Conclusion: The Science of Literacy: A 5-Decades Journey and Counting

Science is not a hammer.¹

Science is an old-growth forest, each tree an organic thing. Think of a tree as a theory. At any moment that tree (theory) is fully a tree but not the tree it will become. As a tree grows, it becomes more robust, a stronger trunk, deeper roots. If we inspect that trunk, we find rings detailing the history of how that tree became stronger with age. Theories too are not simply the result of fixed (or settled) evidence, but an accumulation of evidence, an accumulation that evolves over time.

Science, like that old-growth forest, is never settled, never finished, but it is always at any moment the best that it can be in terms of being a forest and in terms of the trees being the trees of that moment. You see, science is also organic, not yet the forest or trees it can and will become. Old-growth forests are also characterized by being untouched by humans, and while science is the product of humans, science often seeks ways to limit the flaws of that human contact (a lofty and unattainable goal, but one that helps science aspire toward truth and Truth).