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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (37709)	5/10/1999 11:44:00 AM
From: Chuzzlewit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

I am in general, although not universal agreement. For example, it would be meaningless for the layman to read Watson and Crick's papers on the structure of DNA, but I think it is valuable to read their non-technical versions of their thoughts. The Origin of Species is accessible to all -- it doesn't require a scientific background to understand. But it gives us great insight into the scientific mind, and the formulation of one of the great scientific revolutions. I think people need to understand more than the scientific principles -- they need to understand the scientific mind. Many lay people do not seem to grasp the tremendous sweep of ideas with which scientists grapple. And unlike the humanities, science is constrained by the observable. Let me give you a scientific idea with tremendous sweep -- the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Heisenberg postulated that you cannot simultaneously measure the position and energy level of an electron. That sounds pretty mundane to the non-scientist, but if you examine the idea more closely you appreciate its sweep. Watch: Measuring any aspect of a system requires the input of energy into that system. Therefore, the very act of measurement perturbs the system and leaves it changed. This is a very powerful idea. Can you, as a lawyer, take that idea and run with it? I bet you can. TTFN, CTC