Download Ignorance: How It Drives Science AudioBook Free
Knowledge is a huge subject, says Stuart Firestein, but ignorance is a larger one. And it is ignorance - not knowledge - this is the true engine motor of science. Just about everyone has a misconception of science as a surefire, deliberate, step-by-step method for finding things out and getting things done. In fact, says Firestein, more often than not, science is like buying black pet cat in a dark room, and there might not be a pet cat in the area. The procedure is more hit-or-miss than you might picture, with much stumbling and groping after phantoms. Nonetheless it is strictly this being unsure of, this puzzling over thorny questions or inexplicable data, that gets researchers into the laboratory early and will keep them there past due, the matter that propels them, the very driving push of science. Firestein shows how scientists use ignorance to program their work, to identify what should be achieved, what the next steps are, and where they have to concentrate their energies. And he includes a catalog of how scientists use ignorance, consciously or unconsciously - a impressive range of techniques which includes looking for connections to other research, revisiting seemingly settled questions, using small questions to get at big ones, and tackling an issue simply out of attention. The e book concludes with four circumstance histories - in cognitive mindset, theoretical physics, astronomy, and neuroscience - that provide a feel for the nut products and bolts of ignorance, the day-to-day fight that goes on in methodical laboratories and in methodical intellects with questions that add the quotidian to the profound. Turning the conventional idea about science on its head, Ignorance opens a fresh window on the real mother nature of research. It is a must-read for anyone curious about science.
