Ohh, yay, another ambiguity!

Science A: the scientific method.

Science B: the collective bodies of knowledge (theories, hypotheses, models, etc) currently possessed by societies, arrived at through application of the scientific method to various fields. Physics, chemistry, biology, etc.

Come on, people. Are you really not seeing these, or do you just not care because clarifying the vocab gets in the way of having a pointless argument?

Maybe a philosophy degree isn't so useless after all, if people in general can't see these differences. Pulling one definition of the word "science" from a dictionary isn't going to win any arguments. We're not 16.

(Also, that's a rather bad definition of the scientific method. No mention of empirical subject matter, peer review process, or the importance of rigor, the prevalence of mathematical models, nor the necessity of prediction and replication of results. Hell, under that definition astrology would count as science.)

 

I was arguing Physics B (the way shit actually works, not how we think it works). I thought that was incredibly obvious. I guess not.

Rec: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8030052/1/Wishful-Divergence

Harry creates a change in a separate timeline. Reeks of wish-fulfillment but it was an entertaining read nonetheless.

 

I actually kinda like that the plot device at the start is presented as-is: a plot device. Sometimes authors of do-overs, crossovers etc. spend so much energy trying to create a plausible reason for why their plot bunny would come about, and the general result is

1. The plot bunny is still really implausible, only now we're meant to take it seriously.

2. A lot of wasted words before the real story even begins.

 

It's mainly because I am annoyed with people who seems to think that science is something rigid and the scientific method would suddenly become useless the second muggle scientist realise magic is real.

Sure, that definition alone doesn't state what the scientific method is, but it does give people a better understanding of what science actually is.

 

Ok, thread closed. Sesc declared the physics vs. magic discussion over several posts ago.

The new thread can be found here: Almost Recommended VI