Science and technology have advanced exponetially since the beginning of time. Just think about how much progress was made in the last 100 years compared to any other century in history. Some people argue, however, that basically all the MAJOR scientific questions have been answered and scientific progress will slowly come to a hault. What will be left is just filling in the nitty-gritty details.
My question then is:
Do you think it is possible for us to someday know everything there is to know?
And if so, will science keep progressing the way it is until the day when there is nothing left to discover, or will the progress slowly level off as it approaches that limit?
2006-12-10 15:08:22 · 25 answers · asked by Mike A 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Alternative ➔ Other - Alternative
I think science will start refining things now, like reinventing a better engine that the one that has been running cars for the past one hundred years.
Better computers, stronger building materials and more efficient modes of travel.
2006-12-10 15:45:19 · answer #1 · answered by Sean 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I don't see there being a law of diminishing returns when it comes to science. There have been countless times throughout history when people thought that we knew as much as we could know, or that science had progressed as far as it could. That's usually when a new major discovery knocked the world of science on its collective butt.
No, I don't think it's possible for the human race to now all there is to know. We will always be asking "Why?" And because there will always be questions unanswered, there will always be room for religion and faith in this existence (and that's not a bad thing at all.)
2006-12-10 15:18:52 · answer #2 · answered by Dave of the Hill People 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
All scientific questions have been answered? Hardly. Those people know very little about science. We still don't know what dark matter is, if string theory is correct, the mechanism for gravity, what's causing the expansion of the universe, what caused the big bang, what's driving the solar magnetic field, why the solar corona is so hot, and thousands, if not millions, of question in astrophysics alone - and that's just my field. Everytime we discover something new, we uncover more questions to be answered.
There will always be something left to discover.
2006-12-10 17:47:18 · answer #3 · answered by eri 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I highly doubt it. Science is about discovering and studying new things. There's still thousands of insects yet to be discovered. Plus, organisms evolve to adapt to their living environment and as long as there will be changes in agriculture, pollution, and everything else that effects our living conditions (which there always is) then different organisms that get exposed to things they haven't before need to learn how to adjust to it. Then in other sciences such as in space, we went for a long time thinking that Pluto was a planet (I still think it is) now they're saying that it's not. Anyway, I think it's always going to be a never ending cycle of discovery. But that's just it, we haven't discovered it yet so therefore we assume nothing's there when something really is.
2006-12-12 09:35:21 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
so basically will there ever be a day when there is no more problems? nope. science is the study of problems in an attempt to solve them through methods.
if you mean end to science as far as figure out everything there is to figure out, that would be some time so far into the future i think our sun would run out of energy first.
but i think yes that one day there will be an end to science, anything that has a beginning must have an end. right? Exept for the song that never ends, my cousin told me to put that.
:)
2006-12-11 10:59:39 · answer #5 · answered by philosopher 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There will never be an end to science. With each new advancement and discovery, there is something new for us to learn and comprehend. One thing always leads to another, and thus, one discovery will likely lead to a slew of new questions, or a series of new things we are to understand.
Science is omnipresent, and will live, in some capacity, forever.
2006-12-11 03:04:22 · answer #6 · answered by thomasgraham880 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Went we reach that stage we will discover another dimension an soon realize that our civilization is at a lower level than the other civilizations in the universe.That have master how to create planets.
2006-12-12 05:17:40 · answer #7 · answered by Crasy eyes 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Science is a method, not a thing that can end. As long as you apply the scientific method to problems, and be sure, we will never run out of problems, then there will be no end to science.
2006-12-11 08:55:15 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mike, Mike, Mike, you know that when you discover something another invention/discovery unearths itself dude!. Example, man discovered fire, then cooking was enabled, with cooking now there was chemistry, with chemistry there was fire. It is a never ending circle or in this case, when there was chemistry there was atomic energy, with that there were new engines and so on. You see, with every new discover a new one can be accessed. My answer: Science will never end.
2006-12-10 15:18:29 · answer #9 · answered by wounded_soldier2 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
People use that word exponentially too often....
Check out Gregory Chaitin & others on this question... a book called Impossibility by Barrow...
Briefly, it is not possible that we will know everything that there is to know... certainly not without some major strange-ness arriving on the stage...
K (antiparanoid.blogspot.com)
2006-12-10 15:13:36 · answer #10 · answered by K V 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋