Failure is a book that seeks to make science more appealing by exposing its faults. In this sequel to Ignorance, Stuart Firestein shows us that scientific enterprise is riddled with failures, and that this is not only necessary but good.
"The pursuit of science by professional scientists every day bears less and less resemblance to the perception of science by the general public. It is not the rule-based, methodical system for accumulating facts that dominates the public view. Rather it is the idiosyncratic, often bumbling search for understanding in mostly uncharted places. It is full of wrong turns, cul-de-sacs, mistaken identities, false findings, errors of fact and judgment-and the occasional remarkable success. The widespread but distorted view of science as infallible originates in an education system that teaches nothing but facts using very large, very frightening textbooks, and is spread by media that report on discoveries but almost never on process. It is further reinforced by politicians who pay for it and want to use it to determine policy and therefore want it right and, worst of all, sometimes by scientists who learn early on that talking too much about failures and not enough about successes can harm their careers. Failure, then, is a book that seeks to make science more appealing by exposing its faults. In this sequel to Ignorance, Stuart Firestein shows us that scientific enterprise is riddled with failures, and that this is not only necessary but good. Failure reveals how science got its start, when humans began to use a process-trial and error-as a kind of recipe that includes a hefty dose of failure. It gives the non-scientifically trained public an insider's view of how science is actually done, with the aim of making it accessible, comprehensible, and entertaining." --Publisher description
Die wissenschaftliche Forschung wird oft als durchdachte und rationale Maschinerie betrachtet, die gezielt relevante Ergebnisse produziert. Doch der Neurowissenschaftler Stuart Firestein widerspricht dieser Ansicht. Er vergleicht Forschung mit der Suche nach einer schwarzen Katze in einem stockdunklen Raum, was oft frustrierend und verwirrend ist und nur selten zu bahnbrechenden Erkenntnissen führt. Trotz dieser Herausforderungen stehen täglich Tausende von Wissenschaftlern auf, um unermüdlich in ihren Labors und Büros zu arbeiten. Was treibt sie an? Firestein bezeichnet dies provokant als Ignoranz, jedoch nicht abwertend, sondern als Ausdruck einer Neugier, die alle Widerstände ignoriert. In seiner unterhaltsamen und tiefgründigen Analyse zeigt er, wie diese Ignoranz seit Jahrhunderten die Wissenschaft vorantreibt, und illustriert dies mit vielen erhellenden Beispielen aus verschiedenen wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen. Die Untersuchung bietet einen klaren, oft humorvollen Blick auf die Realität der aktuellen Forschung und hebt sich von romantischen Vorstellungen ab, indem sie Fallgeschichten von Wissenschaftlern aus unterschiedlichsten Bereichen präsentiert.
Contrary to the popular view of science as a mountainous accumulation of facts and data, Stuart Firestein takes the novel perspective that ignorance is the main product and driving force of science, and that this is the best way to understand the process of scientific discovery.