Weekly Writing Prompt 1: Why the Scientific Method Matters Today
Prompt: Explain why a historical event or development still matters today
Various scientific achievements were established throughout the Scientific Revolution. One of the greatest developements ever made, which still matters today, was the Scientific Method. The Scientific Method, developed by Francis Bacon, was a new approach to solving problems. It utilizes inductive reasoning to prove claims, and come up with results; it is a a crucial tool that is being used to advance our society. It has aided mankind in the discovery of life and truths, and is still doing so today. Long before the scientific method emerged, deductive reasoning was used instead to come up with solutions to solve everyday problems, as well as relying and depending on the Catholic Church. Results from these methods were highly inaccurate, unreliable, and would often mislead an inquirer's understanding. An example of how this has been a disadvantage in the past are the methods to cure medical illnesses during the middle ages. Whenever someone would fall ill, or even get a fever, a physician, who during the time had no accurate knowledge of the human anatomy or how the body functioned, believed that by cutting open someone's arm to let the blood out, would eliminate and dispel away the "evil" or illness that was lurking or present inside that person's body. This, of course, would only further weaken the patient, and increase the chances of his or her death.
This is one example of why the establishment of the Scientific Method was a revolutionary development. It encouraged people to actually perform experiments, and collect solid evidence in order to form factual conclusions, without being further misled. This has contributed a great deal to modern scientific developments, as well as several other aspects in society and in our daily lives. Providing direct examples is slightly difficult, since nearly everything in the world we know of are the products of the scientific method. However, a few examples of how it has been effectively put to use today are the production of working vaccines for the prevention of diseases, and even attempting successful surgery on a live person. These were all made feasible thanks to empirical reasoning, and the scientific method. Through trial and error, experimentation and evidence, scientists can better understand the problem at hand, and seek an attainable solution for it. Another significant example of how it matters today, is its contribution to the developement of effective medical treatments for cancer, such as chemotherapy. Not only has it been helpful in terms of medicine, but the prevention of global warming as well. Through observation and experiments, scientists have gathered physical and factual evidence on what is causing global warming, and with this information that they obtained, they can keep people informed, and help them become more aware about their actions and its impact towards the environment.
Another example: fast forward to the near-future. If we happen to face a severe global environmental crisis, like in the movie Interstellar, or even the apocalypse in general, we have to find ways to sustain life in outer space to save our species, and provide essential resources for humans such as oxygen and food. One way of doing so, is growing plants in an environment that is not on Earth. The Scientific Method would allow us to conduct experiments to come up with ways to grow plants in such situations, such as creating an artifical-environment that simulates one which is not on Earth, and seek optimal variables to make this possible. Just from this one small development through the use of the Scientific Method, the entire human race could be saved.
Without the scientific method, society and science would progress exceedingly slow. The Scientific Method has saved hundreds of thousands of lives, and is constantly being implemented today, for even more discoveries to be made.