Who Will Observe The Observers?

A Hundred Thousand Million Stars Make One Galaxy; A Hundred Thousand Million Galaxies Make One Universe. The Figures May Not Be Very Trustworthy, But I Think They Give A Correct Impression.

Observation And Theory Get On Best When They Are Mixed Together, Both Helping One Another In The Pursuit Of Truth. It Is A Good Rule Not To Put Overmuch Confidence In A Theory Until It Has Been Confirmed By Observation. I Hope I Shall Not Shock The Experimental Physicists Too Much If I Add That It Is Also A Good Rule Not To Put Overmuch Confidence In The Observational Results That Are Put Forward Until They Have Been Confirmed By Theory.

Let Us Suppose That An Ichthyologist Is Exploring The Life Of The Ocean. He Casts A Net Into The Water And Brings Up A Fishy Assortment. Surveying His Catch, He Proceeds In The Usual Manner Of A Scientist To Systematise What It Reveals. He Arrives At Two Generalisations: No Sea-creature Is Less Than Two Inches Long. (2) All Sea-creatures Have Gills. These Are Both True Of His Catch, And He Assumes Tentatively That They Will Remain True However Often He Repeats It.

The Idea Of A Universal Mind Or Logos Would Be, I Think, A Fairly Plausible Inference From The Present State Of Scientific Theory.

If Someone Points Out To You That Your Pet Theory Of The Universe Is In Disagreement With Maxwell's Equations - Then So Much The Worse For Maxwell's Equations. If It Is Found To Be Contradicted By Observation - Well, These Experimentalists Do Bungle Things Sometimes. But If Your Theory Is Found To Be Against The Second Law Of Thermodynamics I Can Give You No Hope; There Is Nothing For It But To Collapse In Deepest Humiliation.