A fact, in science, is not a mere fact, but an instance.
Why explore the Universe,
When we don't know ourselves?
Survival of the fittest. Often the simplest organism is the strongest.
Science is a cooperative enterprise, spanning the generations. It's the passing of a torch from teacher, to student, to teacher. A community of minds reaching back to antiquity and forward to the stars.
I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.
You know what crazy is? Crazy is majority rules. Take germs, for example. Uh-huh. Eighteenth century: no such thing, nada, nothing. No one ever imagined such a thing. No sane person. Along comes this doctor, uh, Semmelweis, Semmelweis. Semmelweis comes along. He's trying to convince people, other doctors mainly, that's there's these teeny tiny invisible bad things called germs that get into your body and make you sick. He's trying to get doctors to wash their hands. What is this guy? Crazy? Teeny, tiny, invisible? What do they call it? Uh-uh, germs? Huh? What? Now, up to the 20th century — last week, as a matter of fact, before I got dragged into this hellhole — I go in to order a burger at this fast-food joint, and the guy drops it on the floor. James, he picks it up, he wipes it off, he hands it to me like it's all OK. "What about the germs?" I say. He says "I don't believe in germs. Germs is a plot made up so they could sell disinfectants and soaps." Now he's crazy, right? See? Ah! Ah!
— The Tyrannosaur doesn't obey any set patterns or park schedules. The essence of chaos.
— I'm still not clear on chaos.
— It simply deals with unpredictability in complex systems. The shorthand is the Butterfly Effect. A butterfly can flap its wings in Peking and in Central Park you get rain instead of sunshine. Was I going too fast? I missed it. I did a fly-by. Give me that glass of water. We'll conduct an experiment. We should be still. The car's bouncing. That's okay. It's just an example. Put your hand flat like a hieroglyphic. A drop of water falls on your hand. Which way will the drop roll off? Which finger? Thumb, I'd say. Freeze your hand. Don't move. I'll do the same thing, start with the same place again. Which way, now?
— Let's say back the same way.
— It changed. Why?
— Because tiny variations, the orientation of the hairs on your hands...
— Alan, look at this.
— The amount of blood distending your vessels, imperfections in the skin...
— «imperfections in the skin»?
— Just microscopic, never repeat and vastly affect the outcome. That's what? Unpredictability. There. Look at this. See? I'm right again. Nobody could predict that Dr. Grant would suddenly jump out of a moving vehicle.
— Alan? Alan!
— And there's another example. See, here I am now by myself, talking to myself. That's Chaos Theory.