Every theory is an approximation: why good physicists admit ignorance
October 5, 2026 · 16 min read
Andrew Strominger says every theory has edges, Michelle Thaller insists scientists must admit what they do not know, Carlo Rovelli praises humility, and Brian Cox and Lisa Randall describe the limits of science. Their shared stance is a useful guide to how much trust any scientific claim has earned.
The rules, numbers and steps worth keeping in front of you.
- Strominger: there is no exact equation; every theory gets corrected as we learn more.
- Strominger: a theory's edge is useful because it shows exactly where improvement is needed.
- Thaller: science deliberately confines itself to what is consistently reproducible.
- Thaller: you have to be honest about what you don't know, or people will not believe what you do know.
- Thaller: unexplained is not the same as alien; first suspect the instrument.
- Rovelli: certainty blocks understanding, and ideas must be tested.
- Cox: a scientist must be delighted to be wrong.
- Cox: Brian Schmidt published a result he doubted so others could find the mistake; there was none.
- Randall: believe strongly in what you do while questioning it all the time.
- Randall's warning from the Large Hadron Collider: do not assume things before they have actually been found.
- Cox and Randall: dark matter is trusted because many independent observations agree, though the particle has never been detected.
- Strominger: score scientists by the number they got right.
- Humility about theory is not doubt about measurement; an approximate theory can be right to 16 decimal places within its range.
- Test any claim: was it reproduced, do independent checks agree, and can the source say where their knowledge stops?
This is the short form. The full insight has every expert's reasoning, their own words and the sources.