Blog 1

     The handout of Dr. Pennock’s first chapter “An Instinct for Truth, Knowledge, Discovery” discusses the evolutionary instinct of people to be curios and how that became the driving virtue of science in order to search for empirical truths within the world. The chapter brings up important points about the purpose of science that is not discussed in classes, such as the fact that curiosity is an innate evolutionary trait. From what I understood from lectures about evolution, evolution would not give way to such traits as curiosity and in fact would favor against those traits. Yet, the chapter explains how curiosity could have evolved and allowed organisms to be more fit than others by be a driving force to search out for better resources. Even though the chapter is pretty explanatory of all the topics presented, there are a few topics discussed within the chapter that seem a little contradictory. For instance, the quote by Lewis Thomas about the characteristics about scientists is a wonderful way to build up what the chapter is about. However, the implication that Thomas was describing evolution seems to be a bit of a stretch. Thomas’s references that scientists find grabbing the answer to something is more important than feeding or breeding does not line up with the chapters later reference to Darwin’s conclusion that as humans, even though we do not have complex instincts as lower animals do, we share the instincts of self-preservation and sex drive. This calls into question than, does our instinct of curiosity somehow over ride our other and more deeply rooted instincts. The chapter does explain of how curiosity is used for self-preservation and is a competitive advantage, such as when a food resource is running low and an organism follows a scent for a possible new source. For it to be an advantage though, curiosity needs to be accompanied by caution. This made me question then where this notion of caution developed, whether it was also an evolved instinct and whether or not it is seen in other organisms and animals besides humans. Personally, I would have loved to have read more about, yet the chapter seems to drop it from there. 

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