Issue184 目标750words 希狠拍 必回
TOPIC: ISSUE184 - "It is a grave mistake to theorize before one has data."
WORDS: 747 TIME: 0:45:00 DATE: 2007-4-1
As the pace of our society is progressing significantly day by day, it follows the boom of data. Whether to theorize before one has data or not, for my part, the answer varies when considering different conditions. Moreover, a certain balance should be kept upon theory and data.
In the first place, indeed, data has played a crucial role in society nowadays. Data, as we know, is defined as a foundation upon which we could draw a right theory about the current situation, and thus serve to make a better world. Throughout all aspects of society, we could see the trace of data. In science, it is always via studying millions of data and necessary information that scientists make a general judgment and further achieve to a high level in their field. From Edison to Albert Einstein, from Milton to John Nash, they all emphasize so much on data. Thanks to the deliberate probe in data, science progress significantly these centuries. Also in business, profit, cost, as well as benefit, all of which are traceable to data. Executive nowadays is living in the world of data everyday, they focus every single move in stock market, they draw the current situation with a careful review of the data in hand. Even more, a new field--the Actuarial Business--base primarily on the study of numbers and data. In politics, leaders need tremendous of data to make a right decision. Special group is set up for the leader, on purpose of studying and filtering useful data in and abroad. It is through the process of data that leaders take the whole nation into a proper and stable orbit, thus it would finally follow the prosperity of the entire country. Clearly, in all angles, there is no denying the fact that data has played a crucial role in society.
However, granted that data is important, sometimes it is not the case to call for a first-step move in studying data. In some condition, there is no enough time to theorize before one gets data. This is especially the truth when considering some emergency accident. For instance, a person is hurt and injured badly, the cause of the hurt keeps unknown. Since there is no enough time to draw a scientific data about the patient, it is better for the doctor to take a quick step and deal with the injury as soon as possible. Finally, it is through the quickly medical care that saves the person's life. If the doctor pauses and focuses intensively to make a theory before the data, the person would already die away. Besides, it is also true when referring to wartime. Millions of cases show that it is through practice that war leaders obtain a better understanding of the geographic condition, the enemy's situation, as well as every single step he move. In this kind of situation, the time is often too urgent to theorize before one gets data. Therefore, there is indeed some condition in which is unnecessarily and impossible to theorize before one has data.
Further, when looking into the question from another angle, things change again. In the long ever-developing history of science, on the contrary, people often make an assumption before he get the data. Millions of cases in history have proved that it is also scientific a way to suppose before the data. The reason to this is simple and clear, sometimes the data is too obscure or profound to seek, so it is usually the case that scientists make an assumption first, and then take a profound study to demonstrate their judgment. Take mathematics as an example here, many important theses in history takes almost several centuries to attest the original assumption. Fermat's famous thesis was with little data when it came into being centuries ago, via hundreds of scientists' efforts, it is not solved until these years in the 21 century. It is by this process of seeking that science itself makes a momentous improvement on and on. To make a general saying here, sometimes it is necessary and crucial to make an hypothesis before obtaining data in hand.
In sum, without the crucial role of data, we could not make a scientific judgment concerning the current condition. Without the beneficial assistance of assumption in our study, we could not reach a high level in our achievement. Hence, we should consider every step we make according different situations, and only a balance is called for upon assumption and data that we could altogether make a better world.
