Scientists' Mystery Box

I’ve always enjoyed movies and reading, but it was only when I heard a TED talk by J.J. Abrams (I’m a big fan, yes) that I understood why.

Mystery Box.

The stories that excite me are those that have loose ends, those you feel there’s more to the story than they’re telling you. But then JJ explains what a Mystery Box is. He shares this story about his grandfather and how he liked to deconstruct things and see how they worked. This led him to be fascinated by boxes and their design. He also liked magic. So, one day, he saw this beautiful mystery box in a magic store and bought it. He never open it and it is still closed to this day. That magic box represents infinite possibilities, and that is why mystery is so fascinating.

Predictable stories are boring. When reading a book, you realize where it leads; you read faster; or when you stop reading for more than 3 days, you won’t open that book again. Sometimes this happens. The reason? No mystery box.

This contrasts what I do in my research. We’re concern in solving problems and develop knowledge. I consider mystery to be a hidden reality, so when I’m able to solve that mystery, that reality is revealed and hopefully worth of publication. This is my experience with science and bringing a hidden reality to light is a hyping moment for a researcher. I lived some and, yes, we do silly jumps :)

But now a curiosity. Every time we unravel a complex physical reality and scream EUREKA! other questions emerge (bummer…, just kidding, it’s actually a good thing).

A good answer in science should always bring to daylight more questions. So, what’s the source of an apparently endless bag of hidden realities, of mysteries?

A world of infinite possibilities. That’s the way the world is. Period.

A world where contingency brings pain, suffering and death, but also remarkable novelties.

However, why “infinite possibilities” or why it there novelty in the universe? I’m not asking “how”, but “why”?

I don’t know about you, and this answer varies between persons. I can only speak for myself, but would be very interested in knowing other experiences.

In my experience, behind all “whys” is God.

By definition God is the Ultimate Reality, the Ultimate Mystery.

Some people say they don’t believe in God, but to which concept of God are they referring to?

So, what is scientists’ mystery box?

I guess it depends on the scientist. But allow me to dare on this point.

Religion is scientists’ mystery box.

- “What!?! Shoo… here he comes… proselytism in its best!”

- “It’s not about making a believer out of every scientist. I think there’s more to religion than people think.”

Religion will always be a mystery only life unfolds, step-by-step, from meaningless to meaningfulness. You may not believe in God, but if you assume God (whoever, whatever he might be) speaks to us through the universe, this makes discovering its hidden realities through science an exciting thriller. Why should we see a conflict between science and religion if both search for the truth? And in that search, while science gives us a sense of grasping reality, religion gives us a sense of being grasped by reality. And thriller is in this balance between grasping and being grasped by.

You may ask “why isn’t every scientist religious?”

Aren’t they? I guess that depends on what being religious means and I’ve written about this elsewhere. Something I can share from my Mystery Box Life Experience: scientists are more religious than people think…