Blake Snow

writer-for-hire, content guy, bestselling author

As seen on CNN, NBC, ABC, Fox, Wired, Yahoo!, BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal
It looks like you're new. Click here to learn more.

Tagged scientific method

The scientific method is self-skepticism

Courtesy MGM

Here’s a great quote from Cal physicist Richard Muller on the scientific method: “I see the difference between a scientist and a non-scientist in a simple way:

  • A non-scientist is easily fooled and particularly vulnerable to self-deception.
  • A scientist is easily fooled and particularly vulnerable to self-deception… and knows it.”

If you avoid distinguishing beliefs and bias from knowledge, you’re not a scientist. If you overstate the truth (even for the greater good), you’re also not a scientist.

True science demands objectivity, guts, free speech, vulnerability, and lots of “we’re still not sure but let’s keep checking.”