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What I find most difficult is the process of selecting the facts to which one 
should conform.  

That is -- WHICH of several apparently conflicting "scientific research 
projects" is truly factual?  And -- if both are factual, which is ALSO tainted in 
some way by (a) faulty research protocol; (b) faulty premise; (c) insufficient 
numbers; (d) conflict of interest relative to funding... etc.?  (or are they 
both actually tainted?)

"Pure Science" is so rarely pure, in that it so often is in service of 
something, be it faith, funding, hope, military action, etc.

Is a "Star Wars" defence shield practical?  Are vaccines responsible for 
neurological injury?  Can fetuses experience pain?  Are men and women 
neurologically distinct?  Are different human races neurologically distinct?  These are 
questions that, in theory, can be answered through "pure" science and reason.  
But frankly, it's hard to believe that ANY scientist can be so separate from 
the world that he/she could investigate these questions in a "pure" manner.

This, once again, is the basis for my belief that no human project can be 
said to be absolutely objective.  We start somewhere -- and the place where we 
begin is embedded in our time, place, culture, personal aspirations and fears.  
The fact that we are someone particular -- and that we are human -- MUST have 
an impact on our ability to test, conclude and reason.

And on the same hand, consider this.  The tools we have available to us 
radically change the way we perceive the world.  Prior to the invention of the 
microscope, we had no notion of the universe of microscopic life.  Prior to the 
invention of the prism, we saw light as wholly white.  What new ways of seeing 
will we discover after the next significant breakthrough in scientific 
"visioning" technology?? 
A scientific Theory is authentic because it conforms to the
facts.

Lisa Jo Rudy, Writer/Consultant
625 Chelten Hills Drive
Elkins Park, PA 19027
http://www.lisarudy.com/
215-635-9735

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