Success Of Science

The video is an interview with Richard Feynman who is discussing faith and doubt. Especially when it comes to science. Doubt is the key to science. As soon as "scientists" proclaim certainty they have left the realm of science and have entered the realm of faith.

I slept with faith and found a corpse in my arms on awakening; I drank and danced all night with doubt and found her a virgin in the morning. - Aleister Crowley

There are other videos in this series:

Richard Feynman #1
Richard Feynman #2
Richard Feynman #3
Richard Feynman #4
Richard Feynman #5

And the above video:
Richard Feynman #6

H/T Molon Labe in the comments at Watts Up With That

No Doubt, Not Science

The scientist has a lot of experience with ignorance and doubt and uncertainty, and this experience is of very great importance, I think. When a scientist doesn't know the answer to a problem, he is ignorant. When he has a hunch as to what the result is, he is uncertain. And when he is pretty damn sure of what the result is going to be, he is still in some doubt. We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress, we must recognize our ignorance and leave room for doubt. Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty--some most unsure, some nearly sure, but none absolutely certain. Now, we scientists are used to this, and we take it for granted that it is perfectly consistent to be unsure, that it is possible to live and not know. But I don't know whether everyone realizes this is true. Our freedom to doubt was born out of a struggle against authority in the early days of science. It was a very deep and strong struggle: permit us to question--to doubt--to not be sure. I think that it is important that we do not forget this struggle and thus perhaps lose what we have gained. - Richard P. Feynman * "The Value of Science," address to the National Academy of Sciences (Autumn 1955)

Let me add that of all the scientific disciplines engineers are the most doubtful. Murphy is a constant companion.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Why Science Is Not Religion

Science is based on doubt.

Religion is based on faith.

Prompted by the discussion at The Volokh Conspiracy.

Then there is scientism which amounts to faith in science. We know scientism is not a scientific position, because science never knows anything. All science can say is "this is the best answer we have so far".

Richard P. Feynman

Cargo Cult Science

There is one feature I notice that is generally missing in "cargo cult science"... It's a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty — a kind of leaning over backwards... For example, if you're doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think might make it invalid — not only what you think is right about it... Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them. * Caltech commencement address (1974)

Lectures on Physics

We can't define anything precisely. If we attempt to, we get into that paralysis of thought that comes to philosophers… one saying to the other: "you don't know what you are talking about!". The second one says: "what do you mean by talking? What do you mean by you? What do you mean by know?" o Volume I, 8-2

Engineers

In fact, the science of thermodynamics began with an analysis, by the great engineer Sadi Carnot, of the problem of how to build the best and most efficient engine, and this constitutes one of the few famous cases in which engineering has contributed to fundamental physical theory. Another example that comes to mind is the more recent analysis of information theory by Claude Shannon. These two analyses, incidentally, turn out to be closely related.

From: Wiki Quotes

The Scientific Consensus

There are a number of reasons why scientific consensus is not definitive.

One of them is phlogiston.

Faith

Personally, I have faith in doubt.