Sunday, September 12, 2004

The mystery of life? I don't know.



But first, a bit of background.






Einstein's remark suggests another attitude towards knowledge.


For example, Newton's theory of gravity qualifies as reliable knowledge because of the way a few simple equations explain everything from the motion of planets, to the fall of an apple, to the flow of the tides. With Newton's equations we can predict the return of a comet -- Halley's Comet, say -- to the day, hour, second, hundreds of years in advance. That's reliable knowledge.


That's knowledge as simple as we can make it.


Those three little words, "I don't know," are completely modern. They are the essence of the scientific way of knowing, and they set the person of scientific temperament apart from every other people who have gone before -- and from most people who are alive today.

Beneath reliable knowledge Einstein draws a line. Don't suppose we know what we don't know, he suggests. Don't make up fictions -- gods, spirits, superstitions, the influence of the stars, lucky charms -- to explain things for which we have as yet no reliable explanation.

As simple as possible, but not simpler.






When we think we know everything, thinking stops.

Further Reading

For more on the discovery of ignorance and the response to mystery, see my Climbing Brandon: Science and Faith on Ireland's Holy Mountain, now also available in Ireland and the UK.

Student Activities

Write the following list of words on the board. You may want to add other terms in the same spirit. Ask for a show of hands for how many in the class can provide a reasonable definition of each term.

PCR (polymerase chain reaction). ESP. SETI. Yeti. Gigahertz. UFO. Cosmic microwave background radiation. Hot (and cold) fusion. Reincarnation. Loch Ness Monster. Pulsar. Shroud of Turin. Fractals. Close encounters of the third kind. Human genome. Bermuda Triangle. Adam and Eve. Superconductivity. Electron microscope. Horoscope.

I predict that far more hands will go up for those things that reside below Einstein's bottom line, than for those he would consider reliable knowledge. Discuss.

Discuss this essay and more over on the Science Musings Blog.