May 25, 2003
favorite book
My favorite book is
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out and the Meaning of It All
by Richard P. Feynman
His clarity, honesty, brilliance and humor shine through in all the pieces in the book and it is just a joy to read him.
To tickle your curiosity here's some ideas out of his essay about the relationship between science and religion.
Religion provides a moral and ethical framework to society and that is great. Religion also has an inspirational role in people's lives and that is great also. But religion as a way to explain the world surrounding us is too simplistic and inflexible. Everything is set in stone and is based on belief. There's not much room for doubt. If new facts or observations turn up that would make other explanations more plausible they' re ignored or suppressed.
Science on the other hand is the total opposite: in constant change. Observing the world around us suddenly is much more fun. New observations and experiments can lead to new explanations that completely overhaul what was thought before. We are slowly moving forward that way, searching for truth, understanding our world better. Will we ever know everything ? Probably not, but that shouldn't stop us from continuing. The good news is that we will never run out of things to explore.
Note though for science to function and to stay healthy it needs honest scientists and there's an essay about that in the book too.
Posted by Uwe Hoffmann at May 25, 2003 04:21 PM