Reflection about: "On science and uncertainty" by Lewis Thomas

Ever since a child, stretching my memory as far back as I possibly can, I was fed the information about science and its importance in solving some of the major questions in our world. I emphasize the word "fed" for the reason that I have realized that we as humans have this maddening addiction to science that we even force it on to every single person and claim its correctness whether they favor it or not. Whether what was fed to us is correct or not is a huge gaping question as there is no certainty due to new discoveries constantly changing the so called scientists opinion and this is something that I knew prior to my reading of the text.
As of the text, we humans worry that we will soon create some sort of fanatical machines that will take care of everything and answer all of our questions about the world and universe. It further goes on to state why this opinion is rather banal as we tend to not consider the mass vastness of the world or universe and its complexity can only baffle us more. The uncertainty in science due its continuous updating after discoveries of new methods or laws raises a few thoughts to my mind. How can we know science is correct or even true at the minimum? The human race has used science a method of justification to the mystical wonders that we experience and think about daily and there is no way to prove the certainty of science. It is a guess work that is only attempted to be proven correct by controlling the variables in the favor of the guess. Science is continually changing and therefore it is seen that for a given period the whole world believes an apparent false statement or guess of groups of individuals. If this is the case, then why is the world hesitant and unwilling to believe in religions? What can differentiate religion from science? Most might say that there is a major difference and that we can prove science yet it is seen that science is continually changing and can be completely false. The scientific method is developed to help aid these scientific claims or if we are to simplify the claims, simple guesses, and the reliability of such a case is rather difficult because how do we know it is correct? As science is a way of justifying life and so is religion then these two ways of justification should be equal to a certain extent right? The extract by Lewis Thomas questions the reliability of science but states that it is far from finding the answers to all our questions. In this it is possible to understand why people tend to believe in science. Is it not better to trust something that sounds reasonable and does not have all the answers or is it better to believe in something mystical with simple answers to the immense and complex universe?  This is up to personal preference but through this extract, science, ironically, has appeared to be the quintessential religion.

Indigenous Knowledge Beliefs: Drinking Blood

During TOK class midst our discussion of indigenous knowledge beliefs i managed to mention that the Masai ritual of drinking blood mixed with milk and i was assigned to enter it as a blog post.
Firstly what is indigenous knowledge? the world bank defines it as: "the local knowledge – knowledge that is unique to a given culture or society. IK contrasts with the international knowledge system generated by universities, research institutions and private firms. It is the basis for local-level decision making in agriculture, health care, food preparation, education, natural-resource management, and a host of other activities in rural communities." (http://www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/basic.htm)
The Masai as it is well known are a tribe in the East African nations of Kenya and Tanzania. They are suspected to have migrated from Ethiopia and settled in the three neighbouring countries, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. However a majority of the Masai tribe are in Kenya and they go under a different name in Uganda.
One of the rituals we might find odd in our society now is the fact that they drink cow blood with their milk or even sometimes without milk. The cow blood is obtained mostly with out killing the cow but by puncturing a small hole in the cows jugular vein which is later closed up.What do they use the cow blood for? The Masai mix the cows blood with milk and it is used in making a ritual drink for special occasions or giving it to some one who is sick. Also the Masai depend on cow blood for their nutritional needs sometimes but it is mostly used in special occasions. For example it is give to a woman who has given birth, some one who is sick or someone who got circumcised. It is also used to cure hangovers by  the elderly.