Many people refer to science as “absolute”, this is simply not true. In fact, one of my favorite books, written by James Burke a brilliant science historian, “The Day the Universe Changed”, perfectly documented the often-deadly consequences of “absolute science” throughout the centuries. The book and James Burke's equally brilliant BBC TV series presented many examples of how science changed the world, made it right, then proved it “all wrong”, then proved the absolute truth again (a different one) later.
I highly recommend that you check out some of James Burke’s videos or read the book, “The Day the Universe Changed”, which is available in hard copy (awesome photos too).
James Burke was (still alive in the USA) a British broadcaster, science historian, author, and TV producer. He is best known for his documentary TV series Connections (1978), and for philosophical companion series, The Day the Universe Changed (1985), illuminating the history of science and technology.
One of the most profound quotes that I always harken back to in the book, “the Day the Universe Changed”, I believe supports one of my mantras, “The ability and effects of technology always far outpaces the understanding of those who implement it ™”. This is the passage from the book:
When we hear today of the discovery of a new sub-atomic particle, or see pictures from yet
another newly revealed galaxy further out in the universe, or read of a cure for disease, the event may please or anger us, but it seldom surprises. We accept with equanimity the immensity and complexity of the universe, because we also accept man’s ability to investigate it and to understand what he discovers. We are the children of science, self-reliant, confident, masters of our destiny. We are capable of tremendous feats, and we take them for granted.
The same is true of our acceptance of novelty. We live with such a high rate of change that we have come to expect obsolescence. We build it into our economy, and we adopt the same attitude to all other aspects of living. Transience is the mode. The only constant is change.
This temporary quality is an integral part of scientific progress. While working with immense accuracy and precision, scientists seek above all to find flaws in their theories. As they discover cracks in the edifice of knowledge they find different edifices to construct. The act of investigation creates new disciplines which in turn become new sciences. Scientific research is now intimately concerned with every aspect of life, from the outer reaches of the cosmos to the depths of the ocean.
Because of the nature of science itself we view with relative equanimity the prospect of thousands of minds in thousands of laboratories preparing to change our lives. It seems to be the only human activity that is truly democratic, truthful, apolitical, rational and self-regulating. Each discipline in its complexity is cut off from the other as surely as they are all cut off from the layman.
This intensity of development has recently been enhanced by the computer. With the new electronic data bases, we can create the future from materials and ideas at present available. We can take all force and matter, turn what we know about their behavior into numbers, and let the computer put them together in every conceivable way to reproduce any event, past or future. We hold the universe in a chip and we can use its own laws to control it.
This ability to regard all phenomena as obeying universal laws, as much applicable on earth as they are in the centre of a star, is at the root of science. The ability was developed four hundred years ago for reasons that had nothing to do with scientific research.
James Burke - “The Day the Universe Changed”
James Burke
The Day the Universe Changed
Do Not Be Lulled Into Complacency
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Will @ PracticeSurvival.com
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The Day the Universe Changed
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