George M. Whitesides - Photo by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard News Office
Assumptions: Taking Chemistry in New Directions**
George M. Whitesides*
Keywords:
Bioorganic chemistry · genomics · medicinal chemistry · philosophy of chemistry
[*] Prof. G. M. Whitesides
Department of Chemistry and
Chemical Biology
Harvard University
12 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-2902 (USA)
Fax: (+1) 617-495-9857
E-mail: gwhitesides@gmwgroup.harvard.edu
[**] I thank Michael Mayer, Mila Boncheva, and Barbara Whitesides for their suggestions and editorial help with this paper.
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“When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.” Arthur C. Clarke
The Temptations and Hazards of Predicting the Future
Speculating about the future of science seems to be genetically encoded in scientists. We all do it. We also take it as an article of faith that serious predictions are almost always wrong. Is thinking about the future an important thing to do, or just a diversion—like daydreaming, or gardening, or playing the lottery? Why do we spend our time guessing about matters we believe we cannot predict?
There are at least five reasons. The first is utilitarian: to plan our work. Thinking about the future is a part of choosing research problems. We who make our living in science tell ourselves that we work for the satisfaction of solving problems and for the thrill of discovery; sociologists, less charitably, suggest that we do so to make a living and to get ahead professionally. The truth is probably a mixture of the two.
Finding good problems—problems that polish a new facet of reality and that change the way some part of the world works—is both satisfying intellectually and rewarding professionally.
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NOTA DESTE BLOGGER:
Vide o texto Idéias [sic] de George Whitesides de Roberto Berlinck no blog Quiprona e entenda a razão por que postamos aqui a indicação deste texto estar disponível gratuitamente.
Este blogger acredita na democracia da educação e do conhecimento. Talvez esta seja a razão maior do nosso sucesso -- a disponibilidade de textos gratuitos promovendo o avanço da ciência e a veiculação de ideias [não leva mais acento], mesmo as mais esdrúxulas, para serem consideradas cum grano salis.
Fui, sem sei por que, pensando que tem muita gente que um dia vai se acordar do seu pesado sono e despertar para uma nova epistemologia livre das amarras do naturalismo filosófico que posa como se fosse ciência.
Loucos! mas se julgam sábios!!! Nada mais falso...
Loucos! mas se julgam sábios!!! Nada mais falso...
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