Is the age of scientific discovery ending?

[Still Waters]

The age of scientific discovery may be nearing its end as the limits of the human mind make further breakthroughs impossible, leading scientists have said.

Experts say the “low hanging fruit” of scientific knowledge, such as the laws of motion and gravity, was attained using simple methods in previous centuries, leaving only increasingly impenetrable problems for modern scientists to solve.

Uncharted areas of science are now so complex that even the greatest minds will struggle to advance human understanding of the world, they claim.

In addition, the remaining problems are becoming so far removed from our natural sensory range that they require increasingly powerful machines, such as the Large Hadron Collider, even to approach them.

Russell Stannard, professor emeritus of physics at the Open University, argues that although existing scientific knowledge will continue to be applied in news ways, "the gaining of knowledge about fundamental laws of nature and the constituents of the world, that must come to an end”.

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[Drev]

Ohwell, we had a good run.

[questionmark]

Well, if I get $10 for every time they said that I could throw a week long party for my whole village.

[farandaway]

Boy, aren't they full of themselves? This assumes that they are correct in everything discovered so far. That just sounds like arrogance to me.

[Admiral Danger]

there's nothing wrong with a challenge.

so get back to work!

[Answer42]

It does seem there is always new information that adds to our knowledge. However, I do think that we are lacking any new big discoveries that change the way we function. There is a great deal of clouding the issue of science discovery with technological tweaks. Most of these tweaks will not change our social trajectory. A case in point are cell phones that are radios so the real discovery happened many moons ago. I could talk around the work for free on my amateur radio. Not saying cell phones are not good but they rely heavily on solid technologies we now have especially since there is so much money involved. We discover more about our universe but to what end? Knowing the finiteness of the universe will not change anything but abstract thought. There needs to be a new discovery that will really change things. Control gravity. Talk with animals. Really understand how our brain works, not one of the abstract brain function model of the week. Real space travel capable of leaving our galaxy, but will accept the solar system.

Information is not necessarily the key to new discovery. Most of the big discoveries were done in near solitude with what we would consider now to be minimal information input.

One idea is for sure, human kind lacks the ability to control discoveries and technologies.

[Mentalcase]

It does seem there is always new information that adds to our knowledge. However, I do think that we are lacking any new big discoveries that change the way we function. There is a great deal of clouding the issue of science discovery with technological tweaks. Most of these tweaks will not change our social trajectory. A case in point are cell phones that are radios so the real discovery happened many moons ago. I could talk around the work for free on my amateur radio. Not saying cell phones are not good but they rely heavily on solid technologies we now have especially since there is so much money involved. We discover more about our universe but to what end? Knowing the finiteness of the universe will not change anything but abstract thought. There needs to be a new discovery that will really change things. Control gravity. Talk with animals. Really understand how our brain works, not one of the abstract brain function model of the week. Real space travel capable of leaving our galaxy, but will accept the solar system.

Information is not necessarily the key to new discovery. Most of the big discoveries were done in near solitude with what we would consider now to be minimal information input.

One idea is for sure, human kind lacks the ability to control discoveries and technologies.

You forgot about robots! It'll only be a matter of time before our houses are filled with them. When that happens, we wont be feeling so drag about our current status on discoveries. There are billions of discoveries to be made. We are still a very young technological society. It's only been a blink of an eye since the revolution started. Give it a couple more generations, then say the same thing. The last line of your post was apt!

We've only scratched the surface with discoveries in phsyics. Making sense of it requires lots of individuals dedicating their whole life to these problems. We are still perfecting what we know, which is more then what we need to survive. There is a huge demand for newly discovered concepts and the like but, it's not necessary for our survival. Everything we will ever need, has been discovered. People need to relax and not worry about our Egos as humans! Discoveries will be made regardless of this article.

Edited September 26, 2010 by Mentalcase

[ExpandMyMind]

Well, if I get $10 for every time they said that I could throw a week long party for my whole village.

[ShadowSot]

It's very much still ongoing.

The universe is an amazing, and immense place.

We are just getting the ideas on how it all works together.

Someday we'll find a way to move out of neighborhood and out into the bigger galaxy, and imagine how much we will discover then?

Imagine how amazing our world is, and then how amazing a galaxy with hundred of worlds similar to our own could be.

We need to stop using the word awesome, so that it has some real meaning when we get out there.

Edited September 26, 2010 by ShadowSot

[RamboIII]

as long as there is ingenuity there will be a new way of looking at what is already there.

[The Silver Thong]

We have scratched the surface but by no means have even come close to our fully understanding everything. The day that happens is the day we ourselves become gods.

[Redoubt]

Let's not confuse difficulty with malaise.

Prior to the discovery of North America, there was still a widely held view that the world was flat. Just over a century ago, many in the scientific establishment were sure that powered, heavier-than-air flight was impossible. These are not merely pauses to refresh; they are ages of malignant complacency.

It is, after all, far easier to declare something as being impossible or so difficult that, in this case, the lack of political will and scholastic effort is excused. And what we get in return for this timidity? An age of mediocrity in all things.

[hurm]

What audacity. It just sounds like to me that they're saying we're getting to be as smart as we can be. Which is unbelievably pompous each generation is smarter, faster, stronger, more athletic etc etc. Can't believe they released this statement. The statement I just posted has been shown to happen time and again, and that doesn't even cover what might fall into our lap.

[ShadowSot]

Prior to the discovery of North America, there was still a widely held view that the world was flat. Just over a century ago, many in the scientific establishment were sure that powered, heavier-than-air flight was impossible. These are not merely pauses to refresh; they are ages of malignant complacency.

No, at the time of Columbus' voyage they were already making globes. They didn't know the continent of America existed, they thought it was empty ocean at the time.

Columbus thought the world was smaller. The ancient Greeks figured out the world was a sphere and calculated the size of the Earth very closely.

Heavier than air flight was possible, but there had been repeated failures until the Wright Brother's flight.

[questionmark]

No, at the time of Columbus' voyage they were already making globes. They didn't know the continent of America existed, they thought it was empty ocean at the time.

Columbus thought the world was smaller. The ancient Greeks figured out the world was a sphere and calculated the size of the Earth very closely.

Depending on the side of the fence you sit Strabon of Alexandria was Egyptian.

The whole thing was poo-pooed by a certain Ptolemy, not because he had some evidence to the contrary but because his favorite superstition (Astrology) did not work in a heliocentric system.

When it came to determine in more recent times if Strabon or Ptolemy was right they asked a certain Albert von Boellstadt, who also liked to cast horoscopes. Because this guy is better known as Saint Albert the Great terracentricity was elevated to dogma.

[ShadowSot]

The whole thing was poo-pooed by a certain Ptolemy, not because he had some evidence to the contrary but because his favorite superstition (Astrology) did not work in a heliocentric system.

And yet it still persists.

Depending on the side of the fence you sit Strabon of Alexandria was Egyptian.

I'm under the impression he was born Greek and traveled to Egypt, which was then under the control of the Ptolemies, who were Greeks themselves, if I remember correctly. Which... it's entirely likely I don't. ^^;

When it came to determine in more recent times if Strabon or Ptolemy was right they asked a certain Albert von Boellstadt, who also liked to cast horoscopes. Because this guy is better known as Saint Albert the Great terracentricity was elevated to dogma.

Well... I'm not speaking precisely of heliocentricism, but the shape of the Earth.

I laugh a little when reading how officially, the Earth was the center, however if you actually wanted to calculate the position of the planets, then you would base it off of the idea the Sun was at the center, came across that reading Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan.

Spherical Earth was known by the Greeks in teh 5th century.

It took longer for heilocentrism to catch on, since it's harder to directly observe from Earth.

[trancelikestate]

this article is stupid imo. Our technology is currently growing at an exponential rate. Although I can see scientific discovery slowing down in the future as science becomes more and more complex, even taking generations to figure out but we are far from discovering all that we can. This is like the patent office that closed in the 1800's because someone thought there was nothing else to invent. Never underestimate the power of human ingenuity and our drive to understand our surroundings.

[questionmark]

Well... I'm not speaking precisely of heliocentricism, but the shape of the Earth.

I laugh a little when reading how officially, the Earth was the center, however if you actually wanted to calculate the position of the planets, then you would base it off of the idea the Sun was at the center, came across that reading Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan.

Spherical Earth was known by the Greeks in teh 5th century.

It took longer for heilocentrism to catch on, since it's harder to directly observe from Earth.

Maybe I should have added that the flat earth was part of the theorem that the sun turns around the earth.

[ShadowSot]

Maybe I should have added that the flat earth was part of the theorem that the sun turns around the earth.

It was huh? I didn't know that.

[questionmark]

It was huh? I didn't know that.

The original comes from Aristotle, he called the system the celestial spheres. In the 500 years since Aristotle many things had changed, until Ptolemy reinstated all the old ideas to make it fit "his view of the world".

[embarrasment]

no one in recorded history ever believed the Earth is flat. It's a myth. The very first writing about astronomy are by the ancient Greek philosophers who believed the earth to be a sphere. No one has since disagreed with them , and there is nothing before them.

I may be overreaching, but this is accurate with respect to Western philosophy.

Is science done? In my opinion nothing of any inherent worth has been discovered in the past 85 years. Did you know the transistor is nearly a century old?

The first patent[1] for the field-effect transistor principle was filed in Canada by Austrian-Hungarian physicist Julius Edgar Lilienfeld on October 22, 1925

I realize no one cared about it until AOL came along, but the things we may think are new are in fact older than my grandfather.

[Azalin]

It is true that our scientific venture is coming to a close. Like the article stated, anything science has theorized that needs clarification takes an entire scientific team and billions of dollars of equipment to replicate and test the theory. It's not as easy as rolling marbles down the plank, or simply having an idea. Small advancements will always be made in computers, automobiles, and other electronic industries, but great scientific breakthroughs are over. I don't doubt we are the smartest entity on this world, however even we have a limit to what we can fathom and understand. A dog cannot understand the algorithms of gravity, it's just not possible. The answer to the universe can be looking at us everyday, like a bird staring off into a mirror, however we as a race may never grasp it. Saying that we can understand and explain space, and the galaxy is what I find arrogant.

[Redoubt]

No, at the time of Columbus' voyage they were already making globes. They didn't know the continent of America existed, they thought it was empty ocean at the time.

Columbus thought the world was smaller. The ancient Greeks figured out the world was a sphere and calculated the size of the Earth very closely.

Heavier than air flight was possible, but there had been repeated failures until the Wright Brother's flight.

*sigh*

I see the point was applied to split a hair.

Suit yourself.

[Mr Mojo Risin]

haven't we already begun to hook our brains up to computers in some way, if there is a way to find out more answers we will find it

[ShadowSot]

*sigh*

I see the point was applied to split a hair.

Suit yourself.

Not really, merely pointing out that popular consensus of data is misleading, and I find it important, in relation to science among other things, to be aware of how it's advanced and what was discovered when and how.