How to Absorb the World Like a Scientist

I love my arts - as someone who enjoys painting, dancing, singing in a choir, theater, design, literature, culture, psychoanalyzing people… I do regret not getting more education on science subjects in my youth and the missed opportunity to train my brain to function in a different way.

It is my belief in the past, that science is about finding and having an absolute answer (truth) with the support of logic and hard evidence. In other words, science is about certainty. It has been my assumption for years anyway. Until I had a chat with a friend who used to work in a lab as a scientist.

She was kindly sharing her story with me, about how she changed her career course from science to retail/ fashion. I got fascinated by this -

“As a professional biologist, you are constantly disproving your theories. The more you know, the more confused you get. Scientists are working in a myth breaking business, almost always disconfirming your own findings. You are on a hunt to new knowledge and solutions, but every new piece of information will throw you into a darker corner at the same time”.

Scientists are prepared for the unknown. They have to be adaptive and be open to new perspectives and ways of thinking. Perhaps the most difficult part for the rest of us non-scientists, is to have the courage to constantly admit that we have been wrong about things, that it is okay to be wrong and forge ahead with new findings anyway.

Maybe we can all (especially the business world) operate more like scientists?