The continuing approximation of reality...
'The young specialist in English Lit, ...lectured me severely on the fact that in every century people have thought they understood the Universe at last, and in every century they were proved to be wrong. It follows that the one thing we can say about our modern "knowledge" is that it is wrong.
'... My answer to him was, "... when people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together."'
Isaac Asimov,The Relativity of Wrong, Kensington Books, New York, 1996, p 226.
posted by That which is called Darren at 1:52 PM
2 Comments:
Good call. Such is the procession and strength of science. A predictive theory supported by evidence is accepted until evidence can be found that it is wrong. Then the theory is modified or search begins for a more powerful and precise theory. This is why religion completely differs from science. Faith by definition forces you to hold on to an ideal in the absence of supporting evidence or presence of contradictory evidence. A good scientist hopes to shake up the scientific community with the evidence she finds. A good priest hopes to keep his congregation ignorant of any thing that would contridict his dogmatic gospel. But I am preaching to the choir, so to speak(^^).
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