"A tale of two sciences" part three

Dear readers,

This is the third and last post on Peter A Sturrock's 2009 book "A Tale of Two Sciences."

Part three of the book is titled "Towards a Synthesis." After discussing "scientific" and "non-scientific" topics, Sturrock poses the question "What is science?"

"My view is that science is defined not by the subject matter, nor by the instrumentation that is used, nor by the calculations that are made. Science - in my view - is defined by the relevant thinking process, which - in my opinion - is that known as "scientific inference." (p.148.)

"I have noticed that, when confronted with a new phenomenon - or an apparently new phenomenon - scientists tend to bypass discussion of the evidence in favour of theoretical considerations." (p154.)

In chapter 18, 'Models of reality" Sturrock proposes that x-rays, quasars, pulsars, and UFOs "...have something in common. They all deal with anomalies..." (p.155.)

Sturrock goes on to suggest classifying anomalies into "OK anomaly," "Not OK anomaly" and "sleeping anomalies." (p.156.) Pulsars would be an "OK anomaly." The original history of meteorites, when people denied they fell from the skies would be a "Not OK anomaly." Current "Not OK anomalies" would be UFOs and parapsychology. An example of a "sleeping anomaly" would be continental drift.

Conclusions:

"UFO reports describe objects that, if real, defy the known laws of gravity and inertia." (p.160.)

"Hence a major challenge in the study of phenomena such as those we have met in preceding chapters is to identify the basic assumptions of our current 'Model of Reality'..." (p.161.)

"...UFO reports definitely point towards Extraordinary Physics." (p.167.)

Comments:

This is an invaluable book which examines why science today still does not like to take a look at the UFO phenomenon.