SCIENTERRIFIC

In light of recent events taking place around the world, and in considering the itense societal demand for us to be better-informed intellectuals, scienti!c thinking is a skill that must be propagated and encouraged. O"en upon hearing the word "science", individuals shrink back and decide to leave the matter to the specialists. In this issue, we wanted to demonstrate that "scienti!c thinking" isn't even purely scienti!c. It is a concept that is taken out of the meticulous nature of science, but one that can be applied, with practice, to almost every area of our lives. As students at the American University in Cairo and as individuals who hold valuable knowledge, we feel that it is our duty to share it, as a form of civic engagement if you may. We want to show the readers of this pubilication the

spark, and leave them interested to continue to develop this skill.

Afterword & References

#is publication was made to be submitted for Dr. Sawsan El-Gogary of #e American University in Cairo. All content is original but created with

knowledge from previous in-class discussions and take-home readings.

These readings were:

Every day we are faced with an abundance of decisions to make and paths to choose. Our lives take us on a journey of continuous exploration, so we must be armed with the tools of logic and rationlism to thoroughly explore our world and answer all of our questions. So, in this issue,

it out of the stereotypical academic environment of the

to win arguments, and so much more all using the careful

4 10 13

25 MEET THE AUTHORS

SALLY; I am a sophomore, majoring in business administration with

vintage!

NADINE;

NAHLA; Freshman, seventeen, and hoping to major in Art and minor

18

BUSINESS

POLITICSHow can politicians utilize the tools of scienti!c and critical thinking in creating a constitution?

How are you judging evidents and events presented to you online? do you know how to evaluate online content? Here you will learn how.

TIPS &ENTERTAINMENT

INTERVIEW

A segment that will show you exactly how you can bridge the gap between cienti!c thinking & business

Our one-on-one chat with Dr. Galle about what Scienti!c #inking means to him & how he applies it day-to day

There is an erroneous belief

that to be successful, you have to

have luck on your side. Well, luck is

a tiny factor that can contribute to

your success; you can for instance, be

at the right place at the right time.

However, the truth is commitment,

persistent, hard work, will power,

enthusiasm and rational thinking are

the essences of one's personal and

entrepreneurial success.

A lot of successful

entrepreneurs have had to pursue

their organizational goals for

several years until they were

achieved. Generally speaking,

nearly all successful people know

that achieving success is a matter

of determination rather than just

luck. In life, the harder you work

and the more committed you are, the

luckier you get. So we can put it this

way, "Luck is created and it's not an

exterior factor."

Good Luck or Good

Business;Is entrepreneurial success beginner's luck or a serious skill?

According to an article titled

"Doing Business in China" the

billionaire Mr. Wu Changjiang-­

owner and founder of NVC

Lighting, the biggest lighting

manufacturer in China, emphasized

that after coming from a poor

background and working in many

factories, pursing his dream he came

to the conclusion that his success

hasn't come through luck, but rather

through hard work and aiming high.

Many of you may still presume

that there are other people out

there who were luckier that Mr.

Wu and found success knocking on

their doors. Unfortunately those

miraculous moment are minimal and

those extremely "lucky people" are

minorities and in fact if they don't

work with their beginner luck; if

they don't capitalize on luck their

dreams will get crushed immediately.

Assume that you wake up and

find a substantial amount of money

under your pillow that can aid you

in starting your dream business.

You successfully launched your

business and were able to make

your way through the rough market

competition. But the question

remains, what guarantees your

success in the market? At this point,

I don't think that the so called

"effortless luck" can help. In fact,

what keeps you gaining a foothold

in the market are, apart from the

market conditions, your personal

attributes and strategies; how you

run the business and how you exert

control over what may possibly be

regarded as uncontrollable.

In the business world there

is no such thing called luck, even

being at the right place at the right

time is a business strategy only those who apply scientific thinking as a managerial approach to guide their business know when to capture business opportunities. According to

the Harvard paper Skill vs. Luck

in Entrepreneurship and Venture

Capital: Evidence from Serial

Entrepreneurs, research have shown

that entrepreneurs who invest in a

good industry-­year are more likely

to invest in a good industry-­year

in their next business enterprise.

Thus, this articulates the fact that,

market timing ability is an attribute

of entrepreneurs."

{Don't wait for

good

opportunities...

create them}

Wise Words On Luck

Unstructured thinking could be…

Thinking among Decision Makers

Managers and decision makers

situations, where they are required to choose from among different alternatives and implement decisions on this basis. These Decisions can be categorized as daily decisions or strategic ones; decisions that require long term plans. Desirable results are attainable if managers apply

as a managerial tool to undo value in organizational and management decision making areas.

1)Before embarking on implementing a decision, managers need to collect data and information from reliable sources to explain and analyze the issue being studied.

Sources of Knowledge

or from market conditions

2)hypotheses, exclude rival ones and choose the most testable, adequate for the purpose, attainable hypothesis.

#e Purpose of A Hypothesis

conclusions that result.

3)It is crucial for decision makers to identify the variables (the possible threats and opportunities if a certain action/decision is to be applied).

Identifying Variables

that in$uence the process of decision making, and variables that are in$uenced by the decision being made to conceptualize the overall e%ect of the decision.

4)A"er identifying the possible threats and opportunities of a certain decision, managers then plan on conveying a decision.

Ways of Passing On Decisions.

arguments to elucidate, interpret, defend, challenge, and explore future and current implications of the decision.

5)A"erwards, managers should trace the end result consequences of the decision to enhance or modify their decision making system to get the desired results. >>>Analyzing the phenomena or the problem, collecting knowledge and information about the

problem, coming up with alternative decisions, estimating the possible opportunities and threats

of each course of action, applying a decision, and then observing its implications.

CONSTITUTIONAL THINKINGHumankind favors order and structure. Societies, ancient and modern, strive to create strong civilizations based on unity & order. In order for them to do so, however; they need to lay down a code of law, seen in its earliest form in Hammurabi’s code in ancient Mesopotamia and seen now in what is more modernly known as a constitution. A country’s constitution is its foundation; the rules, standards, and principles a country’s people believe in and

have equally powerful constitutions that

take pride in.

that stature. They are given that ranking because of their overall condition, be it economic, social, or other. A powerful constitution is what allows for this. Fledgling third-world countries, much like

our very own Egypt, must recognize the importance of creating a strong constitution and must make it their priority. A nation will not survive without one.

A strong constitution is created by laying effective and powerful foundations for the rules upon which the country must be governed. I believe that these foundations

thinking that has gone into creating them. By following the methodical nature of

& rational conclusions that are yielded, debate about the validity, accuracy, & partiality is avoided all together.

thinking and the nature of science would go far beyond this article. It is a subject deep enough that entire university courses are given to teach it and cultivate it. However, some of its key principles that can be utilized in the creation of a constitution

An Introduction to Science by Dr. Steven Schafersman and The Nature of Science published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Science looks to previously gathered data, previously conducted experiments for previous knowledge, and a sound base to formulate a hypothesis. Similarly, we can look to previously written constitutions for errors or corrections that can be made while writing a new one, for laws that have been

for a rubric or guide for the corners that must be covered by the law.

Science is also, ideally, free of bias and does

a constitution, we must take great care in making sure that all segments’ and sectors of our society’s rights are protected and

included; none are segregated against and none enjoy more freedom than the rest.

main components: empiricism, skepticism,

inquiry in his article, I believe they can be just as fundamental when writing a strong constitution. Rationalism and Skepticism are two vital tools needed to create sound, logical, and reliable laws. People are more likely to abide by rules they can follow the reasoning behind. Also, these two tools allow law-makers to see any loop-holes in their premises and proposed laws. Empiricism is also essential to the process because it dictates the type reasoning a law-maker can suggest backing up a law.

A constitution created with these tools of

an effective and solid framework for a developing society like ours. It will ensure

rooted deep into the peoples’ minds; people

they’ll be able to analyze why they were put

Moreover, a constitution based on the

towards bringing our country forward into

TWITTER; We’re having trust issues!

Almost everyone has integrated social media into their daily information- gathering routines; because as technology advances, newer and more unconventional methods of spreading news become more popular. Nowadays, the average individual is just as likely to open their internet browser and see

onto their Twitter account and read others› opinions on whatever is going on in the world, as they are to turn to the television or the radio for their daily dose of news.

However, as the institutions and corners of news-making and news- reporting disseminate with the ever- advancing technology, problems arise for the independent consumer. The individual who, in the past, looked solely to the newspapers & television stations for reliable information is now bombarded with it from all corners on various social media platforms. This individual, who once believed in the credibility and reliability of the printed and documented word, is now left to sift through a mountain of images, headlines, & stories for what is really considered news.

Furthermore, talk-show hosts often quote things being said on twitter. But

Twitter is completely free & preys upon the natural human need to share information & whereabouts. It is one of the only social media platforms that allows content to be shared with anyone who wants to view it, eliminating limits such as «liking» or «adding» that other sites like Facebook impose. Also, Twitter provides «Trending Topics» that one could choose to view by location or worldwide which tell us what the world is talking about. In addition, the -140character restriction compels people to be concise and express their

eliminating the capacity for overly decorative adjectives & hyperbole. Finally, Twitter is accessible from almost every mobile device because they have created applications with interfaces to suit every device›s capabilities.

«But with everyone tweeting and talking all at once. . . how do we extract the real deal from all the noise?»

task when keeping in mind the basics of

the steps below!

1

2

5

3

means that the source is really who they say they are and not an imposter. This is particularly helpful when trying to sort through which celebrity news is gossip & which is real. Look for what

4

Next, try to make sure that your source is unbiased. You can do this by scanning their previous tweets for particular preferences or clear attitudes against one side of an argument.

Follow retweets to the source! Believing a retweet blindly is exactly like believing in hearsay which is a HUGE error! Hearsay easily changes key words and key facts to bend an argument one direction or the other

Look for fallacies in argument & study the claims made in the tweets. They may be short, but that makes them more fallible. Sometimes, more words are needed to express a correct idea!

tweet looking legitimate if it says "5 ways eating burgers helps you lose weight http://t.co/3872i" the link could take you to http://www.eatbrowniesdaily.com to an article written by some pseudo-doc.

The Truth About Sandy:The FAKE Evidence

The Truth About Sandy: FAKE Evidence

The catastrophic hurricane “Sandy” hit the United States & the Caribbean in late October leaving massive destruction in its wake. It inarguably hit New York City the hardest on the American East Coast & left a bizarre trail of images in its wake. Now while in some cases fact can truly be stranger than

snorkelers in the subway begin to emerge on the internet one begins to think

Here’s where your skepticism and critical thinking skills come in.

The fakes come in two categories: >> photos that have been entirely fabricated >>photos of previous storms or hurricanes that are being re-circulated as photos of Sandy.

You must be able to look the fake pictures and think for yourself,

1 to fabricate, so if an event is documented on video as well as through pictures, the pictures are probably real. Also, if multiple credible sources are circulating the image, it is probably true.

2 afraid to be speculative of really strange images.

3 the world works or seems too out of place, it is probably fabricated. A

<<

4 Most fabrications involve image editing software such as

Think critically when analyzing pictures!

One on One;

We caught up with Dr. Karl Galle, Visiting Assistant Professor in the School of Sciences and Engineering here at AUC for a chat about how he views scienti!c thinking & how he believes it is applicable to our day-to-day lives.

1aspect of scienceMy favorite aspect of science would probably be the way it continually generates something new and surprising. The day to day grind of science, if you’re working in a lab, may seem kind of boring or tedious, as any job doesyou know, one more pie-chart, one more calculation, one more this. But the way science as a whole works, it’s always showing us things about the world, about the universe that we never

expected before.

2I think one of the most fundamental skills

how to deal with uncertainty, because the popular stereotype of scientists is usually

of light or the like. It’s the law not just a good idea or it’s the geeky guys in white

coats who are saying I haven’t seen another human being in three years but I’ve done a lot of calculations and this is the way nature works. But in practice one of the most

is give you a range of estimates, I have to estimate how uncertain I am, but I have to learn how to manage it, I have to learn how certain is certain enough.

3Are there times when

There are always things that you get emotional about in terms of their ethical principles, or their political principles. On the one hand that doesn’t mean you

One on One;

We caught up with Dr. Karl Galle, Visiting Assistant Professor in the School of Sciences and Engineering here at AUC for a chat about how he views scienti!c thinking & how he believes it is applicable to our day-to-day lives.

related to ethics or politics you can still collect data, look at how good it is, and

inform a lot of your decisions but at the end it still leaves you with the choice; you do this or you do something else and some of the reasoning behind that choice is going to relate to your politics your ethics your family and whatever sort of you know your psychology you know

4Interesting question, because in terms of the skills you need to make things and manage

understanding in many ways is getting more important. So even with like a lot of manufacturing jobs, so manufacturing in the past used to be y’know, a bunch of people in a line & you pick up one part and you put it into this place here and you pass it onto the next person. So on the

thinking is becoming more important over time in a lot of sectors anyways. But the other thing is, in terms of if we all have calculators or GPS devices, do we not need to learn to do math anymore or do we get

of the examples would be that up until recent times, everyone would have known something about the movement of the stars because you need it too in order to keep up with how you knew what time it was. Nobody does that any more but that’s not

as a teaching method I think it’s still useful to try to learn what goes on underneath because you understand it more. There’s skills to be maintained by doing that but technology moves on and I don’t need to understand how my toaster works before I eat breakfast.

5I think people are too skeptical in many

is bad, but what we’ve lost is a sense of organized skepticism, that is, not just skepticism in terms of “I don’t believe what anyone else is telling me”: dogmatism. You can take skepticism to “I will never believe what anyone else is telling me and therefore my opinion is as good as anyone else because you can’t prove that that’s true, therefore you can’t prove that I’m wrong, so I’m going to keep believing

distinguish between skepticism based on

questions and skepticism for the sake of not believing. It’s always good to keep asking questions but there’s a difference between asking questions and nihilism, denying that anything is true or worth changing my own opinion about

6Tragically No. I wish it were! I’ve seen enough examples of people who do very

Unfortunately, there are plenty of areas and

you very far. But that is where it becomes important to educate everyone about

people that can spot this kind of behavior

and can exercise ground-truthing and a little bit of questioning to make sure that it isn’t just a few people who shout “I know the way! I know the way!” as they lead you deeper and deeper into disaster.

7What is the best piece

Hmmm... –Pauses- I would say the best piece of advice is just keep reading about science from time to time. In terms of using

am I going to read or what am I going to look at because it’s sort of a philosophical topic but in your day to day life, you can always think about the testability of an issue, or the validity of someone’s evidence about a topic. I would also say have a look at news articles about science, because there’s everything from astronomy to

will really challenge your thinking and inspire you. It’s also just downright neat stuff, it takes you out of your daily grind of silly politics and the like. You can think about our solar system for a few minutes instead. It puts us in our place and one of the most valuable things you can do

interesting things, people you can meet and learn from, interesting places to go, things

science can be a piece of that.

Before we begin the fun the stu%, allow us to leave you with some food for thought. A"er seeing the multiple ways scienti!c thinking can be employed in various disciplines such as business, politics and technology, do you feel that you are starting to grasp the value of this skill? Do you !nd that upon re$ection, you can come up with more ways to incorporate scienti!c thinking in your day to day life? Do you !nd yourself questioning others around you,

challenging their reasoning, and making your own conclusions?

questions and begin to explore the value of scienti!c thinking in your life.

However, without further ado, allow us to present you with our fun bit.

-Cue the cute monkey & the cartoons-

Food for Thought

5 WAYS YOU COULD BECOME A

Hmmm…

1. Be Skeptical! You can't just believeabsolutely anything you hear! Ask a thousand and one questions when someone gives you a new piece of information. Question their sources, their validity, & make your own judgements!

2. Avoid Hasty Judgements! Whilewe're on the topic of judgements, don't make yours too quickly! Make sure you've gathered all the facts, disregarded any prejudice, & made sound conclusions

3. Think Systematically! Ever triedto plan a trip and found that you don't know where to start? Thinking systematically and creating well-thought-of steps and processes for what you need to

avoiding chaos.

4. Admit your errors! No one likes a know-it-all;

there are fallacies in your arguments or conclusions, you must never be afraid to own up to them

and more mature individual.

thinking demandscreativity and innovation! However, make sure your train of thought still follows a solid track that others can follow as well if they wanted to.

5 WAYS YOU COULD BECOME A

The Voice Factor

The voice is often distinguished from other talent seeking shows in that its judges are turned around in their seats when contestants step in to sing. The judges then try to recruit contestants to be on their individual competing teams. The elimination of the visual aspect is meant as a means of reducing

judges’ opinions. However, is a singer’s appearance truly the most important

variables, such as which song is sung,

be more open to picking a person purely out of song choice. Another problem lies in that some songs can demonstrate singing ability more so than others.

Choice of song, therefore, plays a far more important role, as appearance only matters if the judges are biased, which they are not. That the judges try to form a team of the most talented

allowing factors other than talent to

therefore far more important than the singers’ appearances.

HOW TO

WIN AN

ARGUMENT

Use scientific thinking to your advantage

We all get into arguments. Some we win. Others we lose. Nothing is more f r u s t r a t i n g than losing an argument simply because one couldn’t deal properly with another person’s

illogical thinking. This can easily be remedied however, through the use of scientific thinking. Using scientific thinking, one can successfully root out logical errors and fallacies present in the other person’s argument. All one needs to do is go over the steps of the scientific method. The other person will probably not have employed very many (if any at all) of the steps required of the scientific method.

1-Ask your opponent what evidence they have to support their claim. Do they have any? Most people make the most absurd claims with absolutely no evidence whatsoever.

2-Question your opponent on their sources. Do they have any? Are they reliable ones? Remember, there are no absolute authorities in science. Use this to your advantage.

4-Enjoy crushing your opponents’ arguments and imposing your views on them!

3-State your own claim. Back it up with evidence. Make sure your sources are reliable. If you want to be extremely thorough, be prepared to prove their reliability.

I Was born with a Gigantic Head

My mother, Pauline Einstein, thought that she gave birth to a deformed child due to my big malformed head

I experienced speech problems in my early childhood

At the age of five, I was inspired by a compass that was shown to me by my father when I was sick in bed

SCIENTIFIC

Fallacy in Ugg-ument

Fallacy in Ugg-ument

Caught in the Skepticism