The limitations of science (The limitations of science)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Thursday, June 24, 2010, 02:40 (5265 days ago) @ dhw

dhw,-I think it rather interesting that Dr. Ali makes such a broad and encompassing statement. Yes, at the upper echelon's of academia, life is brutal. But name a single human pursuit that isn't. But the vast majority of PhD's fall into--you guessed it--the vast majority of the bell curve. In general, if you're familiar with the "normal" distribution on statistics, this serves as a better predictor of human activities than anything else psychology has ever invented. It's almost eerie at how often it pops up. -Anyhoo, the difference between science and other human endeavors (such as business) is that science is inclusive of every datum as it is an open standard. Contrast that with business where there's only room for a few to succeed in a given market. I know you're probably not super "in-touch" with the Linux operating system, but it's a great microcosm of science at large. -Everyone who's an expert at some very small piece is open to contribute. If someone is good at concurrency, he contributes. If someone is good at file handling, he does that piece. In the end, each specialist contributes something that makes the whole better. Science is absolutely identical: PhD's are made on being the expert on some teeny-tiny--but very deep--piece of knowledge that contributes to the betterment of the whole. -Add to the fact that it's a self-correcting mechanism; you have a meme-generator par-excellence.

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\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"