Chapter 21 natural science

The blindness of the nature of science as a manifestation of human action has not been widely realized.As we sift through scientific activity for something new and valuable, we also keep finding parts of the activity that seem to need better control, greater efficiency, and less unpredictability.We would like to spend less and get the benefits of investment more methodically and on time.The planning folks in Washington tried to do something about it, resulting in new programs that brought together all the scientific activity there, especially in biomedicine. This needs to be thought about.When scientific activity is at its best, there is an almost uncontrollable, biological mechanism at work.This point should not be ignored.

When the subject of research is difficult and complicated, and the facts have not been grasped, the difficulty is even more prominent.The beginnings of scientific research are a messy field of outright surprise.The problem cannot be solved until science is freed from this mess.therefore.What has to be planned in a research laboratory is the utterly unforeseen.If scientific research activities are to be organized centrally, the system must first be designed in such a way as to induce doubt and celebrate the unexpected. Moreover, scientific research, if it is to be carried on like a business, must bring together isolated imaginations in the minds of disparate individuals.But such an arrangement is more like a game than a serious business.The sudden rise in science is caused by some sudden and unknown whims and intuitions.These ideas and intuitions are scientifically called inspiration.

One of the most mysterious aspects of difficult scientific research is the method by which it is carried out.It doesn't mean the daily routine, the patchwork activities where no one knew how to put things together before, or making connections.These are methods of operation, commonplace, minutiae.These activities are certainly interesting, but none of them are as amazing as the underlying mystery, which is: after all, we do this, and we must. Of all human endeavors, I know of nothing like scientific research, and even art, in my eyes, is hardly comparable: in the scientific enterprise, those who engage in it are so involved that the whole Immersed in it for a while, driven to do things beyond their resources and strength.

Scientists at work are like animals acting on genetic instructions, driven as if by instincts deeply embedded in the human body.Despite their efforts to maintain their dignity, they played wild games like baby animals.Every time they got close to an answer, they stood on end, sweating and pumping their adrenaline.Seizing the answer, catching the answer first, is their strongest drive.Fetching food, raising children, protecting oneself from the forces of nature, etc., are nothing compared to this drive. This kind of activity, which may seem isolated at times, is the least isolating of human activities.Nothing is so social, so collective, so interdependent.A popular subject is like a huge anthill of wisdom. A single mind almost disappears among the layers of minds. Each mind is crowded with information, and the information is transmitted at the speed of light.

There are some special messages that seem to be chemotaxis.As soon as any clues appear, the receptors on the back of people's necks will immediately vibrate, and a large group of active minds will gather in one place, like a flock of sparrows, flying towards the wind, surrounding the source of the information.This is an intellectual infiltration, an inflammation. Nothing can change this picture.The chaotic brain group seems to be gathered together in a disorderly manner, like a swarm of bees that has disturbed the hive. In a mess of activities, fragmentary information is scattered, torn into pieces, collapsed, and eaten by whales. Suddenly, there was a sudden turn and a leisurely song, and a new truth about nature emerged.

In a word, the scientific enterprise is in motion.This is the most powerful and fruitful thing that mankind has learned to do together for thousands of years. It is more effective than farming, fishing, building churches, and making money. In my opinion, this is an instinctive behavior.I don't understand how it works, this kind of activity cannot be pre-planned with precision.You can't line up human brains in neat rows and give them instructions from paper tape.You can't order every brain, you do this, it does that, and then a central committee assembles the pieces that all the brains that worked according to the instructions did.No, that's not how it works.

All that is needed is to create the right climate.To tell a bee to make honey, you don't need regulations for solar navigation and synthetic carbohydrates.You just put it in with the other bees (better quick, because a single bee won't survive) and arrange the general environment around the hive as best you can.Just like bees making honey, when the climate is suitable, science will come out naturally. This activity is a bit like aggression, but it is different from other aggressive behaviors because it does not aim at some kind of destruction.While it's going on, the campaign looks and feels like aggression: Rush up, unmask it, drag it out, grab it, it's mine!It's like a primitive chase, but in the end it doesn't hurt anything.More likely, it ends up being nothing more than a long sigh.But it doesn't matter.If the air is right and the scientific activity is running normally, the moaning will stop immediately, because a new problem of its own will cry out for people to solve, and the messy activity will start again, and once again get out of control.