To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves.
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1998 : WHAT QUESTIONS ARE YOU ASKING YOURSELF? [1]

In the News [ 4 ] [2]
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Contributors [ 110 ] [3]   |   View All Responses [ 109 ] [4]
george_c_williams's picture [5]
George C. Williams [5]
was an evolutionary biologist; professor emeritus of ecology
Evolutionary biologist (emeritus) at SUNY -Stony Brook; author of Adaptation and Natural Selection; The Ponyfish's Glow

"The main reason I have not sent you a question is that I can not think of one worth sending. So maybe my appropriate question is 'What question should I ask?' The one I wish I could identify would be of great intellectual or practical interest, and I (or someone) would have some hope of solving it. Peter Medawar once defined science as 'the art of the soluble'. This is an example of a definition that may be formally correct but does not help anyone trying to find out what science is, but it makes a good point. For a problem to be scientifically important it has to be soluble. How many angels can dance on a pinhead may be a problem of great interest to some people, but it is not soluble."

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[1] https://stage.edge.org/annual-question/what-questions-are-you-asking-yourself
[2] https://stage.edge.org/inthenews/what-questions-are-you-asking-yourself
[3] https://stage.edge.org/contributors/what-questions-are-you-asking-yourself
[4] https://stage.edge.org/responses/what-questions-are-you-asking-yourself
[5] https://stage.edge.org/memberbio/george_c_williams