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Originally Posted by fifthofnovember
You speak of "science" as though it were a separate entity from humanity.
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Well yea, science is certainly separate from humanity ... Since when are they the same?
Quote:
Originally Posted by fifthofnovember
"Hearsay of what science says", isn't that what you are giving me? Isn't it, in fact, what anyone says about it?
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Yes, precisely, I'm claiming that the divergence in chromosome count is a subject already addressed by science. This is definitely hearsay as far as you are concerned. And my point was precisely that some people, apparently including you, depend entirely on this hearsay as their source of knowledge about science. How unscientific of you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fifthofnovember
Who is this Science so that we may question him directly?
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Science is obviously not a who but a what. Science is an approach to understanding the world by observing it and modelling those observations to allow for prediction of future observations. It is not a source of knowledge but rather a policy for obtaining it. When people talk about what science indicates, all they mean is that other people have, through the application of science, generated a reliable model of the observations they have made.
Typically, they report these scientific observations, and the reasoning behind the models they've synthesized, in scientific journals. These journals are peer reviewed by other scientists, so these observations are tested and retested many times, and the reasoning behind the models is criticized and revised. Of course, if you're a paranoid enough nut, you might think all scientists are in some kind of conspiracy to trick the world into believing lies...
These journals are tangible and readable, unlike God, so the only reason they might be a mystery to you is your own laziness or lack of interest. Many journals may be difficult for a layman to read because they are quite technical, using vocabulary that only the educated might understand. Science is not necessarily layman-friendly, but it is definitely approachable if you care to educate yourself. While these journals are the direct source of scientific information, there are books and articles which are more layman friendly, symposiums of research that simplify and comprehensively analyze the results. Of course these are less reliable and perhaps skewed in favor of the authors' biases, but they're a good place to start.