On Feynman on Science
This entry was posted on 5/6/2010 5:42 PM and is filed under Science.
To my science and engineering-inclined friends,
This week I had the pleasure of attending a PhD student's comp defense. After that, I returned to work, where two weeks ago I overheard (and futilely attempted to correct) a discussion purporting that the Faraday-cage effect could not be well-defined, and depended on the surface resistivity of the cage. Between these experiences, I have been thinking over Feynman, the Manhattan Project, and my future research efforts. In the midst of this, I found the linked speech, given by Feynman at a CalTech commencement. It's a little wandering, and if you don't want to read the whole thing, the heart of the matter is:
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you've not fooled yourself, it's easy not to fool other scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after that."
Seeing Brent's literature review, hearing the professors questioning the assumptions underlying it, and, of course, the never-ending debate on man's climatological effect, really hit home today, for whatever reason. The scientist is a finder of truth. The engineer is a teller of scientific truth. To deviate from or obscure these roles is to fail in either profession.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." - Feynman, appendix to the Challenger Report.
Happy Hunting,
Mark
