Along the way...

A reader, who clearly didn't care

for columns devoted to science,

said, "You know, science gets

things wrong." She was, of course,

correct. Science does get things

wrong sometimes. The difference

between science and opinion

though, is when science is shown

to have made a mistake it seeks

to correct the mistake rather than

digging in its heels and defending

the indefensible.

An example of scientific

methodology was observation of the

planet Uranus, discovered in 1781.

As scientists studied it they became

aware that something was wrong.

It was not behaving in accord

with Newton's Law of Gravity.

They could, of course, have simply

said Newton was wrong but some

bright person said, "Maybe there's

something else beyond Uranus that

is causing the deviation."

And so, scientists set about

doing the calculations to determine

what could have caused the error.

The calculations said if an object

was causing the deviation it had

to be at such and such a location

beyond Uranus.

Astronomers in Germany used

those calculations and pointed their

telescope at the appropriate spot in

space and discovered the planet

Neptune. Neptune, unlike many

celestial objects was not discovered

by random, it was discovered

though careful scientific analysis.

Certainly there have been

statements of fact put out by

"experts" which can't be rectified by

more calculations.

One thing that's great about the

internet is it has become impossible

to suppress information. Someone

in little Cascade, Montana can

transmit an idea, a question,

anything, to someone on the other

side of the world.

A great line in the movie Jurassic

Park is appropriate, "Life will find a

way."

That applies to information as

well as living things, it is ultimately

impossible to suppress knowledge.

Someone will always find a way to

communicate the thought other

people may want to suppress and,

once it's out, it can't be contained.

People today who try to

suppress information, whether

in books, media, or the internet,

are following in the footsteps of a

multitude of other failures down

through history.

The Earth rotates around the

Sun, not the other way around.

No people are inferior because of

their race. Trickle down economics

is a fraud perpetrated upon the

poor by those seeking to amass

unconscionable fortunes. Some

folks are born with a sexuality

that isn't the same as the majority.

Vaccines really do save lives.

We could think of a dozen other

examples of attempts made to

convince people of things that all

evidence clearly proves wrong.

If there is a literal Hell, as

envisioned by Dante's Inferno,

there deserves to be a special circle

of eternal torment for those who

deliberately peddle misinformation

in order to preserve their power

and/or to enrich themselves.

While we certainly do not have

to scientifically prove everything in

order to declare it Truth, we owe

it to ourselves and our children

and grandchildren to seek what is

demonstrable fact as opposed to

the snake-oil someone is peddling

to extract allegiance or cash from the rest of us.