Reflections about "The Universe in a Single Atom" by the Dalai Lama - Part 1

One of the first arguments made by the Dalai Lama attacks the "blindness" of scientists.  I will describe how I am using the word "blindness".  Blindness here refers to the fact that scientists depend upon data and that data is human created.  The biases of humans must be present in any data collected due to it being created and measured by humans.  So the very first argument presented is the fact that people should not believe solely in science for it must have errors.  I find this idiotic.  Yes, science is done by people.  Yes, people make errors.  However, the knowledge and findings by science are not done by one person; people not only review the work of others, but repeat the experiments.  This replicability of science makes it the best way to construct knowledge, for ANYONE can participate and either attempt to provide more evidence for or refute the claim(s).  Science can be done individually for one's own sake, and it is; science is how people learn, period.  This is where errors can arise, for all people have different prior experiences, or biases.  Once peer review occurs, meaning discussing one's findings and letting others attempt to figure out the puzzle, the probability of error is reduced, and reduced greatly if a large number of people partake.

This makes me want to break apart what is commonly known as the scientific method.  I would break it into "individual science" and "community science".  Individual science is the interplay of questions and physical observations to explain natural phenomena for an individual.  Community science is the interplay of questions and physical observations to explain natural phenomena interpreted by a group of individuals.  Thus, community science is where the ultimate power comes from, for individual biases diminish, especially if the size of the group is very large.  I needed to break this apart for part of the scientific method commonly described in textbooks is the sharing of results.  This only happens in community science.  People need to understand that everyone is constantly doing science, for we are always collecting data and attempting to use it to understand the world around us; our brains are hardwired to do it.  Nowadays people assume scientific knowledge is correct, but if one deeply understands science, they UNDERSTAND that humans constructed the knowledge and that humans have biases.  We have moved passed the once common knowledge that the sun orbits the Earth and will continue to move pass other common misconceptions, especially with the amount of people partaking in scientific research!

That was only chapter one.  Dalai Lama vs Rob Round Two coming up!