Dawkins bitch-slaps..

[Gawdzilla Sama]

That's Marcus du Sautoy's gig now, and very good at it he is too. Although I don't think he goes in for any bitch-slapping ...

I read that as "Marquis de Sautoy" and though, "Hmm, would that go well with fried rice and shrimp?"

[Hermit]

Now, if the Marquis de Sade held the chair of the Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science, there might be a lot more bitch-slapping going on.

[Svartalf]

Bitch whipping you mean?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Now, if the Marquis de Sade held the chair of the Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science, there might be a lot more bitch-slapping going on.

[klr]

Now, if the Marquis de Sade held the chair of the Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science, there might be a lot more bitch-slapping going on.

... and very little advancement in the public understanding of science.

[FBM]

Was the scientific method applied when cars and planes were invented?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the scientific method as: "a method or procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses."[3]

If some of those those hypotheses, such as Boyle's Gas Laws, inspire the concept of, say, the recognition that expanding gases in a cylinder could be made to create a directional force that could be turned into work, I'd say yes. Indirectly involved, but involved nonetheless. Pure science isn't itself concerned with manufacturing goods, but nevertheless can be instrumental in the development of industry.

[Thinking Aloud]

Put another way, yes, you can muck about with stuff and get stuff to do things without any scientific knowledge - you may even have invented an aerofoil by accident - but science explains why it works, and when you know why it works you can work out how to make it work better.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

OP made me lol.

He's still got some way to beat Spike Milligan at shocking audiences though, I think.

[Tyrannical]

Video should be titled Dawkins misunderstands scientific method.

[Seabass]

Video should be titled Dawkins misunderstands scientific method.

Yes, surely it is Richard Dawkins, Oxford educated, world renowned evolutionary biologist, and not Tyrannical, internet forum racist, who misunderstands scientific method.

[FBM]

Read the thread, Tyr. Science made those inventions possible.

[Mr.Samsa]

Video should be titled Dawkins misunderstands scientific method.

And in other news, water is wet.

[FBM]

Science =========> internal combustion engines. http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/boyle.html

QED.

[JimC]

Improvements in generators, turbines and internal combustion engines were made on the back of a triumph of abstract science, the development of the Laws of Thermodynamics.

Carnot rules!

[Tyrannical]

Read the thread, Tyr. Science made those inventions possible.

The scientific method is a specific method. You can't classify all science as following the scientific method, you can still make discoveries or inventions without it. My point was that Dawkins gave some rather poor examples when justifying the scientific method.