常识

Scientific conclusions derive from an understanding of basic laws supported by laboratory experiments, observations of nature, and mathematical and computer modeling. Like all human beings, scientists make mistakes, but the scientific process is designed to find and correct them. This process is inherently adversarial—scientists build reputations and gain recognition not only for supporting conventional wisdom, but even more so for demonstrating that the scientific consensus is wrong and that there is a better explanation. That’s what Galileo, Pasteur, Darwin, and Einstein did. But when some conclusions have been thoroughly and deeply tested, questioned, and examined, they gain the status of “well-established theories” and are often spoken of as “facts.”

For instance, there is compelling scientific evidence that our planet is about 4.5 billion years old (the theory of the origin of Earth), that our universe was born from a single event about 14 billion years ago (the Big Bang theory), and that today’s organisms evolved from ones living in the past (the theory of evolution). Even as these are overwhelmingly accepted by the scientific community, fame still awaits anyone who could show these theories to be wrong.

5月7日的Science发表了一篇很多科学家签名的呼吁, 说的是人类活动导致全球变暖的事实和停止政治对科学研究的干扰. 我的知识不足以对全球变暖做任何评论, 但是那个呼吁中间有两段话写得太好了, 适用于任何以事实为基础的领域, 深合我意啊. 我用中文写出来, 顺便把原文贴在下面. 如果有什么不通顺的地方, 敬请纠正.

“科学结论是由实验, 对自然的观察, 数学和计算机模型所支持的基本规律得出的. 科学家也是人, 也会得出错误的结论, 但科学的过程可以找出并且纠正这些错误. 这一科学的过程本质上是用来纠错的—-相对于验证已有知识来说, 发现旧理论的错误并且提供更好的解释为科学家赢得更大的声誉. 伽利略, 巴斯德, 达尔文和爱因斯坦都是如此. 当一些科学结论被广泛深入地检验, 质疑和验证过之后, 通常可以成为”被承认的理论”, 或者称为”事实”.

比如, 大量的事实表明地球的年龄大约45亿年(地球起源理论), 宇宙大约140亿年前由单一事件产生(大爆炸理论), 目前的物种都是由过去的物种演变/演化而来(进化论). 即使数不清的事实确认上述这些理论的正确性, 谁能证实它们是错的还是能获得巨大的声誉.“

以上是引用部分. 以后, 如果那些缺乏逻辑或者常识的人要来跟我辩论那些基本的科学常识, 我就引用这段话.