Thursday, April 30, 2009

Leave no answer unquestioned

“Were some super advanced alien civilization to swoop down to Earth with the definitive explanation of everything in the cosmos, there'd be excitement at first—it would be thrilling to have answers to questions we've tussled with through the ages. But in short order, scientists worldwide would be utterly depressed. With no remaining mysteries, the scientific journey would halt.” says Briane Green, author of this article in Wired Magazine.

He adds, “Science is the journey. Science is about immersing ourselves in piercing uncertainty while struggling with the deepest of mysteries. It is the ultimate adventure. Against staggering odds, a species that has walked upright for only a few million years is trying to unravel puzzles that are billions of years in the making. How did the universe begin? How was life initiated? How did consciousness emerge? Einstein captured it best when he wrote, "the years of anxious searching in the dark for a truth that one feels but cannot express." That's what science is about.”

Very true. Scientists have to constantly try to find questions to some of the answers we all might know. To paraphrase Reagan (he actually said this about economists). “ A scientist is one who when he/she finds that something works in practice, would want to know if it would also work in theory.

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