Evolution, science, and story: a starting place

"Evolution in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense -- an unguided, unplanned process of random variation and natural selection -- is not. Any system of thought that denies or seeks to explain away the overwhelming evidence for design in biology is ideology, not science" ... Christopher Schönborn, New York Times, 2005 " ... scientific statements are not either claims or approximations to "Truth," but provisional stories, reflecting human perspectives, that get progressively less wrong. Whatever practical usefulness the stories have derives from and needs always to be understood in light of their provisional character ... Scientific stories are written not to be believed but to be understood, made use of as appropriate, and revised " ... Paul Grobstein, Science As Story Telling and Story Revision, 2005

Science as process ... of Story Telling and Story Revision

Linear science	Seriously loopy science
Science as body of facts established by specialized fact-generating people and process Science as successive approximations to Truth Science as authority about "natural world"	Science as process of getting it less wrong, potentially usable by and contributed to by everyone Science as ongoing story telling and story revision: repeated making of observations, interpreting and summarizing observations, making new observations, making new summaries ... individually and collectively Science as skepticism, a style of inquiry that can be used for anything, one which everybody is equipped to to/can get better at/be further empowered by, and contribute to - a way of making sense of what is but even more of exploring what might yet be

Science as practical tool, continually being adapted and therefore should be expected to keep evolving rather than to get it "right" is as much about creation as about discovery (multiple possible summaries) the crack is a feature rather than a bug; both "objective" and "subjective play essential roles differences among people are an asset to the process rather than a problem or an indication it isn't working

Revisiting Science in Culture: Science as Story Telling and Story Revision Getting It Less Wrong, The Brain's Way: Science, Pragmatism, and Multiplism Thinking About Science: Evolving Stories Science as Story Telling in Action Science as Storytelling or Story Telling? A Conversation About Science Education ... and Science The Nature of Science: The "Problem of Unconceived Alternatives" and its Significance

Matters arising If "right" is understood as a unique/singular position, then "getting it less wrong" does not necessarily imply getting it "right" or even "more right". Does science presume/depend on a long term aspiration to "Truth"? does evolution? literature? Getting It Less Wrong: The Brain's Way and The Nature of Science Does scientific method depend on "sentience"? does science? what role does "sentience" play in evolution? in literature? Writing Descartes

Try it out:
Distinguishing between forms of story telling: science, authority, belief

• Science as process rather than thing
• Things are part of science if they are part of the process, not because of any defining characteristics intrinsic to the things themselves

Evolution? (to be returned to) Literature? Life? .... "Ever since Darwin, we live in a world of stories"?

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