“While anybody is free to approach a scientific inquiry in any fashion they choose, they cannot properly describe the methodology as scientific, if they start with the conclusion and refuse to change it regardless of the evidence developed during the course of the investigation.” — Judge William Overton, from his ruling against the teaching of “creation science” as science in Arkansas public schools (McLean vs. Arkansas Board of Education, 1982)Â
“A skeptic will question claims, then embrace the evidence. A denier will question claims, then reject the evidence.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson (2016)
“One of the reasons for its success is that science has a built-in, error-correcting machinery at its very heart. Some may consider this an overbroad characterization, but to me every time we exercise self-criticism, every time we test against the outside world, we are doing science. When we are self-indulgent and uncritical, when we confuse hopes and facts, we slide into pseudoscience and superstition.” — Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle In The Dark (Headlight Book Publishing, 1996)
It’s important for people to be skeptical of claims that seem too good to be true.
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