Medusa And The Snail Analysis

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X-rays, pacemakers, microwave ovens, chocolate chip cookies, and countless others are all examples of inventions made by mistakes. These “mistakes” have enabled significant creations and discoveries to be made in medicine, technology, and food that would have otherwise remained nonexistent. In fact, without mistakes our world would be unable to innovate and grow into the highly developed planet we have become. In Lewis Thomas’s The Medusa and the Snail, he presents that human discovery is the result of human error rather than accuracy and precision because without error there is no trial.
In the past couple centuries, many achievements resulting from mistakes uphold Thomas’s claim of useful human discovery precipitated by chance. For example, …show more content…

The idea of perfection does not have to be abandoned and the error does not have to be looked for, but rather, brought by chance. The spontaneity of mistakes is what makes human discovery great because it allows for the unknown to be regulated and rationalized without completely knowing why. This is where the phenomenon of “trial and error” occurs: “The old phrase puts it that way because this is, in real life, the way it is done.” As students, we use trial and error daily in academics and life to create something that has the chance to grow, but if it fails, the trial is started over with the knowledge of a mistake. One of the greatest trial and error cases that used science and mistakes to invent is the creation of the light bulb. Thomas Edison’s light bulb was created and finalized through many trails that ended up failing but in each trail he learned something new and helpful. Another famous trial and error case was the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s. On a national level, the government declared that alcohol was to be removed because it was causing crime and spoiling its nation. This law was tried for a long period of time, until the government realized the law was causing more harm than good and decided to remove it. Many governmental laws and policies see this system. The court system is based around trial and error, repeatedly trying someone until they confess their crimes. In the end, the “root nodules” of mistakes embedded into the world can only be seen once the “investigator can bring himself to say. “But even so, look at that!” then the new findings, whatever it is, is ready for snatching.” Human investigation allows us to look past the science and math onto something that is perfectly accidental, and beneficial for present and future innovation. In order to “leap across mountains of information to

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