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TOPIC: ISSUE87 - "In any field of inquiry, the beginner is more likely than the expert to make important discoveries."
WORDS: 543 TIME: 00:59:15 DATE: 2009/7/29 21:44:38
Admittedly, nowadays, we find science journals, magazines, and newspapers are full of articles telling us that some young brilliant brain has made some breakthroughs or new and significant discoveries, but can we conclude that the experts are not as good as beginners in making important discoveries?
The core of the scientific methods is to left enough room in one's brain to doubt and at the same time to accepted the fresh foundings, which were proved to be true, sincerely. From that point of view, we may conclude that any proposition which is either too arbitary or too absolute is potentially fallacious. So when the first time I encounter the statement above, the word "any" made me feel sorry for the proposition, which could have made much more sense if instilled with more cogency and balance.
Firstly, the situation differs from area to area. For a scientist, maybe beginners have more curiosity and passion than the experienced experts and are seem to make bigger breakthroughs as for science, in a certain degree, "imagination is more important than knowledge"(A.Einstein). But what about other subjects such as archeology? Time and time again numerous acient relics were disintered by highly experienced experts while the beginners even don't realize that there maybe something valuable lied deep under the cover of dust in that territory. By that example I want to convey that there are some areas in which the experience and the long-term familarity to the subject is itself the irreplacable value, and one cannot make crucial discoveries without being an expert first.
What is more? Even in the domain of science, which were sometimes considered imagination and youth comes first, the neophytes are not absolutely better capable of finding new things. Take my major, physics, for instance, when M. Planck, famous for his fundamental contribution to the foundation of the quantum theory, which were considered as one of the most critical discoveries of the 20th century, published his discovery in 1900, he was already in his fourties and was already an expert in his area. At the same time, take another great phenomenon of physics for example, A. Einstein, publish his theories in his middle-twenty as a strange name to the whole world of physics. Examples show the same meanings I can find a dozen: 1994 Nobel prize owner, John Nash made his breakthrough of game theory in his doctoral treatise when he was 22, while another great economist Adam Smith, finish writing his book The Wealth of Nations at the age of 53, being professor for around twenty years. So, through careful observation and cogitation, we could find that maybe what makes the difference is not being an expert or beginner but the dedication to one's own persuits, the open mind to new things, and the ever-burning passion in one's heart.
In sum, I think it's clear that we should grasp the very essence of making new discovery: with respect and prudence to the experiences provided, one should keep an open mind to whatever make sense and empty his own strength into the pursuit of development. I have faith that when we find the balance, with years of devotion maybe, we will make it big sooner or later, no matter we are neophytes or experts. |
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