The sky in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument blew me away. The stars were SO big and SO bright that night, it was hard to comprehend. It got me thinking about a podcast I had listened to where the interviewee was the famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson (if you've never listened to his StarTalk podcast, give it a try... I love it). Neil is not only incredibly intelligent, but he's also funny and he's not afraid to listen to other points of view and to admit that there is a LOT that he DOESN'T know.
In this interview, Neil was talking about how scientists who study space often get the question "What was around before the Big Bang?" and how his answer to that is ".... I dunno." And then they will invariably say "Well there had to be something!" To which Neil replies "I dunno. Maybe there was something, but we don't know. We're working on it."
This discussion led to the following statement from Neil, which I think is interesting to ponder:
"As the area of our knowledge grows, so too does the perimeter of our ignorance. Here's a prevailing problem in society: Knowing enough to think you're right, but not knowing enough to know that you're wrong."
I think about that often when I'm sitting outside at night gazing up at the sky. The night sky to me is a thing of infinite wonder and curiosity. And I hope I never get to that point where I think I know everything about something. Because if I do, that would likely mean that the sense of wonder and curiosity about that something is gone. And I don't ever want to lose that.
No comments:
Post a Comment