The End of Reductionism
In a recent article in Discover magazine (The Final Frontier), John Horgan argues that the era of big discoveries in Science is coming to an end: "scientists are unlikely to discover anything surpassing the Big Bang, quantum mechanics, relativity, natural selection, or genetics."
Reductionism really does appear to be ending, but is a natural cycle? Do we naturally go through phases of observation followed by phases of reductionism? Hasn't it always been the case that true exploration is expensive? Are we reaching a point where exploration is proportionally more expensive than it has been in the past? Or do we just need to wait until we learn more?
More cosmological data is arriving every day from Hubble and other telescopes. More data about biological processes arrives every day. Our understanding of the complexities of evolution are just starting to emerge. Perhaps we'll find reductionist explanations that fit Lamark's observations or loosely fit Darwin's theory of pangensis. Perhaps we'll gain much further insight into how macroeconomics works across countries and continents. Certainly, the unified theory of physics remains illusive.
As a reductionist thinker, I certainly hope reductionism isn't complete. It is interesting, however, to note that the number of domains that still remain mysteries is shrinking. We can enumerate them: cosmological phenomenon, sub-atomic physics, neuroscience, genetics/evolution, interior of the earth, human immune system, and earth history.
Once we put the puzzle pieces in place, what is next? Presumably the universe holds more secrets, but we will have to go find them.
Scientific reductionism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Reductionism really does appear to be ending, but is a natural cycle? Do we naturally go through phases of observation followed by phases of reductionism? Hasn't it always been the case that true exploration is expensive? Are we reaching a point where exploration is proportionally more expensive than it has been in the past? Or do we just need to wait until we learn more?
More cosmological data is arriving every day from Hubble and other telescopes. More data about biological processes arrives every day. Our understanding of the complexities of evolution are just starting to emerge. Perhaps we'll find reductionist explanations that fit Lamark's observations or loosely fit Darwin's theory of pangensis. Perhaps we'll gain much further insight into how macroeconomics works across countries and continents. Certainly, the unified theory of physics remains illusive.
As a reductionist thinker, I certainly hope reductionism isn't complete. It is interesting, however, to note that the number of domains that still remain mysteries is shrinking. We can enumerate them: cosmological phenomenon, sub-atomic physics, neuroscience, genetics/evolution, interior of the earth, human immune system, and earth history.
Once we put the puzzle pieces in place, what is next? Presumably the universe holds more secrets, but we will have to go find them.
Scientific reductionism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
posted by IdeaMan at 12:40 PM
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