There can sometimes be this fear among laypeople: 'I don't understand everything in science perfectly, so I just can't say anything about it.' I think it's good to know that we scientists are also confused some of the time.
Lisa RandallRead
We have this very clean picture of science, you know, these well-established rules with which we make predictions. But when you're really doing science, when you're doing research, you're at the edge of what we know.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Science is often seen as a structured field, yet true scientific research involves exploring the unknown and pushing boundaries.
In this quote, Lisa Randall emphasizes the contrast between the perceived certainty of established scientific principles and the actual practice of scientific research. While science is often viewed as a discipline characterized by clear rules and predictability, real research requires venturing into unknown territories, questioning accepted norms, and confronting uncertainties. This highlights the adventurous and exploratory nature of scientific inquiry where new discoveries are made at the frontiers of knowledge.
Themes
ScienceResearchExplorationKnowledgeUncertainty
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on the nature of scientific inquiry, this quote can illustrate the importance of curiosity and exploration.
More from Lisa Randall
All quotes βThere could be more to the universe than the three dimensions we are familiar with. They are hidden from us in some way, perhaps because they're tiny or warped. But even if they're invisible, they could affect what we actually observe in the universe.
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People who dismiss science in favor of religion sometimes confuse the challenge of rigorously understanding the world with a deliberate intellectual exclusion that leads them to mistrust scientists and, to their detriment, what they discover.
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It's hubris to think that the way we see things is everything there is.
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