Not Just-So

Many people have the idea that Science is another just-so story or that it is another version of the truth.

Perhaps. But Science is the only "story" that is demonstrably true. And what is truth if it is not demonstrably differentiable from falsehoods.

There's a word for the "story" that Science tells - it's called Reality.

Unlike the alleged divine truths that religions claims or the doctrines that they would claim to be the absolute truth or any truth claim for the matter that any cult or pseudoscientist make, Science has more to offer. Science offers actual results.

Yes, I am referring to the practical applications of the body knowledge acquired by the Scientific Method. Aside from having evidence (acquired through observation and experimentation) to backup its claims, everytime technology works, that in itself is evidence that the scientists know what they are talking about.

Everytime an airplane takes to the skies, we demonstrate our knowledge in physics (more specifically aerodynamics, material science, etc). Everytime someone is cured of their diease, we demonstrate our grasp of the medical sciences (such as virology, immunology). The same applies to any one of the established sciences.

For goodness sake, we went to the Moon.

Now take all that into consideration. Take note of everything Science has equipped humanity with - all the technology - so much of which we now take for granted. Then contrast it with the sentiment that Science is "just another story."

It bewilders me that anyone could even come close to thinking like that.

Happy Birthday, Singapore!

Today, Singaporeans commemorate the 44th year of our nation's independence with our annual national ceremony, the National Day Parade.

And what better way to get into the spirit of the event than by listening to NDP songs!

The following player plays a playlist of NDP songs (beginning with the English theme songs in chronological order) starting off with "Home", the NDP theme song in the year 1998. Click here to view the playlist itself.

Happy National Day!
I sincerely hope that we truly are and will stay as One People, One Nation, One Singapore.

We are still monkeys

Just as we are still apes.

In the recent past, the response to a common misunderstanding of the Theory of Evolution was: "We are not apes. We evolved from a common ancestor." Now, we realize that even that answer is still incorrect.

Essentially, the problem is with semantics. In the past, the term "apes" is used to refer to primates such as chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas while arbitrarily excluding humans from the group. As we now understand the evolutionary history of our species and our cousin species, the term "apes" now includes us within the group. Thus, previously, the group "apes" was paraphyletic where it excludes us. Now, the group "apes" includes all great apes including us.

The rationale for this change in understanding and terminology can be simply understood by common ancestry. Since evidence demonstrates that we share a common ancestry with chimpanzees, at some point in history, the two lineages must have had diverged from a parent lineage. That parent lineage must have had traits common to both daughter lineages. If the parent lineage was considered to be an ape, then its descendants would still be apes by definition no matter how different they may have changed.

The same issue has occurred with the way we utilized the term "monkey". So technically, we are monkeys. The same way all birds are dinosaurs. The same way all chordates are "fish".

O' enough talk. Watch AronRa's video - he gives a much better and detailed explanation in the following video.