I was listening to a podcast the other day that was discussing a very powerful theoretical question that I cannot stop thinking about. The question was:
“If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence was passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words?”
The question in particular was posed by Richard Feldman, a prominent theoretical physicist and Noble Prize winner in Physics. At Cal Tech, Feldman was asked to revamp the physics department in order to get more students interested in the subject. As someone who worked on the Manhattan Project, worked on the pioneer of quantum computing, and as someone who is one of the most important physicists to ever lived, I doubt he needed to try very hard to get people interested in the subject. The answer to his own question was this:
“I believe it is the atomic hypothesis (or the atomic fact, or whatever you wish to call it) that all things are made of atoms—little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another. In that one sentence, you will see, there is an enormous amount of information about the world, if just a little imagination and thinking are applied.”
His answer reveals how you really need to consider what the most important piece of knowledge is. What part of scientific knowledge is the most important accelerator of growth in our society? What philosophical and moral implications come into play? Essentially, what piece of knowledge gives the most insight into innovation?
My mind was all over the place thinking about the answer to this question. It’s hard. And, as I thought about the question, I started to apply it to my work (sans the cataclysm). In that moment, it became clear to me what I can work on in my field.
I want to extend a simpler, but still powerful question, to you all:
In your field, what is the most important thing people should know? How does that piece of information grow your field’s knowledge?
For me, it is easily the acknowledgment of the difference between dialogue, deliberation, and debate in relation to public engagement. And, now It seems I have the subject for my next blog post!