Cheap Truth: Advice to a Young Scientist

           In this new series--in which I hope to post frequently--I am entitling it :Cheap Truth.  Not cheap in the sense of qualitative but cheap in the sense of, well cheap!   I am a sucker for rummaging through the book section in the Salvation Army and Goodwill stores.  Most of the selection there, I have to admit possesses much to be desired.  But if I am gut level honest, I'd have to say that most of the selection in Lifeway possesses much to be desired too! 

That said, for less than a dollar, one can find some relatively good reads--Cheap Truth.

Today's Cheap Truth selection is Advice to a Young Scientist by P.B. Medawar.

Published in 1979, this work was penned by the accomplished scientist, Sir Peter Medawar (1915-1987), Nobel Laureate in 1960 for discovery of acquired immunological tolerance.  Medawar writes for young researchers and especially graduate students who need some common sense direction.  Indeed the small volume contains sound advice from an experienced researcher that may be helpful to almost any student pursuing virtually any track.

Here is a sampling of the down-to-earth, common sense Sir Peter offers:

#1 "An anxiety that may trouble some novices and perhaps particularly some women because of socially engendered habit--not often enough corrected--of self-deprecation, is whether they have brains enough to do well in science.  It is an anxiety they could well spare themselves, for one does not need to be terrifically brainy to be a good scientist." (p.8) 

#2 "The novice who tries his hand at research and finds himself indifferent to or bored by it should leave science without any sense of self-reproach or misdirection" (p.11)

#3 "It can be said with complete confidence that any scientist of any age who wants to make important discoveries must study important problems.  Dull or piffling problems yield dull or piffling answers.  It is not enough that a problem should be "interesting"--almost any problem is interesting if it is studied in sufficient depth...No, the problem must be something that it matters what the answer is--whether to science generally or to mankind " (p.13)

#4 "There is no quicker way for a scientist to bring discredit upon himself and on his profession than roundly to declare--particularly when no declaration of any kind is called for--that science knows or soon will know the answers to all questions worth asking, and that the questions that do not admit a scientific answer are in some way non-questions or 'pseudo-questions' that only simpletons ask and only the gullible profess to be able to answer...Philosophically sophisticated people know that a 'scientific' attack upon religious belief is usually no less faulty than a defense of it." (p.31)

#5 "I cannot give any scientist of any age better advice than this:  the intensity of the conviction that a hypothesis is true has no bearing on whether it is true or not." (p.39)

#6 "It is a common failing--and one that I have myself suffered from--to fall in love with a hypothesis and to be unwilling to take no for an answer.  A love affair with a pet hypothesis can waste years of precious time." (p.73).

 

Cheap Truth Cost:  $.39

With that, I am...

Peter

Comments

[selahV]

Peter: "the intensity of the conviction that a hypothesis is true has no bearing on whether it is true or not." Lands alive, Peter! I've been saying this for years. Does this mean my two-cents worth has increased by 37 cents? selahV

[Luke]

Wow,
With just a minor tweaking, I think you would have here 6 Concepts to Ponder Before Blogging. And to think that truth is less than a postage stamp. Blessings for a Spirit filled day.

[ChrisB]

"There is no quicker way for a scientist to bring discredit upon himself...than roundly to declare...that the questions that do not admit a scientific answer are in some way non-questions or 'pseudo-questions' that only simpletons ask and only the gullible profess to be able to answer."

Think we can send a copy of this to Dawkins?

[peter lumpkins]

Chris,

I think that's a great idea! Dawkins it is...

Luke,

I think if one substitutes "preacher" he can get a ways with most of the quotes and learn...

SelahV,

Just wait till I show you next week what I learned for $.48 !!

Grace,

With that, I am...

Peter

[Joe Stewart]

Peter:
Thanks for your thrifty ways. I want to say to every young pastor and Christian leader - read, read, read. I look forward to the day we can interact over a cup of coffee with a book in hand. Let's just set that up. Thanks for your work. Do you run out of room for all of your parchments? My wife and church are thinking of renting a storage shed.
Blessings,
Joe