"It is characteristic of the design of scientific research that exquisite attention is devoted to methodological problems that can be solved, while the pretense is made that the ones that cannot be solved are really nothing to worry about. On the one hand, biologists will apply the most critical and demanding canons of evidence in the design of measuring instruments or in the procedure for taking an unbiased samples of organisms to be tested, but when asked whether the conditions in the laboratory are likely to be relevant to the situation in nature, they will provide a hand-waving intuitive argument filled with unsubstantiated guesses and prejudices because, in the end, that is all they can do."
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Richard Lewontin
Richard Charles "Dick" Lewontin (March 29, 1929 – July 4, 2021) was an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist and social commentator. He pioneered the application of techniques from molecular biology, such as gel electrophoresis, to questions of genetic variation and evolution, and is considered a leader in developing the mathematical basis of population genetics and evolutionary theory.
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