May 07 2007
Science is Useful Because it Will Never Explain Everything
May 2, eSkeptic published a piece by Robert Ehrlich about the open-ended nature of science:
Science is powerful because it often provides explanations before observations are made. As Yogi Berra once remarked, “prediction is hard — especially about the future.” The nature of scientific theories is to make surprising predictions — the more surprising, the more confident we can be in the theory should the prediction be fulfilled. Robert Ehrlich
And he concludes:
Because of this open-ended nature, any dream of a final “theory of everything” that would allow scientists to give explanations of everything — and hence make predictions about the world that would not even need to be tested — is plainly nonsense; at least as a working scientist I hope so!
3 responses so far
I agree scientific investigation is by its nature open ended. It’s success lies in correct predictions, and it’s future depends upon the revolutions which occur and change the paradigms scientists work under.
And fortunately, unlike religion, science is bound to only be profoundly short-sighted rather than bassackwardly stupid.
Just sayin’, in case some unfortunately illinformed soul comes along and finds their faith in god restored because scientists are willing to admit they spend a lot of time guessing.
You are absolutely right Mel. I have nothing to add to that!