What is science? A podcast series around science must answer the question what is science? What is this science that is done by humans and arouses such pride for groups, nations etc?
Everything is information for reasons covered in an earlier podcast. It is all information because it all has the same basic characteristics. These basic characteristics being:
1. All information is discrete as it is discrete it comes in packages.
2. All information can be isolated.
3. All information is consistent,
4. Information packages are independent.
5. All information packages are random
6. All information packages can be used to tally, to do arithmetic’s, to compute.
7. All information packages can tell the time.
8. All information packages can be used to measure.
The first law of information thus the first law of everything is that all information is in a relationship and all relationships lead to a loss of freedom due to the energy involved in maintaining those relationships. In simpler terms all relationships have a cost.
In
broad terms science is the understanding of relationships and classifying the
information that is involved in those relationships. This classified
information becomes part of the human knowledge base. Knowledge is that part of
information we know. The true nature of the thing might not be fully
understood, but what is understood is part of the human knowledge base. Luckily for us information can be isolated as
it is discrete that way, we don’t have to know everything or nothing. We can
learn.
Or rather should one say they we know these relationships because through us asking questions through scientific enquiry, the information packages involved in the relationships informed us about the relationships, told us about the relationships. Scientific enquiry is asking the universe what are you? Depending on the question and how well you listen, by listening one is looking at the data and the patterns, the universe will inform us what it is.
Take a human being who is sick. Say a stomach-ache, in many instances today we know what has caused the stomach-ache, using scientific methodology we know what stomach aches are. Mostly they are about us having a relationship with things that make us sick. Nothing but relationships, good for the thing making us sick and bad for us. We find medicines and methods to end this relationship with something giving us a stomach-ache.
To get rid of this stomach-ache we must understand the second law of existence. Everything is information, and all information is a result of a relationship. The second law of information states an information package will remain in its present state unless a relationship is established, inspired by Newton, Newton would also have to be reintroduced into quantum physics because of our understanding of magnetism. He should never have been removed, his simple principles on acceleration have everything to do with the energy of a particle. This puts him in center stage along with others who came after him in quantum mechanics, in the understanding of the very small, the building blocks of existence. We are not dealing with nationalism but science. We build on the past what is necessary and remove from the past what is not necessary.
When we are sick and have say a stomach-ache, we need medicines to get rid of that stomach-ache. What do those medicines do, they create new relationships within our bodies and hopefully cure whatever it is that ails us. This new relationship of course can not be outside the first law of information that says all relationships lead to a loss of freedom because of costs involved, these costs being energy.
When an economist accepts the demand function slopes downwards, they understand the behaviour of an information package that has been classified as a human being. They understand that human beings will purchase more if something is cheaper, that is the relationship between humans and commodities and services. A commodity is anything you pay for that is not a service, a television is much a commodity as raw iron.
Sociology involves understanding how society functions, how humans have relationships within society. Modern sociology uses the concept of statistics, once one uses statistics, one is dealing with science because you can only apply the discrete to statistics. Sociology applies statistics to understand human relationships in society, it is a science, it is however, like economics more of a social science but uses the scientific methodology to understand these human relationships that take energy to maintain.
We have just mentioned statistics. Why do I say that anything that uses science no matter how minor it seems is using the scientific methodology? To apply statistics to anything you must be able to isolate it, you can only isolate something that is discrete. Not only does statistics go beyond pure mathematics but it allows us to see a crucial factor in determining the nature of relationships and if one so desires to do the extra work, what are the costs in terms of energy for those relationships. I can appreciate at first this would be an enormous amount of time, but once technique is established easy enough repetition. Once technique established it would take somebody from high school to regurgitate and hopefully improve. The equations for free energy I have provided, the basic equation.
Statistics shows us a pattern, and this pattern if one truly comprehends what they are doing can be showed visually. Understanding patterns is vital to understanding relationships. When we classify relationships, when we classify patterns, this is how we are systematically through the ability to isolate information understanding the universe. By understanding patterns, we can then put specific mathematical relationships to the pattern, but first we must identify the pattern.
There are patterns everywhere with regards to information packages, and we understand these patterns as associated with relationships. When we understand these patterns and how they are related to relationships we can draw up for example the size of stars and classify them according to patterns, not all stars are of the same characteristics. This is thanks to statistics and observation through telescopes.
We can see how a gas behaves and be able to deduce what type of gas it is, merely from knowing what relationship a gas has with its environment, by seeing these relationships we can expect a certain gas to behave in a certain manner as compared to other gases.
Statistics gives us varying distributions, these are patterns. For example, when measures magnetic phenomenon, after 2 jiffies, a jiffy being the time it takes light to travel one centimeter, thus in 2 centimeters the magnetic phenomenon has a clear known statistical distribution, that is its wave, it is a gauss distribution or a normal distribution. Statistics categorizes many types of distributions including normal, binomial, Poisson, logarithmic distributions, there are many and every single one helps us identify a pattern.
Intelligence officers are looking for patterns to report to their commanders, their understanding of patterns is very important to governments, a mistake and a system can be overthrown. Police look for patterns and things that break patterns as they look for suspects and say that is not normal behaviour, let us investigate this. People are using the scientific methodology in different ways.
Our cars depend on keeping certain relationships, once those patterns are out of the norm, like there is overheating or little oil, we are warned by the gauges, fix this or that so that the car can return to normal operating relationships.
Scientific methodology is important for us to get to as close to the truth as possible. Archeology might be called an art, but it truly is a great science. Think about this people put together evidence of our distant past by looking for patterns. They must date this stuff, that takes science, and the science has got better. They must look at patterns and connect civilizations not by mythology but by hard evidence they have discovered covered by the dusts of time. This vastly adds to our knowledge base of who we are, understanding that the oldest known town, civilization is 200 000 years old and found in southern Africa.
I mean archeology is so exciting, one gets acquainted to things they would never otherwise believe. The Assyrians in the Middle east carved Nimrud holding a handbag. You go to the South America, the people who where known as the Olmec have in their carving a being holding the very same handbag. The ruins of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey have a similar handbag carved in stone, how is this possible? We are talking at times carvings over 3000 years old similar across oceans, as a scientist that is fascinating, the pattern being the handbag.
A linguist must look at the patterns of how words developed to understand their origins. This is science ladies and gentlemen. Sure it does not provide material benefits like understanding the relationships around electrons and photons such that we get a telephone, or a television, but it is science nonetheless. The linguist is looking at patterns of the spoken word and establishing patterns how those words have travelled through different civilizations and often the meaning changes, but we have the idea of the root. That is why linguists to all our benefit can group languages because of patterns, not 100% accurate but accurate indeed.
Now, if you can indulge me, I like knowledge but because of circumstances have to be very specific, I looked at knowledge what is it, we got to proving magnetism must be discrete if it always organizes into a wave no matter the interference. I was one day wondering about the name of this planet. See in my language it means umhlaba, the place of constantly been pricked.
Then I wondered what is the name of this planet in other languages. Okay, let us be simple, I was colonized by the English, what is the name of this planet in English. The name of this planet in English, Earth means ground. When we look up what does ground mean, we are made it is an ancient English word coming from the word grund, grund means abyss. Thus, in Nguni languages of which Khumalo language is a subsection the true name of this planet is as dismal as the true name for this planet in English, abyss, place of piercing, all terrible places.
Though there is no photonic connection in terms of language between the English and the Nguni, both have terrible names for this planet that are similar. The funny thing is when we talk of tilling to plant crops. In English one talks of tilling the ground, tilling grund, tilling the abyss. In Nguni languages one tills umhlaba, the same word for the name of the planet, just as grund to ground. One tills the place of piercing.
This is a different way of looking at things, but who would have expected that pattern. What is the name of the planet in all languages, do they all means an abyss, prison, place of suffering, it would be interesting.
Science is about understanding relationships and classifying them. These relationships must be able to be explained by statistical tools. The classification of information is largely about patterns. Are the patterns similar, close or distant, and how much are these differences in relationships?
Knowing statistics is not a prerequisite to being a scientist, but at some stage somebody must be able to explain the relationship statistically, or mathematically. However, maths does not often distinguish between the continuous and the discrete.
Even without knowing it is called science people have understood proportions since time immemorial. He is getting more food, that group is always robbing others we must be careful, if I add more of this and that, or decrease or increase temperature the iron blade becomes stronger or weaker.
Painters had to understand the difference in the paint according to the mixing of pigments, science is a tool we all use everyday by understanding patterns and what type of relationships those patterns mean.
Science is not always rocket science, it is a way of thinking, and we all use it everyday even if just a little bit, understanding proportions, proportions create different relationships, different relationships have different types of energy costs, the costs for any relationship. Simply asking how it tastes with so much turmeric compared to so much turmeric is the scientific mindset. Different amounts of turmeric mean different relationships in the soup, different energy costs, leading to a different relationship with the one who will eat the soup. They may prefer less or more turmeric.
Thank you for this relationship we have just shared, I hope the cost in energy was worth it.
Bhekuzulu Khumalo
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