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The most important scientific problems have yet to be solved (1897)

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Re: The most important scientific problems have yet to be solved (1897)

#21

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o »

sadmann1 wrote: post #2

I do wonder if every generation picks slightly higher hanging fruits in science will there come a time when a single human lifetime won't be enough to digest even the most specialised domain of science in order to build upon it

Right now, science has an emphasis on causal discovery. Showing that X is a mechanism by which Y happens. That includes finding the different X's for a Y and finding evidence for the relationship between a given X and Y. Once you know how a thing works, that doesn't necessarily make it easy to work with it. For example in quantum mechanics, a common phrase is "shut up and calculate" because the mental models are all messy.

But as we all know (especially those of us who have refactored many systems), every once in a while you find a new way of looking at a thing that makes it all much simpler. A geometric way to look at an algebraic thing, or vice versa. Or a unifying structure to combine disparate pieces. Or just a "wow that was dumb" undoing of unnecessary complexity. It makes further progress easier.

I could imagine that, as the boundaries of science get more complex, there will be more scientists working on making the rest of it less complex. Meanwhile, maybe we get smarter and live longer. The calculations involved with many areas of modern science have already outpaced what we can do by hand, but we invented computers, so I can take the mean of a zillion numbers without much effort and spend my time elsewhere.

And in med school, apparently they say "half of what we teach you will be false, but we don't know which half." As science progresses, you don't just add, you prune too.

Re: The most important scientific problems have yet to be solved (1897)

#23

Post by n4r9 »

tom-thistime wrote: post #3

The author of this essay died in 1934.

I was going to post a criticism along the lines that all the historical examples given by the author were from the 19th Century until I saw you point this out!

The date definitely changes my perspective but I still think the essay is a little too waffley - it doesn't to give any actual examples or indications or where the author thinks important scientific problems lie. In fact it kind of begs the question. In response to a concern over whether there are important scientific problems left to solve, it simply lists some historical important scientific breakthroughs.

I suppose the point is that breakthroughs are unexpected...

Re: The most important scientific problems have yet to be solved (1897)

#24

Post by raymondrussell »

Ramón Y Cajal was a contrarian when this was written, but he had great timing. In the late 19th century, it was fairly popular to believe that all the laws of physics had already been established—remaining progress would come from improvements in experimental methods. There's a famous "physics is over" quote misattributed to Lord Kelvin (actually said by Michelson, the guy who measured the speed of light).

A few years after this was written, Planck proposed energy quanta. And in 1905, Einstein published his four Annus Mirabilis papers, introducing the photoelectric effect (applying quantum), special relativity, and the mass-energy relationship.

Re: The most important scientific problems have yet to be solved (1897)

#25

Post by n4r9 »

6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #21
sadmann1 wrote: post #2

I do wonder if every generation picks slightly higher hanging fruits in science will there come a time when a single human lifetime won't be enough to digest even the most specialised domain of science in order to build upon it

Right now, science has an emphasis on causal discovery. Showing that X is a mechanism by which Y happens. That includes finding the different X's for a Y and finding evidence for the relationship between a given X and Y. Once you know how a thing works, that doesn't necessarily make it easy to work with it. For example in quantum mechanics, a common phrase is "shut up and calculate" because the mental models are all…

Nicely put. In fact a lot of the field of quantum foundations (and interpretations) could be seen as an attempt to work towards this sort of perspective/paradigm shift.

Re: The most important scientific problems have yet to be solved (1897)

#26

Post by enriquto »

scottlocklin wrote: post #5

One of the great Spanish thinkers, criminally underrated in Anglo countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_Ram%C3%B3n_y_Cajal

I'd rather say he's criminally underrated in Spain.

It is definitely easier to hear casually about Ramon y Cajal in "anglo countries" than in Spain. For example, I have spent my childhood in the spanish state, and I first heard about Ramon y Cajal during the first conference that I attended, in Switzerland, from a lovely presentation by an English professor.

One of the dramatically few spanish first-rate scientists, and he's not a household name. Very, very sad state of affairs.

Re: The most important scientific problems have yet to be solved (1897)

#27

Post by DevX101 »

raymondrussell wrote: post #24

Ramón Y Cajal was a contrarian when this was written, but he had great timing. In the late 19th century, it was fairly popular to believe that all the laws of physics had already been established—remaining progress would come from improvements in experimental methods. There's a famous "physics is over" quote misattributed to Lord Kelvin (actually said by Michelson, the guy who measured the speed of light). A few year…

Thanks for the context. Thought that this was contemporary. The language did seem antiquated.

Re: The most important scientific problems have yet to be solved (1897)

#28

Post by dekhn »

raymondrussell wrote: post #24

Ramón Y Cajal was a contrarian when this was written, but he had great timing. In the late 19th century, it was fairly popular to believe that all the laws of physics had already been established—remaining progress would come from improvements in experimental methods. There's a famous "physics is over" quote misattributed to Lord Kelvin (actually said by Michelson, the guy who measured the speed of light). A few year…

This book tries to argue that we've got as close to objective truth about the universe as we'll ever do:

https://www.amazon.com/End-Science-Knowledge-Twilight-Scient...

and that most remaining science is just find of filling in the tiny bits.

I personally don't expect anything that will change with respect to backwards time travel or faster than light travel.

Re: The most important scientific problems have yet to be solved (1897)

#30

Post by whatshisface »

dekhn wrote: post #28
raymondrussell wrote: post #24

Ramón Y Cajal was a contrarian when this was written, but he had great timing. In the late 19th century, it was fairly popular to believe that all the laws of physics had already been established—remaining progress would come from improvements in experimental methods. There's a famous "physics is over" quote misattributed to Lord Kelvin (actually said by Michelson, the guy who measured the speed of light). A few year…

This book tries to argue that we've got as close to objective truth about the universe as we'll ever do: https://www.amazon.com/End-Science-Knowledge-Twilight-Scient... and that most remaining science is just find of filling in the tiny bits. I personally don't expect anything that will change with respect to backwards time travel or faster than light travel.

Why are time machines and Starship Enterprises a good standard of scientific progress? Why not immorality, sentient computers, and stuff like that, which is equally science-fictiony but possible?
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