Throughout the history of science many of the greatest discoveries have been serendipitous. An apple fell out of a tree onto Newton’s head. Fleming grew penicillin on accident. Out of these two discoveries grew our understanding of gravity and our use of antibiotics. However, what if these two discoveries had happened to different, less knowing men? Newton was trained in math and science, as was Fleming. If two average men had discovered gravity or penicillin, would they have even known what to do? More importantly, if they had made the discovery would the rest of society have listened to them? Serendipity can happen to anyone as long as they are paying attention. However, lucky discoveries by untrained men are much less credible than those of men trained in the field of the discovery.
Think of it this way. When you were in a high school math class if your not-so-smart friend accidentally stumbled across the answer doing their own work did you listen to them? I know that I didn’t. Conversely, if the teacher accidentally came across some method of doing a problem I would have believed him. The teacher was trained in the field, so to me his serendipitous discovery was legitimate whereas I would have been very skeptical of my friend’s discovery. Now, scale this up to a real, world changing discovery like that of penicillin. If your neighbor accidentally grew bacteria that he thought would cure diseases and asked you to take the “medicine”, would you? I know that I wouldn’t. However, if it were a legitimate, trained biologist, I would feel much more comfortable listening to them and using the bacteria. As long as they are made by trained professionals lucky, serendipitous discoveries are just as legitimate as discoveries made after a long process that requires tremendous amounts of perseverance.
I like the comparison of the serendipitous discovery of antibiotics and gravity between trained men and less educated men. I also used the example of the discovery of Penicillin but had not considered Newton's discovery of gravity, which also makes a very good point on serendipitous discovery. I agree with your points overall, especially the point that serendipity happens to those who are prepared, which i also used in my post. I like the way you personalized the argument of the legitimacy of serendipitous discovery by using a high school math class. It allows for something i can relate to, and drives the point home.
ReplyDeletePreston Kagiri - Section J5