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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The conflict between science and religion can create mistrust in scientific understanding.
In this quote, Lisa Randall highlights the danger of prioritizing religious beliefs over scientific inquiry. She argues that individuals who dismiss scientific findings in favor of their religious views may misunderstand the rigorous processes involved in scientific discovery, leading to a harmful mistrust of scientists and the knowledge they provide, ultimately obstructing a comprehensive understanding of the world.
Themes
ScienceReligionMistrustUnderstandingKnowledge
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about the role of science in society, this quote could illustrate the dangers of rejecting scientific thought.
More from Lisa Randall
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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.
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Creativity is essential to particle physics, cosmology, and to mathematics, and to other fields of science, just as it is to its more widely acknowledged beneficiaries - the arts and humanities.
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It's hubris to think that the way we see things is everything there is.
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