WRITING NATURE: 
DISCOURSES OF ECOLOGY

 

Henry David:  What's the difference between science and technology?  Who or what controls it or them?
Mary Frances:  i think i read that thomas said that science was necessary, and from science we could choose what technology we need or choose to have
Mary Frances:  tee hee
Mary Frances:  is anybody there?
Henry David:  I'm here
Henry David:  I'm just hinking
lyda:  me too
Mary Frances:  you asked the damn question
Henry David:  that was supposed to say thinking
lyda:  somehow, i think of science as medicine and biology and stuff, and technology seems more like engineering and building and stuff
Mary Frances:  i consider science more the general knowledge of how things work, and technology more like how to use science for our benefit
Henry David:  I think science is a name for a group of beliefs (Computer science, Christian science, Biological science), and technology is what we call the tools we utilize to explore these groups
lyda:  that sounds good
Henry David:  Have any of you heard of TechKNOWlogy?
Mary Frances:  no
lyda:  ni
lyda:  what's ist
Mary Frances:  if science is a group of beliefs, then it has nothing to do with knowledge?
Mary Frances:  or do you deny that knowledge exists (true knowledge)?
Mary Frances:  because, for example, i don't know if i'd classify christian science (at least what i think it is) as a science
lyda:  is science a group of beliefs? or maybe a group of evidence instead.
Henry David:  Technology is all the materials you have to put to work, but techKNOWlogy is the ability to figure out how to use them.  (Cave men had the technology there to produce a wheel, but it wasn't until the had the techknowlogy that anything happened; also a country can have the techknowlogy, but not the technology because of lack of money/supplies)
lyda:  christian scientology is a branch of religion. it doesn't have anything to do with science, except that they don't use it.
Mary Frances:  so then i don't think i could classify that as a science
Henry David:  They use religious sciences
Mary Frances:  what is religious science?
lyda:  is techknowlogy really a word?
Mary Frances:  i think it's more of a concept
lyda:  religious science is praying i think
Henry David:  A system of describing our world through the acts and will of God
Mary Frances:  i can't consider that a science
lyda:  so if you're sick, instead of getting treatment at a hospital, people pray over your body\
Mary Frances:  because it bases itself on unconfirmable things
Henry David:  techknowlogy is a word according to Professor Rick of the anthropology department....but I doubt it's in Websters
Mary Frances:  like you can't prove that praying over your body will help it get better
lyda:  right. but that's why christian science isn't considered a real science
Mary Frances:  but penicillin will treat an infection
Mary Frances:  well, henry david put it in the group of beliefs that he calls science
Henry David:  Just because Christian Science doesn't seem scientific to you, doesn't mean that it's not a science.  Maybe it just means that your connotation of the word has come to mean microscopes and labratories...
lyda:  but are sciences really a group of beliefs, or a group of proven facts?
Mary Frances:  i just stated why i thought it wasn't a science
Mary Frances:  it doesn't have proof
Henry David:  Facts are rarely really proven
lyda:  the problem is, we don't have a definition of "science"
Mary Frances:  yes, but some facts are proven much more firmly than others
Mary Frances:  and christian science doesn't really have a leg to stand on
lyda:  which is why so many people do not put much trust or faith in the "sciences"
Henry David:  For example, there is a branch of study called evolutionary sciences.  That is something we believe to be true, and can study like a science, but until we build a time machine we cannot actually prove it
Mary Frances:  if i believe that you all are figments of my imagination, can you call that a science?  it's a belief...
Mary Frances:  poof!  i'm making you disappear
lyda:  so i guess that kind of science is a belief, like it's what you choose to believe in
lyda:   some people consider psychology to be a science, others, bullshit
Mary Frances:  that's true
Henry David:  No, that's not a science: when I said a group of beliefs, I meant more of a SYSTEM of beliefs--something that goes beyond the individual and takes on a meaning of it's own .
lyda:  when i think of technology, electronics and computers come to mind. anyone else?
Mary Frances:  i guess if you look at it the way i am, then psychology isn't a science because you can't prove anything
Mary Frances:  although i don't know if i agree with that
Henry David:  Proof isn't really the issue
Mary Frances:  me, too
Mary Frances:  what is the issue?
Henry David:  What do you think it is?
Mary Frances:  i think science is the study of knowledge, what you can KNOW
Mary Frances:  facts
Mary Frances:  systems of interrelated facts
Henry David:  but is evolution a FACT?
Mary Frances:  that's a science
lyda:  isn't that why people do science experiments, to PROVE FACTS?
Mary Frances:  evolution is a fact
Henry David:  how can you prove it?
June:  Isnit the STUDY of evolution a scence and  the FACT of evolution is somtething else?
Mary Frances:  i agree...
Mary Frances:  so maybe the study of facts is a science?
Henry David:  an -ology indicates a study
Henry David:  science, I think, is something more
Mary Frances:  like?
lyda:  where did june come from?
Mary Frances:  i think that's carolynb
Mary Frances:  carolyn
Henry David:  no cheating!
lyda:  yeah
Mary Frances:  huh?
Henry David:  so, June, what's your take on Science?
Henry David:  seven minute lull?
Mary Frances:  busy typing
Henry David:  sorry
Mary Frances:  not really, i was just making an excuse
Henry David:  Have you all heard of 3rd world vs. 1st and 2 nd world?
Mary Frances:  no
lyda:  an excuse for the fact that we have nothing intelligent to say?
Mary Frances:  ok, when henry david said that he/she thought that science was "something more"  what did they mean?
lyda:  would that be as in ethiopia vs. united states + mexico?
Henry David:  1st world is anything tangible (a book in your hand); 2nd world is anything mental (the ideas you get from the book) and 3rd world is the things that take on a meaning of their own outside of individual human minds or tha tangible world (mathematics, language, etc.)
lyda:  cool
Mary Frances:  interesting
Mary Frances:  so why is it 3rd world VERSUS the other two?
lyda:  so where does "science" fit into the world scheme?
Henry David:  3rd world things must be started in the minds of people, but once bgan they can perpetuate their own existance and development.  ie the number pi
Henry David:  I think sciences ARE third world
Mary Frances:  2nd world and 3rd world aren't very clear in their differences (at least to me)
lyda:  so we started them and now they have this magical life of their own?  maybe.....
Henry David:  2nd world (your subjective experiences and thoughts)
lyda:  ok. bye
Mary Frances:  the study of things is a science
Henry David:  3rd world (Math)
Henry David:  byby
Mary Frances:  but without us to perpetuate the studying how can they go on their own"
Mary Frances:  bye