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Q. Some people say science has failed us, I say we've failed science. What do you say?
UNKNOWN
A. It would be presumptuous of me to say we failed science. I can only say I did. Why my chemistry grades alone are still probably legendary in my old school.
Science is a tool. Used well and for what it's supposed to be used for it makes life better. Used for a bad end or to accomplish something it can't do and it's worse than useless.
Science tests objective claims. It can tell you how things are, not how they should be. Science can tell you that mixing two chemicals creates a gas that will kill humans. Science has let us here to understand chemical reactions and the respiratory system. If use this to make gas chambers it isn't science's fault. We, not science must decide what use to make of its discoveries.
Some people make a religion of science, and that's failing science. Science can test the natural world. A supernatural claim, a moral claim, an aesthetic claim can't be (usually) tested by science and thus science should not be applied. It's the wrong tool. But just because science can't be used for these things doesn't mean they don't exist or don't matter. Science can't say if there's a God. Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. But some would say that if science can't prove it it isn't real. That's a misunderstanding of science that attempts to revere science but ends up hurting it in a number of ways.
We have made great advances in science. Science as a way of seeing the world's pretty new, but we've come a long way with it. It's served us well and we've encouraged it. Sure we could serve it better. Finance it by means other than companies financially interested in the outcome, for instance. But it's doing well and, thanks largely to it, we are doing pretty well too. Sorry, I rambled, there are a lot of parts to the answer and little space.
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