Ah! The Hypothesis

Ah!  The Hypothesis “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause  to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.” Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955)

What's so smart about daydreaming? I'm of two minds on this In my pursuit of practicing and promoting good science and life, among other things I have long been and am still exploring "human factors". Today I wish to touch on moments of spontaneous awareness and their role in scientific thought and discovery. This exploration started years ago reading Thomas Kuhn (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions) and my thoughts about it were also endorsed by none other than the Ah! man himself...Albert Einstein. The most mysterious thing I am aware of is life, (the universe and everything). Especially us, humans. And I believe it is our wonderful evolutionary adaptations, the natural abilities and harmonies of the human mind and heart, that leads to true discovery. Something I call: A clear and spontaneous awareness. The next mysterious thing to me is where do GREAT scientific discoveries come from? The questions aren't in the data. Data can be viewed many ways, all depending on how or which questions you ask. What conditions and state of mind produces the best of these insights? How can we promote and develop that, not only for scientists but everyone else. And lead to a better world of discovery in all fields. Wouldn't that help mankind? Neuroscience and psychology are discovering great fluidity and plasticity as well as other marvels existing in the structure and capacities of human brain. The corpus callosum is a particularly interesting region. It is the part bridging the two hemispheres. They do not normally function in complete isolation. They are deeply connected. However in the evolution of our lineage we see a reduction of this region yet more communication between "the two brains". What does this mean? The important scientific information here is that counter to what you might think, the corpus callosum functions more as an inhibitor. The idea that the rational mind and emotional mind are separate is a logical or philosophical expedient but now we can prove it is not a biological fact. Science has shown they are not so separate in reality. We have evolved both together in one system. And they are entwined with all kinds of sharing and feedback loops. It is now clearer...Thought moderates emotion and emotion moderates thought. The brain and body also, are only separate in our imagination. The West seems to have lots of unacknowledged integrity. I know that I am the most open to the wonders of life when I’m happy while working and then my kids playing in the background come to my attention, and I’ve suddenly solved a problem. Yes, it’s not the other way… I’m happy first and then I notice my kids, ah!. The openess to spontaneous insight is rooted in your emotional state. Cognitive science bears this out. Happiness and insight do correlate but the latest science show happiness usually comes first. (See Jessica Stillman) Perhaps life, is a Rorshach test. I have found that I have the most success, I’m the most creative and innovative, I Am At my BEST, when I’m already in a happy state of mind, "in flow”. For me, Zen and a little emotional intelligence of course, can help. Whatever works for you. Love yourself as you love your work. Then, you slip into a state of flow. Your brain waves and body chemistry optimize. That, is what gives the best results. In science or anything.

Where does the hypotheses come from? It just comes to mind So let it “The formation of hypotheses is the most mysterious of all the categories of scientific method. Where they come from, no one knows. A person is sitting somewhere, minding his own business, and suddenly –flash – he understands something he didn’t understand before. Until it’s tested the hypothesis isn’t truth. For the tests, aren’t its source. Its source is somewhere else.” Albert Einstein The Divided Brain Iain McGilchrist 'Einstein had said: “Man tries to make for himself in the fashion that suits him best a simplified and intelligible picture of the world. He then tries to some extent to substitute this cosmos of his for the world of experience, and thus to overcome it… He makes this cosmos and its construction the piveot of his emotional life in order to find in this way the peace and serenity which he cannot find in the narrow whirlpool of personal experience…The supreme task… is to arrive at those universal elementary laws from which the cosmos can be built up by pure deduction. There is no logical path to these laws, only intuition, resting on sympathetic understanding of experience, can reach them…” Intuition? Sympathy? Strange words for the origin of scientific knowledge.' From “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert Maynard Pirsig When my kids say they are bored... I'm delighted. First it means I'm doing my job properly because they usually don't complain about that when all their other needs are met. But it also means that their minds and bodies are now free to explore outside the box. Whichever box, there's so many to choose from. Now, what I'm going to tell you may sound crazy but I have science to back me up. It is this... The best discoveries will likely come to you when you're not actually working. When your mind is free to be open and receptive to all the ideas you've been incubating. Your idea eggs may not have much chance to hatch successfully if you are constantly sitting on them. The pause can be an opportunity for them to break out and to be born(e) into consciousness.  Once born though a good diagnostic for the healthiness of your ideas is  Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit. (See excerpt below)

"Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.” Albert Einstein Want to do more than just good work but great work? Look out the window. Relax and get distracted once in a while. Better still, get up and go out. Many times in science, the ah element, did not appear while the person was miserably struggling at their work or during tedious long hours, office politics, or the stress of a lack of resources… need I go on? No. That’s what we may affectionately call the incubation period. More often the really cool eureka moments happen while in a bathtub like Archimides. Or like Henri Pointcare and the non-euclidian geometry solution that came to him as he was stepping onto a bus. Or the revelation about the benzene ring coming via a dream. The examples are many. Einstein was a master daydreamer. He didn’t discover his theories in a lab or crunching numbers. He performed what he called thought experiments,.others may call that daydreaming. Works for me! Maybe you too. Here’s a question, have you ever had trouble recalling something in the heat of the moment, only to have it naturally come to you when you stopped forcing? Or when you made a good or bad decision… did you “rationally” decide out of fatique, fear, perhaps anger? When you knew things were right, when was that. A more calmly reflective moment, perhaps even after sleeping on it? "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”  Albert Einstein So when do think you’ll be likely to have that brilliant flash of insight? We know we can’t force it. How do we allow it to just spontaneously happen? Twisting ourselves against our biology for some ideological discipline or philosophy is not a healthy habit and is actually counter-productive. Best to go with the flow and be your natural best. Our two minds are not a duality but always a harmonious ONE

The Baloney Detection Kit Warning signs that suggest deception Based on the book by Carl Sagan, The Demon Haunted World The following are suggested as tools for testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent arguments: - Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the facts. - Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view. - Arguments from authority carry little weight (in science there are no "authorities"). - Spin more than one hypothesis - don't simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy. - Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it's yours. - Quantify, wherever possible. - If there is a chain of argument every link in the chain must work. - Occam's razor - if there are two hypotheses that explain the data equally well choose the simpler. - Ask whether the hypothesis can, at least in principle, be falsified (shown to be false by some unambiguous test). In other words, it is testable? Can others duplicate the experiment and get the same result? See Additional issues here: The Carl Sagan Portal Value your imagination and trust your intuition. Don't count your spring chicks before they hatch. And if or when they do hatch... PLEASE verify with good science My intuition told me this is true many years ago, now science is proving I was right.

Science and Rigor

Have fun, play safe

MU-Peter Science

© 2016 MU - Peter Shimon

Why Science?

This post is a gift for my "stupid genius" daughter. Happy Birthday Magic Girl!

Why Science? "Not explaining science seems to me perverse. When you're in love, you want to tell the world.” Carl Sagan

"One of the most beautiful things about science is that it equips you to think for yourself"

Adrian Gaylord

My Gateway to Science We're all born with a natural curiosity. Ever since I was very young I've had an insatiable curiosity and thirst for knowledge. I can't remember when I fell in love with science but I guess it was quite early. My mother recounts a story of when I was about 2 years old. I took apart my older brother's toy tank. It spit sparks from the the gun on the turret when you rolled it. I wanted to know where the fire came from. The mystery intrigued me. And I just had to know. So I took it apart. Utterly unable to put it back together again. Of course my brother was pissed. I could take it apart, I couldn't (and either could he) put back together. But I learned a lot! Ah, what a mangled experimental design and yet, it produced such divine results! That's science!

My Science Influences Oh so young: Star Trek the original series on tv All of NASA, especially Apollo 11 live (Yes, I'm that old! What's your point?) Albert Einstein, Isaac Asimov, Jacques Yves Cousteau, Jane Goodall, Louis Leakey When a little older: Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan, Voyager and Cosmos series on tv Much older and still: Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace, Stephen Jay Gould, Thomas Kuhn, Alan Watts, Robert Pirsig

Science will always be my passion But science has also taught me how to think. And perhaps more importantly, how to think creatively, logically and critically. Science is behind all of our modern accomplishments and conveniences. Think about that for a minute. Everything was first an idea. A thought. The more "adapted" that thought with what we call object reality, the more useful it is and then the rigor of testing of these new ideas ensures their greater accuracy.

Doing Science The truth is we all want as accurate a picture of the facts as possible, in order to find logic and benefit from its use in "objective" reality. Science is a really good way to get that. Science can be a powerful force Science must be done responsibly. With great power comes great responsibility. So if we're going to do it, let's do it right. Science is not "value free" in society. Morally, logical and ethical rigor must be applied to all our scientific endeavors. "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." Albert Einstein

"Man has an intense desire for assured knowledge." Albert Einstein "The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking." Albert Einstein

But what is science? Science is Personal and Public Science seeks answers to questions. Most people have these common questions at some point in their lives. Who am I? What am I? How am I? Why am I? Science is pretty good at tackling What & How. Empirical science gives the best description for the physical nature of the universe and us. Perhaps, the philosophy of science, neurology, psychology and metaphysics or even some kind of spirituality are better for addressing the Who and Why. I agree with my evolutionary hero Stephen Jay Gould that science and "religion" (as distinct from spirituality) are non-overlapping majesteria NOMA, I also agree with my heroes Albert Einstein and Carl Sagan that science and "spirituality" are rather complimentary. They do not have to be in conflict. Science is more than the "Scientific Method" Even though the discipline of science is very much the rigorous application and self-correction of the scientific method, There's more to it than that. Real Science Science as a discipline in research often is breathtakingly boring. The gathering of raw data can be painful and arduous. The data analysis of the results, ponderous. Reviewing and arriving at conclusions of the work, nerve-racking. But practiced repeatedly until it is more than just habit but a part of you,... it then becomes a transferable skill. Thinking logically and critically yeilds the ability to think this way about everything. Thinking scientifically is a way you perceive the empirical facts that shape your world view as well. It becomes how you experience of life. It's awesome! The one part I personally found pleasant was seeing patterns and coming up with questions about them. Theorizing. The hypothesis. But where does the hypothesis come from? Some argue that the hypothesis comes from observation but I disagree with that. I have found there is no one method to arrive at a hypothesis. It's more a faculty of intuition.  "I believe in intuition and inspiration.  Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research. " Albert Einstein Any fool can just look at some thing. It is altogether different to have a vision of a meaningful pattern. That is what the hypothesis is. A pattern, that comes to mind. But from where and how it comes about, there is not much that can be said. "The mind can proceed only so far upon what it knows and can prove. There comes a point where the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge, but can never prove how it got there. All great discoveries have involved such a leap" Albert Einstein

Science is a Way of Thinking Carl Sagan - A Way of Thinking Science and Spirituality Religion is in a different domain. It is generally not compatible with science. However, spirituality and science can be compatible. Why is Science Important? Brian Cox on the Role of Science in a Democracy Science keeping things real Keeping things very real

Research is essential to science!

Carl Sagan on the importance of scientific research

The following are suggested as tools

for testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent arguments

The Baloney Detection Kit Warning signs that suggest deception From the book by Carl Sagan The Demon Haunted World

Independent confirmation of the facts, where ever possible.	Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view.
Arguments Authority carries little weight  (in science there are no "authorities").	Spin more than one hypothesis Don't simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy.
Hypothesis Try not to get overly attached to one just because it's yours.	Quantify Wherever possible.
Continuity If there is a chain of argument every link in the chain must work.	Occam's razor If there are two hypotheses that explain the data equally well, choose the simpler one.
Falsifiability Ask whether the hypothesis can, at least in principle, be falsified. (shown to be false by some unambiguous test). In other words, it is testable?	Reproducibility Can others duplicate the experiment and get the same result?

Additional Issues Conduct control experiments - especially "double blind" experiments where the person taking measurements is not aware of the test and control subjects. Check for confounding factors - separate the variables. Common fallacies of logic and rhetoric Ad hominem - attacking the arguer and not the argument.  Argument from adverse consequences (putting pressure on the decision maker by pointing out dire consequences of an "unfavorable" decision). (absence of evidence is not evidence of absence). (typically referring to god's will). Begging the question (assuming an answer in the way the question is phrased). Observational selection (counting the hits and forgetting the misses). Statistics of small numbers (such as drawing conclusions from inadequate sample sizes). Misunderstanding the nature of statistics (President Eisenhower expressing astonishment and alarm on discovering that fully half of all Americans have below average intelligence!) (e.g. military expenditures based on worst case scenarios but scientific projections on environmental dangers thriftily ignored because they are not "proved"). Non sequitur - "it does not follow" - the logic falls down. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc - "it happened after so it was caused by" Meaningless question ("what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?). considering only the two extremes in a range of possibilities (making the "other side" look worse than it really is). Short-term v. long-term a subset of excluded middle ("why pursue fundamental science when we have so huge a budget deficit?"). Slippery slope a subset of excluded middle - unwarranted extrapolation of the effects (give an inch and they will take a mile). Confusion of correlation and causation. Caricaturing (or stereotyping) a position to make it easier to attack. Suppressed evidence or half-truths. Weasel words for example, use of euphemisms for war such as "police action" to get around limitations on Presidential powers. " An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public"

Suggested Readings Beginner The Logic of Scientific Discovery Karl Popper Intermediate The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Thomas Kuhn Advanced A Critique of Pure Reason Emmanuel Kant Coming Soon Check the MU-Library for more books

"It is not enough that you should understand about applied science in order that your work may increase man's blessings. 

Concern for man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavours...

in order that the creations of our minds shall be a blessing and not a curse to mankind.

Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations. " 

Albert Einstein

MU-Peter Science

© 2016 MU - Peter Shimon