First Principles
Science is the most reliable method for discovering truth and bettering our understanding. This is due to its design and the shared conviction of all who use it that no matter how strong their personal convictions are, no idea can be maintained if it cannot be proven true. In this way Science provides us not only with ideas which are highly refined but which are based in reality and so can be applied to reality with (some) confidence.
First Principles
My current understanding of the most fundamental principles are that
- The universe contains absolutely everything.
- Because everything is contained, everything must be finite.
- Because everything is finite and contained, everything must be systematic.
Due to physical limitations, such as the size of the human brain, no human will ever be able to describe everything perfectly. Indeed, no entity will ever have perfect knowledge of everything because parts of the universe must be changed to store information. To store information about everything would require everything in the universe to be changed, thus making the information stored redundant. However, humans only need to understand the things which effect them to a noticable degree and so most of the universe is irrelevant.
Practical Applications
By studying issues to discover the facts and by welcoming the contributions of others we can each gain a more complete understanding of what affects us. My own simple study into what I eat really surprised me because I now had facts about something which was previously very abstract to me.
You don’t need a fancy lab to do Science good enough for normal decisions. You can do it Mythbusters style.