Dear students,
科學精神求什麼？
在資訊爆炸，講求科學證據的年代，科學精神與邏輯思維對求學問非常重要。在求學的過程中，很多人都說要以科學精神去求真。而不同的人，因著對課題的熟悉程度不同，或許會有不同的解讀。
譬如說，有一個學生為課題假設在網上搜證後，認為：
一：有關論文已在頂尖學術期刊刊登，而作者是任職於世界頂尖大學的教授
二：有關的研究中，學者利用相關實驗，其結果支持論點
三：有關實驗結果已經被另一組研究人員重複驗證，而論文亦受廣泛引用
若你認為只要符合以上三個條件後，那學生已經有非常充分的證據去立論，那麼你將要失望了，因為，同一時間有另一位學生，拿出另一組研究證據，亦能符合以上三點，得出相反的結論，不同的是，這組研究採用了其他方法去驗證課題假設
面對這樣的情況，你會選擇引用其中一方的論點去支持自己的觀點，還是先重新檢視和思考自己的論証呢？
一般人以為只要引經據典，便是客觀求真。卻不自覺原來自己只相信自己喜愛的證據，忽略了全盤論證。
世界之大，知識之廣，豈有無所不知的人？希望我們都能避過腦袋的懶惰與固執，以誠實、開明、虛心的科學精神去與人溝通，冷靜思考，才能嚴謹求証，求學如是，生活如是。
＃真有其事
＃唔係偽科學
＃啲學生應該會覺得好亂
＃亂唔緊要
＃亂即係有錯
＃無人知嘅嘢梗有錯
＃會錯先要Re-search
What makes a scientific mind?
In an era flooded with information and demands for scientific evidence, a logical mind with critical thinking is essential. We often seek the “truth” when we are learning. Nonetheless, different persons, depending on the depth of their understanding of the subject matter, will have varying interpretations of the “truth”.
For example, a student searched for the literature on a topic and found that:
I – The relevant study was published in a prestigious journal by top scientists in world-class universities
II – In that study, scientists have performed relevant experiments and the results supported the conclusion
III – The results have been validated by another group of scientists and the studies were highly cited
If you think the conclusion is the “truth” after fulfilling the above three criteria, you will be disappointed. Because at the same time, another student has found other sets of studies that also fulfilled the above criteria but came up with a controversial conclusion. The difference is the design of the experiments to investigate the same problem.
If you were to face this situation, will you adopt the evidence that supports your claim or will you review and re-evaluate your evidence for the possibility that your claim may be wrong?
Most people think citing the literature makes a claim an “objective truth”. But we may not be aware of the confirmation bias to our “personal truth”, which neglected the whole picture.
While we cannot be omniscient, I hope we all can fight against intellectual laziness to seek rigorous proofs with an honest, humble and open mind. So do our studies, so do our living.