In today’s vastly expanded scientific enterprise, obsessed with impact factors and competition, we will need much more night science to unveil the many mysteries that remain about the workings of organisms.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of deep exploration in science beyond superficial metrics of success.
Francois Jacob highlights the growing trend in the scientific community to focus on quantifiable metrics, such as impact factors, which may overshadow the need for thorough and in-depth exploration of complex biological phenomena. He advocates for a more patient and contemplative approach to scientific inquiry, aptly termed 'night science', which encourages researchers to delve into the unknowns of organismal biology rather than getting caught up in competition and superficial achievements.
In practice
Use this quote in a scientific conference to encourage researchers to pursue long-term projects.
The game was that of continually inventing a possible world, or a piece of a possible world, and then of comparing it with the real world... a race without end... What mattered more than the answers were the questions... For me, this world of questions and the provisional, this chase after an answer that was always put off to the next day, all that was euphoric. I lived in the future... I had turned my anxiety into my profession.
Space is not empty. It is full, a plenum as opposed to a vacuum, and is the ground for the existence of everything, including ourselves. The universe is not separate from this cosmic sea of energy.
Very many maintain that all we know is still infinitely less than all that still remains unknown.
As you try to tweak your sleep one way or the other, you might be, you might be doing great - you might do better at remembering details of an event, but you might end up being poorer at abstracting the gist or the rules associated with it.
The significant chemicals of living tissue are rickety and unstable, which is exactly what is needed for life.
Evolution works by selection, not by instruction. There is no final cause, no teleology, no purpose guiding the overall process
Of course, we would love to know more about the exact moment of Big Bang, but interposing an outside intelligence does nothing to add to that knowledge, as we still know nothing about the creation of that intelligence.
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