These papers, because of their subsequent widespread influence, had a calamitous effect on the understanding and treatment of this syndrome. I have found that one common misconception surpasses all others. People will write, telling me that they have developed a revolutionary theory, one that will expand the boundaries of science. But thoughts are cheap. Any person of intelligence can devise his half dozen before breakfast.
Scientists can also spin out ideas about ultimates.
Scientists are taught to question, even to quibble, and to ruminate over the solidity of evidence and the interpretation of findings that appear contradictory in the hope of discerning a nugget of truth. . . . Although such quibbling is an essential pan of the scientific process, it can make scientists look indecisive and incompetent to journalists and to the public. What society and some reporters fail to i.inderstand is that by definition, professionals on the edge of knowledge do not know what causes what. Scientists, however, are privileged to be able to say so, whereas business executives, politicians, and judges, for example, sometimes make decisions in audacious ignorance while appearing certain and confident. From the difference in shadow length, he calculated the size of the earthly sphere and it turned out to be 25,000 miles circumference.