Carl%20Sagan%20-%20The%20Demon%20Haunted%20World
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Carl%20Sagan%20-%20The%20Demon%20Haunted%20World

Carl%20Sagan%20-%20The%20Demon%20Haunted%20World Carl%20Sagan%20-%20The%20Demon%20Haunted%20World

giancarlo3000
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04.10.2012 Views

THE DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD transforming discoveries in science, and either way you will be obstructing understanding and progress. Mere scepticism is not enough. At the same time, science requires the most vigorous and uncompromising scepticism, because the vast majority of ideas are simply wrong, and the only way to winnow the wheat from the chaff is by critical experiment and analysis. If you're open to the point of gullibility and have not a microgram of sceptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish the promising ideas from the worthless ones. Uncritically accepting every proffered notion, idea and hypothesis is tantamount to knowing nothing. Ideas contradict one another; only through sceptical scrutiny can we decide among them. Some ideas really are better than others. The judicious mix of these two modes of thought is central to the success of science. Good scientists do both. On their own, talking to themselves, they churn up many new ideas, and criticize them systematically. Most of the ideas never make it to the outside world. Only those that pass a rigorous self-filtration make it out to be criticized by the rest of the scientific community. Because of this dogged mutual and self-criticism, and the proper reliance on experiment as the arbiter between contending hypotheses, many scientists tend to be diffident about describing their own sense of wonder at the dawning of a wild surmise. This is a pity, because these rare exultant moments demystify and humanize the scientific endeavour. No one can be entirely open or completely sceptical. We all must draw the line somewhere.* An ancient Chinese proverb advises, 'Better to be too credulous than too sceptical', but this is from an extremely conservative society in which stability was much more prized than freedom and where the rulers had a powerful vested interest in not being challenged. Most scientists, I believe, would say, 'Better to be too sceptical than too credulous'. But neither is easy. Responsible, thoroughgoing, rigorous scepticism requires a hardnosed habit of thought that takes practice and training to master. Credulity - I think a better word here is * And in some cases scepticism would be simply silly, as for example in learning to spell. 288

The Marriage of Scepticism and Wonder 'openness' or 'wonder' - does not come easily either. If we really are to be open to counterintuitive ideas in physics or social organization or anything else, we must grasp those ideas. It means nothing to be open to a proposition we don't understand. Both scepticism and wonder are skills that need honing and practice. Their harmonious marriage within the mind of every schoolchild ought to be a principal goal of public education. I'd love to see such a domestic felicity portrayed in the media, television especially: a community of people really working the mix - full of wonder, generously open to every notion, dismissing nothing except for good reason, but at the same time, and as second nature, demanding stringent standards of evidence; and these standards applied with at least as much rigour to what they hold dear as to what they are tempted to reject with impunity. 289

The Marriage of Scepticism and Wonder<br />

'openness' or 'wonder' - does not come easily either. If we really<br />

are to be open to counterintuitive ideas in physics or social<br />

organization or anything else, we must grasp those ideas. It means<br />

nothing to be open to a proposition we don't understand.<br />

Both scepticism and wonder are skills that need honing and<br />

practice. Their harmonious marriage within the mind of every<br />

schoolchild ought to be a principal goal of public education. I'd<br />

love to see such a domestic felicity portrayed in the media,<br />

television especially: a community of people really working the<br />

mix - full of wonder, generously open to every notion, dismissing<br />

nothing except for good reason, but at the same time, and as<br />

second nature, demanding stringent standards of evidence; and<br />

these standards applied with at least as much rigour to what they<br />

hold dear as to what they are tempted to reject with impunity.<br />

289

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