Some thoughts from me, inspired / provoked by the responses so far:
Science doesn’t answer all the big questions - but it’s probably our best shot at finding out about our origins and whether we’re alone in the universe.
Science is not a panacea for all the world’s problems, but it’s our best hope for solving problems like climate change, AIDS and the food and water shortages that threaten the lives of millions.
Science is not necessarily more important than art, music or literature for fulfilling your potential as a human being, but it is essential if you want to contribute fully to a democratic society.
Science is not a collection of facts or truths, but it often provides the best approximations to these things (and allows you to identify falsehoods more easily).
Science is not an authoritarian conspiracy; it is a collaborative human endeavour, driven by creativity, need and ego.
Science is not good or evil, but it can be used for both. It doesn’t just show us the beauty of the world; it can reveal the full extent of its ugliness.
Science is not something you should be proud to be ignorant of; if you can quote Shakespeare or hum Mozart, you should know who Isaac Newton was and understand the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Science is important.
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Excellent synthesis (and title, that I love) !
I hope you would not mind if I make my comments and additions ?
I am motivated because I found your project so interesting, Alom.
1- "Science doesn’t answer all the big questions ... "
So True ! Science has rapidly came to finding limits to its pursuit of Knowledge (best ex : Godel's theorem). On the philosophy base, we also know that we are part of the system we study : that has great consequences on the global scope of Knowledge.
2- "Science is not a panacea for all the world’s problems ... ". As I wrote in my contribution, Science is now trying to find the solutions to the problems it caused in the first place ! Global Warming is a perfect example since it finds its roots in fossil fuel (over-)use thanks to technology thanks to ... science.
3- "Science is not necessarily more important than art, music or literature ...".
Yet, anyone can be appealed to art or litterature but it is a greater challenge to be really interested in Science because it is so difficult to understand. That is why so many students do not go in Science disciplines... Science has a big handicap there and this handicap is growing exponentially with the recent advances since a century. Thus, if even the experts do not fully understand Quantum Mechanics (I think of a famous Feynman quote), why should I hope to eventually understand it ? ...
I think no one found how to solve this dilemna yet : people use more and more technology and do not know what are the basic underlying principles. Others know how to solve equations but have not grisp on the applications.
To give a personnal example, in my fluid mechanics engineering school, one friend asked me whether radio waves were made of photons and another one asked me why there was a fan at the rear of helicopters. There's something wrong there ! These guys could solve Navier-Stokes equations the length of one A4 page !
4- "Science is not a collection of facts or truths ...". This is A VERY BIG POINT. I criticize the education system for that because one can go very far in the study of sciences at school, become an engineer for instance and think that scientific theories are THE ULIMATE TRUTH. There is something really wrong there and it implies great consequences which is not far from (so human) arrogance.
5-"Science is not an authoritarian conspiracy; it is a collaborative human endeavour, driven by creativity, need and ego."
So great short definition. I love the last word.
By the way, I recently admitted that creativity and ego are basically linked to sex (ask Darwin and Freud).
Feyman quote here : "Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it".
He knew what he was talking about (read Sex and Manhattan project : http://seedmagazine.com/news/2006/03/getting_physical.php ).
6- "Science is not good or evil, but it can be used for both. It doesn’t just show us the beauty of the world; it can reveal the full extent of its ugliness."
I underlined this in my contribution. The worst of it is that good and evil can be MIXED ! My example about overpopulation is a very good one, I think. Medecine progress (hygiene) has made people live far longer but, now, we are too many (polluting) on the planet ! See : Mixed result of Good and Evil !
Regarding beauty, I found a nice example. A creationnist on Youtube was indeed showing beautiful pictures of people, meadows, mountains etc. Yet, if you take the same picture and zoom (let's imagine), we see ugly things such as the insects fierce behaviour we all saw with disgust in documentaries. Beauty is an abstract thing.
7- "Science is not something you should be proud to be ignorant of; if you can quote Shakespeare or hum Mozart, you should know who Isaac Newton was and understand the Second Law of Thermodynamics".
I disagree just a bit on it, Alom, because I explained that Science is really difficult and might remain elitist despite our efforts (I sell science toys) of science education.
An example about your quote. I corrected French Wikipedia recently because it was written somewhere that Second Principle could be assimilated to disorder http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discuter:Deuxi%C3%A8me_principe_de_la_thermodynamique .
Understanding the Second Principle is therefore not something easy and intuitive.
It is true that I am shocked when hearing that most people still think that heavy stuff fall faster than a light one. Poor Galileo ... but I also admit this mistake is so appealing because so intuitive. One has to THINK hard to believe the contrary.
CONCLUSION :
So, yes Science is important but the middle age so famous writer, Rabelais, wrote.
"Science sans conscience n'est que ruine de l'âme".
"Science without conscience is but the ruining of soul" (my translation).
Thinking about Science is as important as Science itself. The best scientists (such as Einstein or Feynman) were aware of this.
That's actually the thing you are doing here with your post and project, Salom. I notice that your project do not claim "Science is great". Great job, Alom !