Is science always right? Before I go on I do want to clarify that I am by no means shitting on science. I love science (hence why I'm currently studying science). It has helped us understand many aspects of life, and it has also helped us advance in technology exponentially. There are many beneficial sides to science (like filtering bullshit), but just like pretty much anything in life, it also has a negative side.
I am of course referring to what is considered to be "science" these days, not true science (more on that later). And to be honest, it's not even science in and of itself, it's people's attitude towards it.
How many people do you know that won't believe anything they hear unless it's been "scientifically proven"? How many people do you know that will treat any scientific study as absolute truth? Do you think anything that is printed in a scientific journal to be true?
I would say that many people these days are like this. These are the people who get stuck in life and aren't willing to try anything or listen to anybody's ideas because it hasn't hasn't gone through a double-blind peer reviewed scientific study. These are the people who are so narrow minded that they won't even consider other possibilities that challenge their current paradigm. Not every scientist is like this of course, and in fact all the best scientists in history (Newton, Einstein, Tesla) have all been incredibly open minded and have lived life in a true empirical fashion by experimenting everything themselves. They observed and experienced life themselves instead of just blindly listening to textbooks and academics.
Science is incredibly important, especially since it has promoted rigorous and critical thinking which has helped filter out a lot of bullshit, and has really helped us accumulate accurate information.
So I am not saying that we should listen to anything that we read on the internet. In actuality, I am suggesting quite the opposite. I think we should all live life by true scientific principles. This is approaching life empirically, which is really the heart of science. For example, trying out and experimenting with different exercises to what suits your needs and goals is a hell of a lot more efficient than reading 20 peer reviewed studies about different exercises.
Science is still at its infancy stage, so there's still so much that we don't know. Not only this, but there's also a lot of scientific errors that we don't take into account. The main problem with science is that it will try and narrow a study down to a few variables as possible. Making it as specific and narrow as possible and concluding a "one size fits all" equation or theory. I mean yes, of course there are many things that science can prove without a shadow of a doubt, but when it comes to things like psychology, health, nutrition and life itself, there are just too many variables that is impossible to scientifically test. Sure, science can make some educated assumptions about what a healthy intake might be for the average human, but how does this apply to everybody?
A lot of scientific minded people will say that social science is not real science, and that maths, physics, chemistry and biology is real science. All these 'real' sciences are the easy sciences. They might be difficult to study for many people, but they are far more simpler than let us say, psychology. Why do you think that we have smartphones, jets, rocket ships, drones and all this amazing technology, yet most of us can't even control our emotions. Why is it that we can create the internet and send a man on the moon, yet depression is at an all time high? Why is it that we can understand quantum mechanics and build super computers but we can't even solve the problem of obesity? Quantum mechanics is bloody easy as piss compared to psychology. It might be more difficult to learn but it is far less complex. This is why we have all this incredible technology, and why most of us are so hopeless at mastering our own psychology.
Science is really good when we are only measuring something that is simple and has very few variables. The more variables that come into play, the harder it is to get provable results. So when it comes to our minds, relationships, self-development and health, there are only a limited amount of good studies that are out there. Scientific studies are mostly about designing a general trend from a large population. But what works for the average population might not work for you. And what works for you might not work for the average population.
There is a difference to what is scientifically true on paper, and what is practical in the real world. Just because there's a scientific model or theory, or mathematical formula, or a scientific study, it doesn't mean that it's going to translate in real life and get you the results you need to succeed. And just because a university professor tells you something, it doesn't necessarily makes it true either. Many people make this mistake by blindly listening to doctors, psychologists, professors and scientists just because of their academic status, without looking into whatever they were told themselves. They could throw a piece of horse shit at the public and 90 percent of the time, they would eat it without question.
Let me ask you a question. If you wanted to go out and build a successful business, who would you rather get advice from?
- someone who has a degree in business, or
- someone who has a multi-million dollar business, even though he/she has no formal education
Wouldn't you much rather pick option 2? Even though the second person doesn't have a degree, this person has gone out and experimented what works and what doesn't. This is much more effective than reading 100 books on business. The whole idea of academics being more intelligent and successful is a complete myth.
IQ does not correlate with success. In fact there are studies that suggest that any extra IQ points after 120 will start to hinder and hurt our success in life. Emotional intelligence is much more important for success than intellectual and logical intelligence. Even though logic can greatly help us in life, it can also greatly hurt us making us look at life through a narrow vision which makes us miss everything else that's going on. And in the end of the day life is all about the big picture and how everything works together.
THE DANGERS OF SCIENCE
The danger of following science as your only source of truth can be quite damaging to your growth.
I used to be obsessed with always needing concrete proof for anything I studied, but this is fucking exhausting and unrealistic. I thought that this was the only way of obtaining truth, but this is simply not true.
The problem with science is that it only looks at small pieces of the pie. It'll narrow down specific information with the least amount of variables as it can. But life is all about the big picture and how all the pieces fit together. Whilst some information may work on their own, they might not make sense when it's added to the bigger picture. For example, antidepressants might help our brains produce more seratonin (feel good chemical), but we have to look at other factors like why we have a chemical imbalance in the first place! We now have a higher rate of deppression than EVER in history along with the highest amount of antidepressant prescriptions. This is what happens when we're naive and think small. If you want to heal any illness you must think holistically, because guess what? Everything's connected! Healing depression could be as simple as changing your diet and excercising, or as complex as finding your life purpose. You'll never know until you try different methods to what works for you.
People who are obsessed with scientific proof are incredibly narrow focused. This creates blind spots which stops people from seeing the bigger picture. These types of people who won't listen to anybody's ideas or techniques unless it's been scientifically studied is going to be completely stuck in life. 99.9% of life hasn't been scientifically studied. Most the things that you do from a day-to-day basis isn't scientifically proven. You might have a certain exercise program and diet that hasn't been scientifically studied, yet you do it because you know that it works for you. Life is far too complex to have proof for everything. If you want proof for something go and find it yourself, don't just wait for someone else to find it.
It's like saying that all the great philosophers like Plato, Socrates and Aristotle are full of shit. I mean their philosophies on life would be almost impossible to prove on paper, but does it mean that their wisdom isn't true and practical in real life? Aristotle once said "Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom". I don't know about you but this statement would be incredibly difficult to undergo a double-blind peer reviewed study, don't you think? Does it make the Aristotle's wisdom any less true?
I remember when lucid dreaming was considered taboo and "mystical voodoo" until it was scientifically proven in 1975. If people had just tried it they would have known that it was legit, but instead most people just passed it off because it wasn't "scientifically proven". This attitude still hasn't changed to this day. Do you know how many people won't even try positive thinking or imagery because there's not enough "scientific proof" behind it? All you have to do is try the bloody thing to know that it works.
There is no scientific study that is going to show how to find your ideal life partner. There is no scientific study that's going to shows you how to be successful in life. There is no scientific study that is going to to show you how to truly be fulfilled and happy. There is no scientific study that is going to show you the meaning of your life.
Maybe in like 500-1000 years we might have such a titan-sized meta analysis that we can have a scientific model that can be applied to most people in terms of health, wealth and happiness. But as of right now...we're not even close.
We are all born with unique genetics, personalities, body types, metabolism types, family histories, environments, and circumstances. So to even consider a "one size fits all" notion is absolutely ridiculous.
Just because something isn't scientifically proven, it doesn't mean it isn't true. Just remember that science is also designed to measure our physical reality using our five senses. Our life is driven by invisible forces that we can't see. These are our thoughts, philosophies, emotions, perceptions and motivation. And all these forces work differently with each and every person. Not to mention that we humans can only percieve a very small bandwidth of light (some physisists say that we can only percieve 1.5 to 2.3 percent of light) and cannot only hear sounds within a certain frequency (20 to 20,000 Hz).
“The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.”
So please don't limit yourself to only what is scientifically known right now. Having this "if it's not scientifically proven, it's not true" approach to life is only going to hurt you in the long run. This is just the ego's defence mechanism that rationalizes yourself to stay where you are in life.
Live by true scientific principles and go out and live life to what works for you. Leaving your health, wealth and happiness to a PhD is a rookie mistake. I mean sure, you can use their knowledge as a template, but you have to tinker with it and experiment with new things. Make a hypothesis, and then test to see what works and what doesn't work. If it doesn't work then modify your hypothesis and try again. Each failure is just a step closer to success.
Science is a very useful tool, but it is not the only tool. If you only use a hammer in life then everything is going to look like a nail. Integrate science into your life instead of just limiting yourself to it.