There is a biblical analogy in that whole bit about the merits of giving a man a fish rather than teaching him to fish. Science would be the teaching him to fish part; learning the underlying mechanism as to why things work as well as how.
For example: the observation might be made that chewing willow bark eases pain and reduces fever. That's the collection of facts, truths if you like - the bark's effect would reasonably be expected to work a thousand years in the future as it does now. Further analysis would reveal that the active ingredient in the bark, the bit that actually does the pain-killing, is a chemical called salycilic acid (named after the Latin for willow). Further research reveals what happens in the body to produce the analgesic effect, and so lead to other more improved painkillers. The observation told us that it works; the investigation - the science - told us how it works.
For example: the observation might be made that chewing willow bark eases pain and reduces fever. That's the collection of facts, truths if you like - the bark's effect would reasonably be expected to work a thousand years in the future as it does now. Further analysis would reveal that the active ingredient in the bark, the bit that actually does the pain-killing, is a chemical called salycilic acid (named after the Latin for willow). Further research reveals what happens in the body to produce the analgesic effect, and so lead to other more improved painkillers. The observation told us that it works; the investigation - the science - told us how it works.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
