Chapter 1 – How Science Makes Progress

These are the notes I took for the first chapter of my astronomy textbook. I call it Chapter 1 – How Shit Gets Done .

  • The Scientific Method
    • WATCH SHIT Observe a natural phenomenon
    • EXPLAIN SHIT Develop hypotheses
    • PREDICT SHIT Make predictions for each
    • TEST SHIT Experiment with or reobserve the phenomenon to test the hypotheses
    • REDO SHIT Compare results, refine hypotheses
      • SHIT DON’T STOP Since hypotheses can always be refined, the scientific method is never-ending
      • CAUSE SHIT AINT DONE A theory can never be considered final
  • The Nature of Science
    • SHIT FIXES ITSELF Since models are always being refined, science is self-correcting
    • IF SHIT’S GOOD, SHIT CAN BE WRONG Theories also must be falsifiable and lead to further understanding, not merely serve as an explanation
      • THIS WAY SHIT GETS GOOD This leads to an increasingly accurate description of nature
    • LIKE I SAID, SHIT AINT DONE However science does not produce absolute truth, since none produced are final
      • BUT SHIT STILL SORTA EXPLAINS STUFF Instead, we glean tentative descriptions of phenomena
      • GIVE IT TIME, SHIT GETS GOOD Over time it will still reveal the objective truth

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