Pierce Arnold - The Relation Between Science and Myth 4/27/2026

Something that I’ve been thinking about recently is the mixture of science and mythology. This mixture is something that happens both in the real world and in many fictional worlds as well, with many sci-fi stories giving hyper in depth explanations for how the science of their world works. Examples like Ender’s Game, Project Hail Mary, or even Star Wars are all stories that incorporate scientific elements or processes into their mythology. One could even make the argument that some fantasy novels do this same thing, Harry Potter, for example, attempts to create a system wherein magic can be studied in a scientific way. There is also a mixture of science and mythology in our own world, with many religions making claims that are either impossible to validate scientifically, or else fly in the face of established science. Most people, when they hear this, consider it obvious evidence that these myths are false, faulty, and/or generally unhelpful, however that manner of thinking makes the dangerous assumption that science is greater than myth. Of course it is possible that science is indeed greater than myth, but assuming that without any logic or proof is poor reasoning and, ironically enough, very unscientific. So this is my question that I present both to myself and to the world, is science greater than myth? And how would one determine whether or not it is?