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I sometimes look at various scientific processes and there always seems that most of the objectives we humans look for; have more than one means to achieve it. Heating something, cooling something off, there are various types of radiation (Thermal, Laser and Synchotron). Even something as complex as nuclear fusion has several methods.

It makes me wonder. Is everything we want from science achievable through multiple paths or is there at least one process or phenomenon that only has one way of doing it. What could that be?

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    This question is extremely subjective. For example, the only "method" to order something is "ordering", where even probabilistic throws can be understood as "ordering", depending on such subjectivity.
    – RodolfoAP
    Commented Jan 2 at 9:41
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    How you even define an "objective" or a "method"? If you want to make something move, for example, you must impart kinetic energy. There is no way to make something move without imparting kinetic energy. Is that a "method"? There are multiple methods of imparting KE, but all of them accomplish the one and only process that can make something move from rest - imparting KE.
    – Nuclear Hoagie
    Commented Jan 2 at 20:03

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If by "science" you mean engineering, then there are almost always many methods available to achieve the same (desired) result. In fact the objective of an engineering task is to identify the optimum method out of many- which might be the cheapest, or most reliable, or easiest to implement, or longest-lasting, or lightest, or strongest and so forth.

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    If by "science" you mean engineering - yes, when I was reading the answer by @jo-wehler it occurred to me that the question is more about technology or engineering, rather than science. "Any practical thing we want to engineer a solution for, is there more than one way to get to a solution?" That's the question. It has very little to do with the "scientific method" tag he used.
    – TKoL
    Commented Jan 2 at 9:20
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    Science is not engineering (engineering is basically technique of building, architecture is art of building). Science is some type of knowledge, which implies methods, but far wider than just the technical approach of building.
    – RodolfoAP
    Commented Jan 2 at 9:43
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If the objective of science is to explain the phenomena then a good candidate to achieve the target is the established method of science:

In a nutshell the method is

  • to observe,
  • to develop an explaining theory,
  • to test the prediction and retrodiction of the theory against observation or experiment,
  • and to repeat the circle.
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The objective of science is to build testable, repeatable, predictive models to explain our observations.

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