The Pleasure of Finding Things Out by Richard P. Feynman

Author:Richard P. Feynman [Feynman, Richard P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780465013128
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2012-05-25T15:57:57+00:00

6

THE VALUE OF SCIENCE

Of all its many values, the greatest must be the freedom to doubt.

In Hawaii, Feynman learns a lesson in humility while touring a Buddhist temple: “To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell.” This is one of Feynman’s most eloquent pieces, reflecting on science’s relevance to the human experience and vice versa. He also gives a lesson to fellow scientists on their responsibility to the future of civilization.

From time to time, people suggest to me that scientists ought to give more consideration to social problems–especially that they should be more responsible in considering the impact of science upon society. This same suggestion must be made to many other scientists, and it seems to be generally believed that if the scientists would only look at these very difficult social problems and not spend so much time fooling with the less vital scientific ones, great success would come of it.

It seems to me that we do think about these problems from time to time, but we don’t put full-time effort into them–the reason being that we know we don’t have any magic formula for solving problems, that social problems are very much harder than scientific ones, and that we usually don’t get anywhere when we do think about them.

I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy–and when he talks about a nonscientific matter, he will sound as naive as anyone untrained in the matter. Since the question of the value of science is not a scientific subject, this discussion is dedicated to proving my point–by example.

The first way in which science is of value is familiar to everyone. It is that scientific knowledge enables us to do all kinds of things and to make all kinds of things. Of course if we make good things, it is not only to the credit of science; it is also to the credit of the moral choice which led us to good work. Scientific knowledge is an enabling power to do either good or bad–but it does not carry instructions on how to use it. Such power has evident value–even though the power may be negated by what one does.

I learned a way of expressing this common human problem on a trip to Honolulu. In a Buddhist temple there, the man in charge explained a little bit about the Buddhist religion for tourists, and then ended his talk by telling them he had something to say to them that they would never forget–and I have never forgotten it. It was a proverb of the Buddhist religion:

“To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell.”

What, then, is the value of the key to heaven? It is true that if we lack clear instructions that determine which is the gate to heaven and which the gate to hell, the key may be a dangerous object to use, but it obviously has value.

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