Is Science Real?

While you sat in secondary school science class, were you one of the two or three up front staring at the teacher and hanging off every word the teacher said or were you part of the rest of the class caught up in the reality of group dynamics?

Reality...ah, yes.  That word again.  You have a schoolmate you've known since you were both born and then while standing in a crowd of people that barely knows you, you hear rumours about your schoolmate which make no sense but the crowd all agrees your schoolmate has been seen or heard in a constant state of activity that contradicts everything you know about your schoolmate.  Nothing you say will change their view of reality, will it?

What is reality?  Very little in group dynamics is real but all of it is real.  Reality is not perception but perception is reality.

Memories are but snapshots through the tiniest, clouded windows of your senses.

However much we rely on memories and thoughts, in computer technology we have found ways to check reality against errors.  One set of words typed here will match the same set of words read from here in another location on this planet, the space station or an electromechanical satellite floating out past the edge of the solar system.

Reality is your bank account, the amount of petrol left in your tank, the number of goats you sold yesterday, the size of the place in which you live.

In other words, you can count reality.

Can you count the number of negotiating points in a business deal?  Can you?  You probably think you can, but in reality you are only guessing because of what I'll stick to calling "group dynamics."  You anticipate what the other person is thinking about and may have done your homework/research about what motivates the other person, but you really don't know exactly what's going through that other person's set of thoughts, do you?

Let's get back to this secondary school science class.  Do you remember the details of any individual class lessons?  Can you recall mental images of the schoolbooks you used or pages within the books?  How about any science experiments you conducted and their results?  Can you recall the conversations within the room, the clothes people wore, the relationships between the people in the room and the names of every person in any one particular class?

So tell me again, which is more real, the science taught by the teacher or the science of group dynamics you taught each other in class?  It's a single choice answer.  No cheating to see what someone else picked.  You have to pick this one yourself.

I'll give you a few more seconds to answer the question.  Notice the permanent ink pen I handed you so that once you pick an answer, you can't erase it while passing the test back up the line and making changes based on summary glances at other kids' test answers?

Okay, I've got your test results here.  Very enlightening.

What?  You want to know what the right answer is?  How about a tally of your classmates' answers, instead?  No?  You'd rather I just tell you whether you passed or failed so you can go on texting or IMing one another or passing paper notes back and forth?

Okay, a show of hands of those who believe there is no right answer... one, two, three, four...yes, more hands going up.  Come on!  Who thinks this was a trick question?  Very good, all of you.  See what happens when you rephrase a question?

Now that you know that reality isn't real, that what you learn in science class is all science but not the same science being taught by your teacher, what are you going to tell your kids when they come back with their science class test scores and have an overall failing grade?  Anyone?

You two in the back, quit the liplock and look up front.  Let's say you both just had a kid.  No, I'm not trying to spread a rumour you're pregnant.  This is "make believe," for just one moment.  What do you want your kid to be when the kid grows up?  Gender doesn't matter to me, you pick.

Okay, we've got a professional ball player and a lawyer.  Do either one of them use science in their daily lives?  Actually, they do.  Sports involves physics, for instance.  A lawyer uses statistical analysis.  Yes, they both rely on hunches but again we can trace the origin of their hunches to the body's ability to gather information and "multivote" an action in the moment that will most likely lead to the best result.

So, to get back to Jeremy's question, should popular entertainment present "real" science?  Anyone?  Do you understand now that nothing is real and everything is real, so that one cinematic presentation of fantasy may inspire another person to compare that fantasy against the results of scientific experimentation and have an "A-ha!" moment that came out of a group discussion of the difference between fantasy and reality like we've just been having?  No?  Well, then I've answered Jeremy's question, haven't I?  Those who pursue a narrow, "pure" science career will know the difference and the rest of us won't care as long as the movie was entertaining, right?  So, who wants to watch the classic old movie "Wayne's World" in class tomorrow?  That's more like it.  See you in class tomorrow.  Don't forget to bring your flash drive presentations of your opinions about the fashions in this year's Olympics.  Extra credit to those who show me their knowledge of the relationship between the clothes and faster speed times for skiers and skaters!