Fun Climbs Around The World

I want to explain and clarify several points in my essay, ‘The Biology of the Sandworm’ in The Science of Dune. When possible, I will include pictures or diagrams in coming posts.

Scientific method

I made some basic assumptions in my essay, which I list below. When I use the term ‘assumptions’, I’m using this term in the mathematical or scientific sense of ‘postulate’ or ‘hypothesize’.

I assumed that Dune obeys the physical, chemical, and other laws of science as we know them from Earth.

My essay, and the other essays in the book, discusses the science of Dune, and I observed known terrestrial scientific laws in my attempt to explain which elements of Herbert’s Duniverse could possibly exist. Science consists of developing testable hypotheses, experimentally testing these hypotheses, and evaluating the experimental results to determine whether these support our hypothesis, or if we must reject it and generate a new hypothesis.

Since we are (so far) limited to performing experiments on Earth (and a very few in space) and have not yet visited any other planets to observe and measure conditions there, we can test hypotheses only under terrestrial conditions.

If we postulate that a planet or organism does not follow known laws, but instead follows another set of to us, unknowable and untestable laws, then we have left the realm of science and entered the realm of science fiction. Herbert, as a science fiction author, presents a planet, Dune, that violates terrestrial laws in several instances. I’ll mention which of his creations and speculations are impossible on Earth, and why.
In future posts I’ll try to address:

oxygen production, plate tectonics and volcanic activity, and sandworm biology in greater depth.

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Further reading:

George Santayana, Reason in Science Volume 5 of the Life of Reason, Collier Books.

Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, Random House, (1996).

Stephen S. Carey, A Beginner’s Guide to Scientific Method, Wadsworth Publishing; 3 edition (2003).

Robert M. Martin, Scientific Thinking, Broadview Press (1997).

Hugh G. Gauch Jr., Scientific Method in Practice, Cambridge U. Press (2002).

Barry Gower, Scientific Method: A Historical and Philosophical Introduction, Routledge (1996).

Peter Achinstein, Science Rules: A Historical Introduction to Scientific Methods, Johns Hopkins U. Press (2004).

M. Taper, S. Lele (Eds.), The Nature of Scientific Evidence: Statistical, Philosophical, and Empirical Considerations, U. Of Chicago Press (2004).

H. Bauer, Scientific Literacy and the Myth of the Scientific Method, University of Illinois Press (1994).

W. I. Beveridge, The Art of Scientific Investigation, Blackburn Press (2004).

M. Cohen, An Introduction To Logic And Scientific Method, Hughes Press (2007).