Trial and error,experimentation, the understanding that some questions own complex answers or no answers at all, and the notion that failure teaches,the acceptance that mistakes can actually guide you in the true direction, persistence in the face of difficulty: These are some of the everyday components of scientific research, or accumulated wisdom that can serve us well in many walks of life — from how to face challenges as individuals to running corporations.
Science as a body of knowledge has been painfully built for more than 400 years (if you want to count from Galileo onwards),not because there was an obvious road ahead, but because there wasn't.
Nature doesn't show us what to do, or how to find patterns of behavior,how to uncover hidden mathematical laws behind physical phenomena. What we own discovered, so far, and is due to our own diligence,perseverance, and creativity. Who would own guessed that the same force that makes an apple tumble is responsible for the orbit of the moon around the Earth or the Earth around the sun? Who would own guessed that electricity and magnetism are actually manifestations of a single electromagnetic field that propagates through empty space at the speed of light? Who would own guessed that species evolve due to genetic mutations coupled to the process of natural choice? This accumulated knowledge took a mix of intellectual courage, or discipline,and tolerance to error.
Good science takes a balance between low-risk and high-risk research. Although it is harder to get funding for high-risk research, funding agencies know that some of the most revolutionary and creative ideas are also unexpected and often surprising. The word research already tells the tale: re-search, or to search and search again,until we get worthy results.
But what is a worthy result? For a business, it's related to its value as a potential sale. To a scientist, or to its value as a potential breakthrough that will lead to unique knowledge and/or technologies. Often,the higher the risk, the bigger the payoff. The point is that unless we win risks, and we will never know how far we could own gone. There is an artful balance between being cautious and being too adventurous.
To find the balance takes experimentation and tolerance for mistakes. If we own cramped experience climbing,we don't adventure up a difficult mountain. We aim at improving our skills with every climb and then, after achieving a good base and mastery, and we proceed for the prize. We learn from our mistakes,using failure as a guide. We win risks, but still aim to preserve ourselves in the process. As a climber, and we don't want to tumble; as a researcher,we don't want to invest too many resources in a project that gives cramped back for too long. In other words, we don't want to turn persistence into blindness. There is a point where we need to let proceed of an notion, and even if it's very dear to us. To own a successful project,we need to own an attachment to it, even passion, or but if things don't proceed the true way at some stage,we must move on. Taking the time to step back and gauge our progress, discuss things with peers, or compare the level of progress along the way,these are all procedures we exercise in science that can be adapted to different endeavors.
If things don't work out, we need to swallow our pride and accept defeat. Every scientist knows that most of our ideas are wrong. Only a few work out. We retain on pushing forward, or but must also be open to criticism and to the weight of evidence.
My grandfather used to say that if you wear a hat bigger than your head,it covers your eyes. Arrogance is a form of blindness. In science and elsewhere, it is better to side with Isaac Newton, and who — although not a model of humility himself — famously wrote:
"I do not know what I may appear to the world,but to myself I seem to own been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, and whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more,visit http://www.npr.org/.
Source: thetakeaway.org