From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rms2g@virginia.edu)
Date: Thu Dec 12 2002 - 10:05:06 MST
Lee Corbin wrote:
>
> But if that's all it was, then I'd say that it was about
> time that the scientists started acting like the medieval
> architects, boat builders, and all the other people that
> got anything done had been doing for some time.
>
### As a practicing scientist, let me provide you with my perspective: what
the ancient were doing, and what detectives do, is to use common sense. Now,
science is nothing more than common sense, but well-organized and directed
at a select type of tasks.
While the ancients kept their secrets, scientists are organized in formal
and informal groups that share knowledge, which allows for criticism. The
system for storing and validating knowledge, inherent in modern science, is
much better organized than the oral lore of our predecessors, and stacks of
papyri. And finally, the restriction of interest to features of the world at
large that can be tested or analyzed repeatedly and from various angles (as
opposed to the one-time events the detective focuses on) allows finding much
more reliable, and widely applicable answers.
Science *is* different, even if the difference is nothing but an extension
of common sense, and a humble restriction of scope.
Rafal
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