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  SOME VIEWS ON VIEWS
    by David Haren
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    Science has become an all purpose catch-all descriptive of
  a vast spectrum of human activities. 
   
    Originally it was formed around a fairly simply core of ideas.
   
    First you looked at the world, then you tried to figure out
  what you saw in the world meant. So far so good, the ancients
  figured if you made a mental construction that others agreed 
  with then it was enough.
   
    Science added one other core concept. That of making a physical
  test to see if it was true. This test had to be repeatable by
  another person and produce the same results.
   
    Simple idea, far reaching consequences and it seems to be left
  out of a lot of what now gets covered by the current idea we
  know as "science."
   
    If you examine the ideas you can see that it lies within the
  reach of every human being. All you have to do is think, "Hey,
  I can do that," and you're a scientist.
   
    There's a bit more to it, but here's a couple more ideas.
  Throw away all of the stuff that you don't absolutely need to
  keep when you build the mental construction you want to test.
   
    That one is called Occams razor.
   
    When you follow an explanation that you aren't an expert in,
  substitute apples and oranges for the parts you don't know
  about. This means that when they get to the part that says
  4 oranges are the same as 3 apples you can point out that
  it doesn't fit. (This was stolen from Richard Feynman.)
   
    You'd be surprised what using all of these simple ideas will
  let you do. Since the world constantly bombards us with a
  barrage of advertising, media hype, and other silliness we
  need some guidelines to use when sorting it all out.
   
    Suppose we look at the Moon, we see all those craters. Then
  we see a media presentation of a comet hitting Jupiter. A
  quick check of the size of the fireball there shows us its
  a lot bigger than the Earth. We do a quick thought experiment.
   
    What if it had hit the Earth instead? Not so good. Could we
  stop it? 
   
    It turns out that the best way is to find it early and have
  enough things in space to be able to try something.
   
    The next time somebody tells you that we don't need a space
  program because we could do more with the money on Earth
  overlay that fireball three times bigger than the Earth
  over your image of the globe.
   
    This is a sample of why space activists and scientists are
  passionately excited by the activities. It has nothing to
  do with lab smocks, PhD degrees, and blackboards full of
  weird symbols. It's about being curious and trying to find
  some sense to the place of humans in a huge universe full
  of wonder.
   
    Once you get excited by something pass it around to others.
  There's no better cure for the malaise, angst and thoughts
  of hopelessness that dull our sense of worth.
   
    Curiosity is the beginning of personal adventure and it's
  infectious.
  
  Copyright 1996 David Haren, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  --------------------------------------------------------------------
  David writes science fiction and horror stories for his amusement, 
  and indulges himself in a wide range of interests. 52 years old, 4 
  children, 5 natural and 3 adopted grand-children, married to the 
  same woman for 30+ years. Currently working on a huge RPG gaming 
  project aimed at a much wider audience than the usual gamers for
  Digest Group Productions. Has been seen publicly in the company of 
  Gen X, Goths, discordians, geeks, hackers, Hams gamers and Oob the 
  Rhox. David, an official writer for DIGEST GROUP PUBLICATIONS, says
  they're looking for writers, artists, kibitzers, and playtesters:
  Email:  tyr@crl.com
  ==================================================================== 
  
