3 ms·

Sorry, I'm confused. What's the difference between "how" and "why" here?

• johnday 6y ago
  When it comes to scientific discoveries, "how" and "why" are essentially the same question. Asking "why" usually means "for what purpose" -- and given that "purpose" is not something well defined scientifically, we tend to take it to mean "by what means" instead.
  • dnautics 6y ago
    > When it comes to scientific discoveries, "how" and "why" are essentially the same question I agree, and that's my point. The parent poster seems to make a distinction that I am struggling to understand.
    • spockz 6y ago
      I read uit as the distinction between: “how does it work in current plants?” and “why do we have plants that share the same signal transmitters that work similar to ours and fulfil a similar function.”. The first question was answered the why wasn’t.