control group who were

Not allowed to murder. Instead

We use the “lab of real life” 

And draw conclusions from 

There: Do men who were abused

As children abuse their children

At higher rates than those who

Weren’t? The studies are plagued

With selection issues—were the

Subjects chosen randomly enough

As not to determine conclusions?

Or did one look at only those

Cases supporting the “findings.”

And ultimately, if scientists 

Propose humans in the main

Believe in a God because of

An inward need for reason 

And order in their otherwise 

Inexplicable and chaotic lives,

Does that mean there is no God? 

Or that asking such questions

Has no merit because there

Is no way of testing the thesis 

Scientifically? If one “believes”

In Science, there is no other

Way of knowing.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016