Science: The Search for Truth


This is an early sextant, used by sea captains to help them know where they were and where they were heading.


The Mayan Calendar gave pre-Columbian Mesoamericans a sense of where they were in time.


This is but part of the magnificent Jantar Mantar, a collection of astronomical instruments in the form of majestic architectural structures, built in the 18th century by a visionary Maharaja.  It is a cousin of Stonehenge, hewn on a different continent and built with more evolved knowledge and instruments. 



Such tools and buildings exist because there is an observable and measurable Order to the Universe that can be replicated. They were created to feed an insatiable desire to learn, to understand and to know.  When something is observable, measurable and replicable it is admissible to the body of scientific evidence because it is in accordance with the principles or Laws of science.  Astronomers, astrologers, astrophysicists, biologists, chemists, economists, farmers, housewives, geologists, meteorologists, sociologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, physicians, etc. etc. etc., have all observed a distinct measurable and replicable Order existing in various forms throughout the Universe that is responsible to a set of principles or Laws. 



Therefore, by the existence of Order, there are Laws.  In this context, Laws do not exist because they have been legislated or agreed upon.  This is not a moral argument.  We are not talking about justice or fairness.   Laws exist to help us understand and interact with the Order that is.  Laws help us to appreciate and work constructively with the building blocks of Order.



Physics
Physics, which comes from the ancient Greek “physis” for nature, is the study of matter and its Motion through space and time along with adjacent concerns such as energy and force.   In other words, physics is analyzing nature in Order to better understand the Laws of the Universe.  Thus, the next posts in this train of thought will rely on the Laws of physics.

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