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Scientific knowledge is a body of statement of varying degree of certainty - some most unsure, some nearly sure, none absolutely certain.
But working out which to be most unsure of and which to be nearly sure of is the tricky thing.
Just keep hashing it out.
This is not a new idea; this is the idea of the age of reason. That we should arrange a system by which new ideas can be developed, tried out, tossed out, more new ideas brought in; a trial and error system – the openness of the possibilities is an opportunity, and doubt and discussion are essential to progress into the unknown. (Feynman 55, last column)
Unfortunately, not as commonly achieved as it should be.
Not sure where you are headed, is this a commentary on the page edit?
This morning I saw people use these Feynman quotes on Twitter without proper referencing (as so often), which prodded me to dig out links to the sources and extract the full relevant quote.
Seems rather tautological to me what young Feynman was saying back in 1955. But maybe you feel it’s a controversial quote?
No, what Feynman says is right. I’m just groaning at human irrationality.
added pointer to:
with this quote:
Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.
When someone says, “Science teaches such and such,” he is using the word incorrectly. Science doesn’t teach anything; experience teaches it. If they say to you, “Science has shown such and such,” you might ask, “How does science show it? How did the scientists find out? How? What? Where?”
It should not be “science has shown” but “this experiment, this effect, has shown.” And you have as much right as anyone else, upon hearing about the experiments – but be patient and listen to all the evidence – to judge whether a sensible conclusion has been arrived at.
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