What does that song mean?

System of a Down: Science Meaning


Science Lyrics

Making two possibilities a reality
Predicting the future of things we all know
Fighting off the diseased programming
Of centuries, centuries, centuries, centuries
Science fails to recognise the single most
Potent element of human...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 24th 2008, 21:35 report


    Well...

    ...Youtube up Science live at the Lowlands Festival.

    I haven't seen it for a year or so, but Serj speaks a little introduction for it.

    With his statement, and the lyrics, I think we can safely interpret the song to mean that, although science has helped us so and saved lives, it is science that has polluted our earth, and it is science that renders philosophy moot. Because of science and its progressions, we do not think of why we are here.

    - Josh S



  2. 2TOP RATED

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 31st 2005, 14:21 report


    This song is basically about the dispute between faith/religion and science. The first half of the verse is in favor of science "predicting the future of things we all know" shows the accuracy and usefullness of science.. "fighting off the diseased programming of centuries" refers to the large belief of religion in the past and how scientific theories are beggining to challenge them.. religion is the diseased programming that was "programmed in our head for centuries"... the second half of the verse seems to be in favor of faith..

    "Science fails to recognize the single most potent element of human existance" which means that not even science can fully explain our existance. "Letting the reigns go to the unfolding is faith" THis means that faith does not demand reason or explaination for occurances, and kind of just goes with the flow.. "spirit moves through all things" refers to the ability for science to be proven wrong, but faith is more flexible and ultimately more powerful... moving through all things means that with faith you'll have to power to deal with evil and other problems.



  3. 3TOP RATED

    jack
    click a star to vote
    Dec 22nd 2005, 14:15 report


    To me, this song is about how logic, analysis and scientific thinking rule our lives. We, as humanity, are holding onto the reins of "science" to steer us where IT want to take us.

    We need to let go of these reins by letting faith turn our possibilities into reality. Faith is simply believing in somthing so strongly, that it is practically a foregone concludion - hence the line "predicting the future of things we all know".

    This song (and Innervision) are one reason why I like SOAD so much, they understand our true selves are not simply our skin color, social status, or DNA. Our true selves are what lies inside.



  4.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 23rd, 20:47 report


    The song is about the belief that not only God created man and the world but also science.



  5.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 27th 2012, 23:14 report


    I understand why people think that this is a science vs religion song, but it doesn't have to be interpreted in this way. It can also be interpreted as a Romantacism song from a romantacists point of view. Romantacism was the cultural/philosophical/art/literature/music movement against the Enlightenment way of thinking (which advocated that everything could be understood through science). Romantacism is the belief that nature is bigger than human understanding and will never be fully understood by humans. And this song is saying that altough science has done a lot for society, it can never fully answer our questions.



  6.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 28th 2012, 16:50 report


    I have just one question... what the heck do they sing in the middle of the song? i just wanna know, thanks.



  7.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 25th 2011, 18:36 report


    I think that the part where it says "Letting the reigns go to the unfolding is faith," is talking about how religion ignores the future outcome of their actions, and does some things only because of religion. It may also be talking about the evil people that find holes in their religion, and dismiss their evil actions because they can say their religion made them do it.

    "Science has failed our world. Science has failed our mother Earth." This is know the religious argument, which Serj didn't make very strongly (deliberately). Religion is talking about how they are supposed to just ignore all science because they are supposed to believe only what their religion says. "Letting the reigns go to the unfolding is faith." This is the religion saying to ignore any consequences that happen as a result of your religious belief. Let the evil and pain unfold (give the reigns to the unfolding-give the power to the potential evil) is faith. Is what our religion tells us to do; to ignore what the outcome may be, and just do it.

    But, in the end, you can find some clues that say that science can't prove anything, and there is still that chance that we are wrong, but there is no real way to find out the truth. The song is mostly about finding the truth. Science has helped us so much, but we can't know whether it's true or not, and there is the religious side that Serj says is in no way true at all, but the truth is something that remains hidden from us, regardless of what religion or science tells us.



  8.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 24th 2011, 23:51 report


    Science recognizes Earth, Fire, Water & Air Elements. The potent element of human existence that science does not recognize is Spirit/Aether. The reason behind so is because science can not prove it, though science has proven many things and predicts the future of things we all know, science can not explain the religious occurrence of the spirit. therefor science voids the knowledge of spirit, and has failed mother earth by doing so, mainly because science focuses more on programming humanity as a human form not a spiritual form.



  9.  

    MM90
    click a star to vote
    Oct 20th 2010, 09:42 report


    I'm pretty sure it is an anti science song. I saw a performance of this song where serj said something like "Science has failed our mother earth the increases in technology have not benefited the human race. we work more. we work harder. we work longer. we have no time to realize why we are here our purpose."



  10.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 21st 2010, 03:44 report


    Serj isn't a Christian to point that out to some of you.



  11.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Apr 9th 2010, 19:01 report


    "it is science that has polluted our earth"
    I wish more people had a better understanding of what science really is. Science is the pursuit of knowledge. The technology derived from that knowledge is what pollutes the earth. Science has no direction, just like evolution (organisms do not have an end goal in mind when they are evolving, it just happens naturally as time goes on). It's the responsibly of the people to use that knowledge wisely. So please don't blame science for pollution, nuclear weapons, etc. If you need to, cast blame on the politicians and corporations who exploit that knowledge for their own gains.

    "Because of science and its progressions, we do not think of why we are here."
    Again this is a wrong assumption. Science is ALL about curiosity and asking questions, maybe not so much the why but definitely the how. It is the pursuit to understand what is not currently known. Think about it, you are trying to solve a problem where no one knows the correct answer yet. There is no one to tell you if it is right or wrong, you have to make that decision yourself based on the evidence gathered. That is science.

    Faith on the other hand, by definition, is belief in the absence of evidence. This, in my opinion, is a mistake and we should withhold belief until there is compelling evidence.



  12.  

    soadREALLY
    click a star to vote
    Dec 23rd 2009, 20:12 report


    this song is explaining how science has doomed us.Im not being religious but look at the facts:
    cars= global warming
    radio waves=detieriation of the magnetic field
    revolutionary medicine= overpopulation



  13.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 22nd 2009, 15:41 report


    The analytical mind is unwilling to face reality without breaking things down and making a plan...making 2 possibilities a reality, predicting the future of things we all know. This sounds like 50/50 - a lack of faith means you cannot walk through life without scanning all the possibilities and picking the safer option. But ultimately, we cannot know everything, so science will fail us, and a life without faith is hell indeed.



  14.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 30th 2009, 15:20 report


    Honestly i think system of a down is siding with religion becaause most if not all religious people including myself cant really imagine not beliving in a god. i think this song is basically saying that science is getting rid of the most important thing to most people. their belief in a god



  15.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 17th 2009, 00:45 report


    Making two possibilities a reality – TWO possibilities says to me that one does not disclaim the other. Science and faith (religion) can coincide. The animosity between the two is what holds both back.
    Faith – I can only speak from my Christian faith and I must say that through the teachings of my saviour Jesus Christ I am not to turn a blind eye to science. My Lord does not want ignorant follows. We were given intellect not to sit idle but to expand our world views. In the Old Testament times there is no point God revealing Himself through advanced science therefore I think faith is in itself evolutionary.
    Science has failed our world - Science cannot (should not) ignore the spiritual aspect of humanity. There is a code in everything that makes up life. Together with a spirit seemingly bound to each self creating diverse interpretations and interactions with all that surrounds us. We have scientists who are blessed with the ability to read the codes leading to the wonder of scientific discovery, most notably medicine. We cannot externally however read or break down to the atom of spirit.



  16.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 5th 2009, 02:42 report


    I'm not going to speculate as to what the true meaning of this song is. In my opinion all music is to be interpretive and mean something different to each person that listens to it. That's why it's so universal and moving.

    Clearly this song is written about science versus faith, as everyone before me has stated. But I'm not religious, so I like to look at it a completely different way, personally. Humor me for a second.

    My favorite line in the whole song is "Letting the reigns go to the unfolding is faith." To me this line helps remind me that sometimes you just have to take that leap, put your heart and soul into someone else's hands, have faith in human kind, and let yourself unfold to others and let them see who you truely are. What's life if you guard yourself constantly and never let anyone in? You have to let go and realize that you can not control everything in your life, and if you try to you will be miserable. Just let things happen the way they are supposed to, and yes bad stuff is gonna happen sometimes, but great things are going to happen to. It's all part of life and it's unpredictable and scary and amazing, all at the same time. Take whatever comes your way in stride, and know that it's all going to happen the way it's meant to be.

    Hope maybe now you can see another side to it instead of arguing as to which is better, science or religion.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway


  17.  

    PopCornMan
    click a star to vote
    Jun 25th 2009, 20:24 report


    this song is about how if our society didnt have science, we would all probably die. seriously. science is the 2nd most important thing to our society. soooo yaa



  18.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 19th 2009, 16:11 report


    It is true that science can do two things, allow us to understand the world we know and change our perception to better see out rules and laws like gravity, or close our mind to thinking creatively and only look for things that we think make sense at first sight. But, bear in mind religion does exactly the latter , teaching us to live in fear of a supposed 'higher power' and NOT THINK about how the world was created. One thing people tend to overlook about religion is how it is manipulated to reach the ends of priets, and popes and presidents ang princes. The crusades? IN THE NAME OF RELIGION. Bush on the iraq war? GOD TOLD ME TO! Religion creates a lot of unnessecary conflict, as do all ideas, but does not open our mind to thinking as some people contradictively try to defend it by saying. In this respect science is a better choice. also, religion is a very broad term to use, people mainly think about islam, christianity and judaism when they say religion, but remember buddhism and Sikhism etc as well!



  19.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 19th 2009, 16:01 report


    Although this song seems to be supporting faith and /or religion (it never stated religion, just faith which is belief in things that we have no evidence yet to prove are there), all this "letting religion and faith guide us" rubbish is not the way to go.
    If we let faith and religion guide us, and start living in a society governed by religion, we would all be rendered slaves to higher ranked priests and zealots who are given power by our persistent beleif that they can somehow interpret messages from a deity/force/consciousness for which we have no evidence actually exist .
    Science is not a way of controlling the outcome of life. I is the finding and understanding of matierial laws that govern the world WE perceive around us. Whether we use this KNOWLEDGE(keyword) to try and change the outcome of life is up to you, bearing in mind we try to do just that by BELIEVING IN RELIGION ANYWAY! Sacrificing a sheep or food etc is TRYING TO ALTER THE OUTCOME OF LIFE by asking for DIVINE INTERVENTION, aka, you are hoping that by wasting a needed resource (seemingly unnescesarily) you will be granted a re-imbursement (winning a fight, winning the lottery etc etc.).
    To this end, if indeed this is what the song is about, I must disagree with serj on this matter.



  20.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 11th 2009, 17:30 report


    I think it's about how we must not let faith get in the way of what we can be. For example stem cell research can save many people but religious groups feel we should not persue it. Alot of the words are in favor of faith but system is always sarcastic and takes the other side alot. For example War? is actually an anti-war song but alot of the lyrics glorify fighting and cigaro rejects the machoism of the government but includes lyrics like "my cock is much bigger than yours"



  21.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 15th 2008, 22:51 report


    It's about how we listen to what signs we get from the things we do (science) and we are ignoring what mother nature is telling us..... That's what I think anyway, :-p

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway


  22.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Apr 26th 2008, 20:34 report


    I think that when it says science has foiled our world and later our mother Earth is that since science has develop the contamination increase largely and his heavily polluting earth

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway


  23.  

    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 6th 2008, 04:42 report


    The fact that serj repeats "spirit moves through all things" is most likely what he is trying to get across and is the centre of the whole tune. "spirit" Meaning the obvious spirit or soul or maybe energy?? Light??? religions believe this and even science has made fact that everything is essentially energy and made of the same stuff. Trees, concrete, me, stars its all the same so maybe that's what he means by spirit moves through all things. or I'm possibly horrendously wrong. Horrendously

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway


‹ prev 12



More System of a Down song meanings »



Science lyrics

 


Science is considered:

No categories, suggest one!

[ suggest ]

Submit Your Interpretation

[ want a different song? ]






Just Posted

  Light Up the Sky anonymous
  Sober anonymous
  Satellite wolftalksaboutstuff
  Demons anonymous
  Bangarang anonymous
  Perfect anonymous
  I'll Follow You anonymous
  Two Weeks anonymous
  Carry On anonymous
  Radioactive anonymous
  Daylight anonymous
  One Night anonymous
  You anonymous
  The Last Goodbye anonymous
  Rock God anonymous

Get a weekly email update

(We won't give out your email)

10 Most popular bands this week


1 Beatles
2 Ed Sheeran
3 Coldplay
4 Taylor Swift
5 Eminem
6 Linkin Park
7 Pink
8 Fun.
9 Imagine Dragons
10 Rihanna