Cherry Pickin’ Science

Critical reflection starts the dialectic,
Driving the zealot as well as the skeptic.

But one must check the hypothesized notions,
With measures of nature, it’s states and its motions.

If you’ve tried, in earnest, to prove yourself wrong,
Failure to do so may support a new song.

For Science advances, according to Popper,
By kicking hypotheses out of the hopper.

“Cherry pickin’ the literature for hypothesis support,
In Science is seen as attempt to distort.

Rather, pick cherries for hypothesis refutation,
That should mark true, one’s scientific reputation.

“Honesty with self” is by far the best move;
Seek to refute, never to prove.

-- Anonymous, 2009