Beliefs should be like fluid entities within the mind, some malleable and doubtful, others more viscous and certain. But feeling certain should never be confused with being incontestable. Once a belief is allowed to solidify, it becomes like a shackle on the mind, inhibiting exploration, learning and growth. A fluid mind should never allow a belief to be so hardened that it is beyond rational scrutiny. A fluid mind always invites rational examination upon even its most cherished convictions.
“The fact that scientists argue is the virtue of science. Science isn’t dogmatic. It’s not a church. You don’t get the sacred fathers together to decide what’s true, and that’s the one version. The nature of science is that it’s a process of critical thinking and critical discourse of—open questioning. So...any time you have a debate people can misappropriate and misunderstand. I think that’s actually showing the true virtue of science to the public—that science isn’t dogma. Science is about trying to look at the world and work with evidence and work with rational arguments. And that’s great that brilliant minds...can disagree and that they can have those debates and no one is silenced or squelched in that sense—that it’s open to evidence to be explored and it’s open to being challenged.”
—Richard York
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