In 1999 Professor Nancy Cartwright, a philosopher of science, published a book with the title The Dappled World: A Study of the Boundaries of Science (Cartwright (1999)). This quote captures its essence: “Science as we know it is apportioned into disciplines, apparently arbitrarily grown up; governing different sets of properties at different levels of abstraction; pockets of great precision; large parcels of qualitative maxims resisting precise formulation; erratic overlaps; here and there, once in a while, corners line up but mostly ragged edges; and always the cover of law just loosely attracted to the jumbled world of material things.”  Cartwright was describing the natural sciences. She describes them as a patchwork of theory and evidence, some of it precisely cut, most of it haphazardly shaped and pieced together irregularly. And there is, she argues, no shame in that. To the contrary, it may be the best science can do, given limited knowledge and limited time, in trying to make sense of an often-jumbled world. Here is another way of putting Cartwright’s point. Sometimes the popular perception of the natural sciences, and physics in particular, is that it too is a methodological monoculture. The defining characteristics of this monoculture are great laws and unifying theories. For example, it is perhaps no accident that the world’s 2  most famous equation is this one: E= MC . Not only is this uniquely famous equation drawn from theoretical physics; it defines a great law, a unifying theory.
In this light, most MPC members in the last meeting viewed that current growth momentum still warranted monitoring and monetary policy should continue to be accommodative for some time. However, we are mindful that ultra accommodative monetary policy stance could lead to unintended consequences. The prolonged period of very low interest rates has a side effect that it could undermine longterm financial stability. Therefore, we have been monitoring developments of search-foryield and underpricing of risk behaviors in various sectors. Let me emphasize once again that MPC’s decisions are data dependent. Economic and financial developments, their trends, and risk factors have been and will continue to be weighted carefully by the MPC. I am certain we will be able to navigate the Thai economy towards sustained growth in this increasingly volatile global landscape. Thank you very much for your attention. 5/5