Barry Barish Quotes
Anything that makes us take more seriously scientists - or economists or chemists or physicists or biologists - I think is helpful in times when things get distorted because of people not paying attention to all the facts.
Khan, Amina. "Q&A: Nobel Laureate Barry Barish on Gravitational Waves and the Responsibilities of a Scientist." Los Angeles Times, 3 Oct. 2017.
_0_thumbnail_47x47.jpg){kind=small}
In the world of science, today’s truths are all modified or placed into a more sophisticated concept tomorrow, If there is evidence that supplants old science, it is immediately discarded by the good scientists. Politicians hold on to debunked political and economic ideas regardless of the evidence. Einstein superseded Newton’s view of physics of the universe and gravity, and quantum mechanics has shown that Relativity was somewhat oversimplified and did not apply to the very small world inside atoms. The only reason Aristotle was right for a few hundred years because the Dark Ages virtually stopped the development of science. Politicians who want surety from scientist are frustrated in that the good scientists know that it can never be given without caveats. Meanwhile politicians are sure of their positions and state them with certainty despite the fact that there is usually NO evidence for them that a scientist would ever accept and if there were in a few years it would be found to be oversimplified or wrong. See {624499} .
Islamic modernists like Serageldin are many among the educated Muslims but their views are often drowned out by the violence and extremist statements of the fundamentalists.
In politics, a person who flip flops is suspected of not having principles. In science, a person who does not flop flop is suspected of not being scientific. As new evidence amasses, the scientific method requires that the scientist chenges. The politician is often expected to hold to his principles regardless of new or contrary evidence.
This is an extract from a well-known standard for college professors.
Barry Clark Barish is an American experimental physicist and Nobel Laureate. He is a Linde Professor of Physics, emeritus at California Institute of Technology and a leading expert on gravitational waves.
