Scientists are happy, of course, when they find answers to questions. But scientists are also happy when they become stuck, when they discover interesting questions that they can't answer. Because that is when their imaginations and creativity are set on fire. That is when the greatest progress occurs.
One of the Holy Grails in physics is to find the so-called Theory of Everything, the final theory that will encompass all the fundamental laws of nature. I, for one, hope that we never find that final theory. I hope that there are always things that we don't know--about the physical world as well as about ourselves. I believe in the creative power of the unknown. I believe in the exhilaration of standing at the boundary between the known and the unknown. I believe in the unanswered questions of children. --Alan Lightman
A person believes various things at various times, even on the same day. At the age of seventy-three, I seem most instinctively to believe in the human value of creative writing, whether in the form of verse or fiction, as a mode of truth-telling, self-expression, and homage to the twin miracles of creation and consciousness. The special value of these indirect methods of communication--as opposed to the value of factual reporting and analysis--is one of precision. Oddly enough, the story or poem brings us closer to the actual texture and intricacy of experience. --John Updike
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