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Sense and science
August 12, 2005

Has science become inherently preposterous? If so, is that why a significant portion of the United States population rejects scientific theories and eschews careers in science-related fields?

Commenting on the 100th anniversary of Einstein's annus mirabilis, the science journalist John Horgan deplores what he calls the aspect of Einstein's legacy that suggests that science and common sense are incompatible. He cites the transition from a period when T.H. Huxley defined science as "nothing but trained and organized common sense" to the situation today, where, as Horgan puts it, "space and time--the I-beams of reality--are not rigid but rubbery."

He cites several scientists who seem to celebrate counterintuitive nature of their calling, including the British biologist Lewis Wolpert, writing in his 1992 book, The Unnatural Nature of Science: "I would almost contend that if something fits in with common sense it almost certainly isn't science." And Horgan notes that "Einstein himself once denigrated common sense as 'the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18.'"

According to Horgan, "In those many instances when the [scientific] evidence is tentative, we should not be embarrassed to call on common sense for guidance." But his evidence is weak. He even notes that Einstein's famous concession to common sense--"God does not play dice with the universe"--was erroneous.

Quantum particles may not be tumbling like dice, but they are doing something akin to spinning like roulette wheels. If they weren't, multi-hundred-million-transistor ICs would cease to function.

Posted by Rick Nelson on August 12, 2005 | Comments (0)