"Nevertheless, as is a frequent occurrence in science, a general hypothesis was constructed from a few specific instances of a phenomenon"
About this Quote
Science loves to sell its messiness as inevitability, and Altman is letting the mask slip. The line sounds like a mild methodological aside, but it’s really a quiet warning about how quickly curiosity hardens into creed. “Nevertheless” signals a pivot from what ought to happen (careful accumulation, skepticism, replication) to what often does: we spot a pattern, get excited, and promote it to “general hypothesis” before the evidence has earned that promotion.
Altman’s phrasing is doing double duty. “Frequent occurrence” normalizes the move - this isn’t scandal, it’s the engine of discovery - while also implying a recurring vulnerability. “A few specific instances” carries the whole risk: selection effects, premature generalization, and the seductive human tendency to mistake an interesting clue for a law of nature. The sentence is almost passive in its construction (“was constructed”), as if hypotheses assemble themselves. That grammatical shrug is the subtext: individual ambition, lab politics, publish-or-perish incentives, and narrative hunger all help build those sweeping claims, even when we pretend it’s just logic at work.
Coming from Altman, a Nobel-winning biochemist who helped overturn assumptions about what RNA can do, the context matters. Breakthroughs often begin as anomalies that don’t fit the reigning model. Science advances by betting on thin evidence - but it also embarrasses itself the same way. Altman’s intent is not to scold science; it’s to describe its risky brilliance: the discipline progresses by making daring guesses, then demanding reality either bless them with confirmation or punish them with data.
Altman’s phrasing is doing double duty. “Frequent occurrence” normalizes the move - this isn’t scandal, it’s the engine of discovery - while also implying a recurring vulnerability. “A few specific instances” carries the whole risk: selection effects, premature generalization, and the seductive human tendency to mistake an interesting clue for a law of nature. The sentence is almost passive in its construction (“was constructed”), as if hypotheses assemble themselves. That grammatical shrug is the subtext: individual ambition, lab politics, publish-or-perish incentives, and narrative hunger all help build those sweeping claims, even when we pretend it’s just logic at work.
Coming from Altman, a Nobel-winning biochemist who helped overturn assumptions about what RNA can do, the context matters. Breakthroughs often begin as anomalies that don’t fit the reigning model. Science advances by betting on thin evidence - but it also embarrasses itself the same way. Altman’s intent is not to scold science; it’s to describe its risky brilliance: the discipline progresses by making daring guesses, then demanding reality either bless them with confirmation or punish them with data.
Quote Details
| Topic | Science |
|---|---|
| Source | Sidney Altman, Nobel Lecture "The Development of the Idea of the Catalytic Properties of RNA", 1989 (Nobel Prize website). |
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