What are the limits of science

It is said that science can basically do anything. It provides a way to find anything, no matter how impossible it may seem. For example, who would have dreamed 30 years ago of the possibilities of the Internet, new medicine, or a rover to Mars? So it seems we can do anything. But it is only an illusion. In fact, there are limits, and we need to know them. Some of those limits are imposed by nature, some by man. What are they?

First, there are the laws of physics. For example, no matter how hard you try, you cannot exceed the speed of light. To conduct experiments in weightlessness, they must be conducted at least on the International Space Station, but even that is often not enough, since even the International Space Station is not far enough away that Earth\’s gravity does not work, at least partially. Similarly, there are limits to the temperature, which cannot be below absolute zero. Therefore, all of this must be taken into account when planning an experiment.

Then there are ethical issues. Of course, these vary depending on the culture of the country in which the experiment is conducted, but the overwhelming consensus is that harming people is unacceptable to science. After World War II, countries tried to obtain the results of experiments on prisoners in concentration camps. For example, it was unthinkable to put a person in a frosty 20 degrees below zero, pour ice water on him, and write down his reactions. But it did teach us a lot about how the human body works.

But these limitations also mean that what can be discovered is limited. Some experiments that should be discoverable are not because they are impossible for one reason or another. That is certainly unfortunate, but it is a fact that we have to accept.