When I first started college, it was an interesting experience to read, let’s say, Plato. I thought “Man, he says some things that weren’t like what they told me back home! But they make a lot of sense. This guy’s got to be right!” And then, two months later, I was reading some other person, who was pretty much contradicting Plato, and I thought “Gee, this guy’s got to be right!” The best thing I learned out of all that philosophy was not distaste for philosophy, but a strong feeling that one has a right to reserve one’s judgment. As a scientist, you reserve judgment on enormous numbers
...more
