Why many science grads lack scientific temperament?

[Jayant]

My qualifications: Humanities in 12th, BA, LL.B, LL.M.

Yesterday I was explaining to a civil engineer that the idea of water having "memory" is pure pseudoscience. This isn't the first time - over the years I've met several people who studied science but don't show a scientific temperament.

What went wrong? What do you think? How can someone who has studied science for years still fail to think and analyse things scientifically?

[Benny]

I think it's just the people you've met.

But then we also see IKS being pushed in IITs and IISERs. Most people are against it, yet sometimes it gets forced in for political reasons.

[Raghav]

Water having memory? What does that even mean?

[Hardik]

Even at IISc you find people like this. That's one reason the country struggles to progress.

[Lakshmi]

You're overlooking the humanities side - culture, society and family have a huge influence on how a person thinks.

[Swathi]

Science, however, is a way of life, a way of thinking about everything around us. Nature doesn't have books; it reveals its knowledge through experiments. The scientific method is not just a study technique, it is a way of thinking, a mindset. That's why some religions feel threatened, as if science is trying to replace them. The scientific method isn't about replacing religion; it simply aims to be pure and self‑correcting, letting things work out on their own. It is a lifestyle, not a belief system, and it doesn't entertain unreal ideas.

Those who don't understand this are the ones you're talking about. A large part of humanity remains unscientific and illogical - one natural disaster is enough to show us our own folly. As Einstein said, human stupidity is truly bottomless.

[Hemant]

They treat science as a subject to score in and land a job. They don't realise that science is less about what you study and more about HOW you study it. Anything can be examined with the scientific method.

[joshi]

We're not really taught science; we're taught scientific theories. When I was at an IISER there was no dedicated course on the scientific method at all. We learned some key experiments, but mostly one established theory after another.

Teaching only theories can make things worse, because it turns science into a set of "revealed" facts rather than a way of questioning.

[Varunesh]

Science is a journey to solve everything, but many don't see it that way. They never had that "aha" moment as kids when they questioned an assumption and realised how foolish it was to accept it without doubt - similar to how some treat the idea of God as obvious.

[Sahil]

I guess that's just the difference between an engineer and a scientist.