Today is the Ides of March.  Wait no its not, everyone knows the Ides of March is March 15th!  You’re an idiot!  Am I?  Well that is something that has yet to be determined, however today is in fact the Ides of March, on the Julian calendar.  And seeing as the Ides of March is famous as the date of Julius Caesar’s death it only makes sense to mention it on the true date, on the calendar which HE invented.  If that calendar were running until today, the 28th of March AD 2010 it would be the Ides of March (March 15th, AD 2010 on the Julian Calendar).

And that is the basis of the Science of Lies.  The first question you will ask me (besides what this has to do with the Ides of March) is “Isn’t lying an art?”  To which I would most likely answer “Yes”.  The issue I take, and anyone who knows me knows I often take it up, is the concept of “science”.   History (disclaimer, my area of study in college) is regarded as a interpretation of past events.  The telling of a story, and with any story, the narrator’s biases and opinions have to be taken into account.  History is (while biased) an account of past events, events that may not have happened EXACTLY as we “remember” them (like the Ides of March) but hopefully we strive to record and interpret them as accurately as possible.

Science is similar to history, a lot more similar than is often thought.  It is the interpretation of recorded events.  Those events may be controlled laboratory experiments, but they are events which are recorded and interpreted.  So frequently we try to place the study of science on a pedestal, as a perfect “science” (pun intended).  I say, we bring science back down from that pedestal and look at it with the scrutiny we look at other things.  I’m sure there are many out there who feel it is scrutinized, but how quick are we to marginalize views in opposition to that of the majority?  While this might be true of all fields, it is unique with science in that the views are not along political, national, religious or other persuasions; but instead a radical scientific view might come from a like-minded individual shedding new light on old data.

Remember, sometimes lies are good (see also the movie Liar Liar) but most of the time the pursuit of truth deserves a second opinion!

Posted on March 28, 2010 at 8:00 am
http://www.styrofoamsoup.com/views/the-science-of-lies/
http://www.styrofoamsoup.com/views/the-science-of-lies/trackback/
Categorised under : Views
Tagged with : Caesar , college , history , Ides , Julian , Julius , liar , lies , March , Science