Scientific research is methodical. Created from a desire to make the unknown known, the “scientific method” was created in the 15th century based on common sense. As Barry analysis the scientific process, he says that the unknown must be made into a tool, even against one’s own ideas and beliefs. However, that concept is tenuous, so Barry uses logical situations to present the idea. In the first paragraph Barry begins by listing the differences of the strength and conviction of certainty with the weakness and fear of uncertainty to better define “uncertainty”. In his second paragraph he starts establishing the direction; He starts with listing the qualities that a scientist should have, ending with an emphasis on courage. Barry does not think courage means “venturing into the unknown,” which is a professional way of saying “jumping off a cliff that you don’t have any idea how high is, eyes closed, screaming” but instead the courage to face the fact that everything you know could be shattered upon the “sharp edge of a single finding.” In his third paragraph, Barry continues emphasis on, is that to be a good scientist you have to reject all that is not fact. This means the total rejection of religion, the afterlife and anything that may be commonly accepted …show more content…
A pioneer leaves all “civilized” country behind them and goes out into the world making a home that does not exist yet. This analogy is used to relate back to the thesis about uncertainty. A scientist, despite knowing nothing and making up tools to use, must still be logical. Barry finishes the fourth paragraph with a two-sentence antithesis, with a humorously ironic effect. The sentence is an extremely long, elaborate, and relates the finding of the truth that illuminates the road for colleagues, and then, bluntly, provides the inverse result, which is like falling off a