Jonathon-Michael Vigil
Guest Columnist

I am always inspired when I happen upon complex problems. We are surrounded by them every day. From social problems to the origins of the universe, we cannot shy away from such quandaries. Indeed, they haunt us and somehow manage to expose our fears and vulnerabilities. Sometimes these questions do a really good job of dividing us rather than uniting us, depending on who’s asking the questions and how such problems are presented. Too often, we are immediately overtaken by rage and biased emotion when dealing with opposing views. But I’m optimistic that one of the key cornerstones of scientific investigation, evidenced-based decision making, will help us in answering these questions and solving our problems.
I am convinced that we can successfully apply such a process to all aspects of modern society. A good method of getting at the truth works at generating conditions that provide the most useful information on any given topic while making an attempt to filter out erroneous and ad hoc inconsistencies that could contaminate, and thus falsify the given data. The good thing about science is that it does not have an agenda. How can it? It is simply a complex tool that we use for uncovering the truth. Pieces of data are collected and interpreted according to what already corresponds to reality, and thus create a bridge for getting to the solution. With the proper applied method, we can come to sound conclusions or at least develop promising hypotheses that, upon further testing, can be validated or falsified.
Because we are still at a very early stage in understanding our universe, not all questions can be answered just by looking at the evidence. A good example would be attempting to understand how life began on our planet. At this point we can do one of two things. The first is to work backwards and make a faith based guess based on our preconceptions, and ideologies. However, there is no reason to do this, since science has consistently shed light where religion has attempted to darken those areas. The second is to formulate strong hypotheses, based on certain assumptions and interpretations of Proxy-Connection: keep-alive
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e data, until a valid conclusion can be reached.
For most scientists, the evidence for evolution, regardless of its origins, is overwhelming. The fossil record alone is sufficient enough evidence for most, now coupled with the genome-sequencing data from a cornucopia of earthly life which includes samples from our closest relatives – Neanderthals, chimpanzees, etc. – the verdict should be a clear and decisive one for anyone whose thinking is not overly clouded by a belief system.
Only within the last hundred years has evidence-based decision making begun to spread from the hard sciences into modern society. It is encouraging to know that therProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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are fields of study like sociobiology, evolutionary psychology, and behavioral economics. The very fact that there are such fields of inquiry is testament to the fact that as reliance on evidence spreads, it carries with it a necessary understanding of how it works. Apologists for religion have often attempted to lend credence to their claims by noting that one cannot disprove the existence of supernatural beings. This is an argument that assumes that their listeners don’t understand how evidence works. However, the more evidence moves from the lab into all aspects of modern society, tricks like the aforementioned become more and more transparent, and thus ineffective.
The more proficient we get at collecting and interpreting the data, the more social science is expanding. In the last generation we have generated a flood of data about personal and social behavior. We will continue to push forward, despite the childish rants of the fundamentalists, and we will continue to apply what we learn in a professional manner worthy of academic recognition. Evidence-based treaties, Evidence-based teaching, Evidence-based design, and Evidence-based parenting are all progressive steps forward to living in a happy, well tended society free from superstition and faith based guessing. I am confident that faulty, faith-based methods will disappear into the night and die out, not with a bang, but with a whimper.

jmvigil@mesastate.edu