Goal(s) of science

Science continually seeks to gain increased understanding and, where appropriate, the possibility for control of many specific aspects of the physical world. Its successes in achieving this goal stem directly from its ability to elucidate the foundational mechanisms which underlie nature's processes. Here, an image of "artificial" bioluminescence which has been induced in a tobacco plant by the use of genetic engineering.

What the goal is

The underlying goal or purpose of science to society and individuals is to produce useful models of reality. To achieve this, one can form hypotheses based on observations that they make in the world. By analysing a number of related hypotheses, scientists can form general theories. These theories benefit society or human individuals who make use of them:

• Newton's theories of physics allow physicists to predict various physical interactions, from the collision of one moving billiard ball with another, to trajectories of space shuttles and satellites.

• Relativity can be used to calculate the effects of our sun's gravity on a mass light-years away. It has also been used for commercial applications such as corrections to the clocks on satellites, which make tracking by satellite (e.g. Global Positioning System) more accurate.

• Chemistry and biology has increased understanding and the usefulness of chemical and biological reactions and scenarios.

• The social sciences allows for predictions for complex interactions like economic turbulence and also to better understand human behavior and to produce useful models of society and to work more empirically with government policies.

In modern times though, these segregated scientific disciplines (notably the latter two) are more often being used together in conjunction to produce more complete models and tools. One goal of science is to explain and utilize multiple known phenomena with one theory or set of theories.

What the goal is not

Despite popular impressions of science, it is not the goal of science to answer all questions. The goal of the sciences is to answer only those that pertain to perceived reality. Also, science cannot possibly address nonsensical, or untestable questions, so the choice of which questions to answer becomes important. Science does not and can not produce absolute and unquestionable truth. Rather, science tests some aspect of the world and attempts to provide a precise, unequivocal framework to explain it. This is a goal of science, but it is not an absolutely necessary one. Usually the framework for a scientific theory is a mechanical or physical model, but it may only merely be a mathematical model. In the latter case, the role of science is lessened from that of explaining phenomena to that of merely predicting future phenomena or observations, given certain input conditions or observations.

The separate roles of explanation and prediction must be differentiated, because science must always provide a clear prediction of future phenomena (by definition) but is not always able to provide or differentiate between possible explanations for the causes of phenomena. As an often cited example, there exist a number of models of quantum mechanics which differ in explanation of quantum phenomena and in physical models for them, but are all mathematically equivalent in prediction. For this reason, the possible explanations and physical models cannot be differentiated. In such cases, natural science does not and cannot provide a preferred explanation or mechanical model for reality, but because it continues to provide a clear predictive mathematical model for reality, it retains its classification as science.

Science is not a source of equivocal value judgments, though it can certainly speak to matters of ethics and public policy by pointing to the likely consequences of actions. What one projects from the currently most unequivocal scientific hypothesis onto other realms of interest is not a scientific issue, and the scientific method offers no assistance for those who wish to do so. Scientific justification (or refutation) for many things is, nevertheless, often claimed. Certain value judgments are intrinsic to science itself. For example, scientists value relative truth and knowledge, and the actual progress of science requires cooperation between scientists, and is highly intolerant of dishonesty. Cooperation and honesty are thus values which are intrinsic to the actual social practice of the scientific method itself.

Utilization of scientific discoveries

In short, science produces models with useful predictions. Science attempts to describe what is, but avoids trying to determine what is (which is for practical reasons impossible). Science is a useful tool. . . it is a growing body of understanding by which one can contend more effectively with surroundings and to better adapt and evolve as a social whole as well as independently.

For a large part of recorded history, science had little bearing on people's everyday lives. Scientific knowledge was gathered for its own sake, and it had few practical applications. However, with the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, this rapidly changed. Today, science has a profound effect on the way humans interact with and act upon nature, largely through its applications in new technology.

Some forms of technology have become so well established that it is easy to forget the great scientific achievements that they represent. The refrigerator, for example, owes its existence to a discovery that liquids take in energy when they evaporate, a phenomenon known as latent heat. The principle of latent heat was first exploited in a practical way in 1876, and the refrigerator has played a major role in maintaining public health ever since (see Refrigeration). The first automobile, dating from the 1880s, made use of many advances in physics and engineering, including reliable ways of generating high-voltage sparks, while the first computers emerged in the 1940s from simultaneous advances in electronics and mathematics.

Other fields of science also play an important role in the things the developed world use or consume every day. Research in food technology has created new ways of preserving and flavoring of edible products (see Food processing). Research in industrial chemistry has created a vast range of plastics and other synthetic materials, which have thousands of uses in the home and in industry. Synthetic materials are easily formed into complex shapes and can be used to make machine, electrical, and automotive parts, scientific and industrial instruments, decorative objects, containers, and many other items.

Alongside these achievements, science has also brought about technology that helps save human and non-human life. The kidney dialysis machine enables many people to survive kidney diseases that would once have proved fatal, and artificial valves allow sufferers of coronary heart disease to return to active living. Biochemical research is responsible for the antibiotics and vaccinations that protect living things from infectious diseases, and for a wide range of other drugs used to combat specific health problems. As a result, the majority of people in the developed world live longer and healthier lives than ever before.

However, scientific discoveries can also have a negative impact in human affairs. Over the last hundred years, some of the technological advances that make life easier or more enjoyable have proved to have unwanted and often unexpected long-term effects. Industrial and agricultural chemicals pollute the global environment, even in places as remote as Antarctica, and the air in many cities is contaminated by toxic gases from vehicle exhausts (see Pollution). The increasing pace of innovation means that products become rapidly obsolete, adding to a rising tide of waste (see Solid Waste Disposal). Most significantly of all, the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas releases into the atmosphere carbon dioxide and other substances known as greenhouse gases. These gases have altered the composition of the entire atmosphere, producing global warming and the prospect of major climate change in years to come.

Science has also been used to develop technology that raises complex ethical questions. This is particularly true in the fields of biology and medicine (see Medical Ethics). Research involving genetic engineering, cloning, and in vitro fertilization gives scientists the unprecedented power to bring about new life, or to devise new forms of living things. At the other extreme, science can also generate technology that is designed to deliberately hurt or to kill. The fruits of this research include chemical and biological warfare, and also nuclear weapons, by far the most destructive weapons that the world has ever known.