by Idris Hsi
"One is reminded of Harry Lime's famous quip in the movie 'The Third Man' that 30 years of noisy, violent churning under the Borgias in Italy produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance, while 500 years of peace, quiet and harmony in Switzerland produced the cuckoo clock.
'A monolithic framework does not create a critical mind,' remarked the religious philosopher David Hartman. 'Where there is only one self-evident truth, nothing ever gets challenged and no sparks of creativity ever get generated. The strength of America has always been its ability to challenge its own truths by presenting alternative possibilities. That forces you to justify your own ideas, and that competition of ideas is what creates excellence.'"
(Friedman, Thomas "Cuckoo in Carolina", The New York Times,
August 28, 2002)
While both these quotes address the disadvantages of stability and monochromatic thinking at the societal level, they indirectly speak to the disadvantages of maintaining a one-sided view of research, research techniques, or a research area. Good research requires the rigor of scientific objectivity.
a) Get your ego out of the way.
b) Learn to examine all sides equally.
c) Read outside your area.
d) Learn how to discuss other people's research in addition to your own.
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