Cambridge IELTS 17 - TEST 2 - READING PASSAGE 3

 `Insight or evolution?

Two scientists consider the origins of discoveries and other innovative behavior Scientific discovery is popularly believed to result from the sheer genius of such intellectual stars as naturalist Charles Darwin and theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. Our view of such unique contributions to science often disregards the person's prior experience and the efforts of their lesser-known predecessors. Conventional wisdom also places great weight on insight in promoting breakthrough scientific achievements, as if ideas spontaneously pop into someone's head - fully formed and functional.	origin= root, background, foundation discovery= detection, finding, outcome innovative= creative, inventive, pioneering result from= be caused by, arise from, originate from sheer= pure, absolute, complete genius= mastermind, brilliance, outstanding ability intellectual= intelligent, scholarly, knowledgeable naturalist= biologist, botanist, natural scientist theoretical= hypothetical, academic, abstract physicist= a scientist who has special knowledge and training in physics unique= exclusive, exceptional, only one of its kind contribution= influence, role, involvement disregard= ignore, disrespect, neglect prior= previous, preceding, past lesser-known= less popular predecessor= something that comes before another thing in time conventional= usual, normal, typical wisdom= understanding, knowledge, sense place emphasis, importance, etc. on something= highlight, value, stress weight= importance, significance, meaning insight= vision, awareness, intuition promote= stimulate, foster, encourage breakthrough= pivotal, central, important spontaneously= impulsively, suddenly, naturally pop into one’s head= suddenly have an idea functional= useful, practical, purposeful
There may be some limited truth to this view. However, we believe that it largely misrepresents the real nature of scientific discovery, as well as that of creativity and innovation in many other realms of human endeavor. Setting aside such greats as Darwin and Einstein - whose monumental contributions are duly celebrated - we suggest that innovation is more a process of trial and error, where two steps forward may sometimes come with one step back, as well as one or more steps to the right or left. This evolutionary view of human innovation undermines the notion of creative genius and recognizes the cumulative nature of scientific progress. Consider one unheralded scientist: John Nicholson, a mathematical physicist working in the 1910s who postulated the existence of 'proto-elements' in outer space. By combining different numbers of weights of these proto-elements' atoms, Nicholson could recover the weights of all the elements in the then-known periodic table. These successes are all the more(even more) noteworthy given the fact that Nicholson was wrong about the presence of proto-elements: they do not actually exist. Yet, amid his often fanciful theories and wild speculations, Nicholson also proposed a novel theory about the structure of atoms. Niels Bohr, the Nobel prize-winning father of modern atomic theory, jumped off from this interesting idea to conceive his now-famous model of the atom. What are we to make of this story? One might simply conclude that science is a collective and cumulative enterprise. That may be true, but there may be a deeper insight to be gleaned. We propose that science is constantly evolving, much as species of animals do. In biological systems, organisms may display new characteristics that result from random genetic mutations. In the same way, random, arbitrary or accidental mutations of ideas may help pave the way for advances in	misrepresent= not tell the truth, pretend, lie nature= quality, features, character realm= field, area, domain endeavor= attempt, effort, try set aside= to ignore or not think about a particular fact or situation while considering a matter monumental= colossal, massive, gigantic. duly= accordingly, suitably, appropriately undermine= weaken, destabilize, threaten notion= belief, concept, perception cumulative= aggregate, accumulative, growing unheralded= not known about or recognized as good postulate= hypothesize, assume,theorize proto= first, especially from which other similar things develop; original atom= particle, subdivision, element periodic table= a list of the symbols of all the chemical elements arranged in rows and columns down a page noteworthy= notable, striking, remarkable fanciful= imaginary, make-believe, fictional wild speculation= something that you say that is not based on facts and is probably wrong the father of= someone who began, or first made something important conceive= create, invent, form make something of something/someone= to have an impression or an understanding about something collective= cooperative, communal, joint enterprise= a large project glean= pick up, gather, collect constantly= continually, continuously, regularly organism= creature, being, living things arbitrary= random, chance, haphazard pave the way for= to make it possible for someone to do something or for something to happen advance= development, growth, expansion
science. If mutations prove beneficial, then the animal or the scientific theory will continue to thrive and perhaps reproduce. Support for this evolutionary view of behavioral innovation comes from many domains. Consider one example of an influential innovation in US horseracing. The so-called 'acey- deucy' stirrup placement, in which the rider's foot in his left stirrup is placed as much as 25 centimeters lower than the right, is believed to confer important speed advantages when turning on oval tracks. It was developed by a relatively unknown jockey named Jackie Westrope. Had Westrope conducted methodical investigations or examined extensive film records in a shrewd plan to outrun his rivals? Had he foreseen the speed advantage that would be conferred by riding acey-deucy? No. He suffered a leg injury, which left him unable to fully bend his left knee. His modification just happened to coincide with enhanced left-hand turning performance. This led to the rapid and widespread adoption of riding acey-deucy by many riders, a racing style that continues in today's thoroughbred racing. Plenty of other stories show that fresh advances can arise from error, misadventure, and also pure serendipity - a happy accident. For example, in the early 1970s, two employees of the company 3M each had a problem: Spencer Silver had a product - a glue which was only slightly sticky - and no use for it, while his colleague Art Fry was trying to figure out how to affix temporary bookmarks in his hymn book without damaging its pages. The solution to both these problems was the invention of the brilliantly simple yet phenomenally successful Post-It note. Such examples give lie to the claim that ingenious, designing minds are responsible for human creativity and invention. Far more banal and mechanical forces may be at work; forces that are fundamentally connected to the laws of science.	thrive= flourish, prosper, grow reproduce= to produce a copy of something evolutionary= involving a gradual process of change and development domain= area, field influential= powerful, important, significant stirrup= one of a pair of pieces that hang from the side of a horse's saddle, used for resting your foot when you are riding confer= give, provide, grant conduct= do, perform, carry out methodical= logical, systematic investigation= study, examination, exploration extensive= wide, large-scale, wide-ranging shrewd= wise, cunning, clever outrun= run faster than, beat, overtake foresee= predict, forecast, anticipate modification= alteration, adjustment, change coincide= happen together overlap, match adoption= accepting or starting to use something new thoroughbred= (animals) with parents that are of the same breed and have good qualities misadventure= accident, misfortune, mishap serendipity= luck, chance, fate affix= stick, fasten, attach phenomenally= remarkably, unusually, oddly give the lie to= to prove that something is not true ingenious= clever, resourceful, inventive designing= used to describe someone who tries to get what they want, usually dishonestly banal= boring, ordinary, not original mechanical= without thinking about what you are doing, esp. because you do it often-repetitive fundamentally= basically, essentially, primarily
The notions of insight, creativity and genius are often invoked, but they remain vague and of doubtful scientific utility, especially when one considers the diverse and enduring contributions of individuals such as Plato, Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Galileo, Newton, Kepler, Curie, Pasteur and Edison. These notions merely label rather than explain the evolution of human innovations. We need another approach, and there is a promising candidate. The Law of Effect was advanced by psychologist Edward Thorndike in 1898, some 40 years after Charles Darwin published his groundbreaking work on biological evolution, On the Origin of Species. This simple law holds that organisms tend to repeat successful behaviors and to refrain from performing unsuccessful ones. Just like Darwin's Law of Natural Selection, the Law of Effect involves an entirely mechanical process of variation and selection, without any end objective in sight. Of course, the origin of human innovation demands much further study. In particular, the provenance of the raw material on which the Law of Effect operates is not as clearly known as that of the genetic mutations on which the Law of Natural Selection operates. The generation of novel ideas and behaviors may not be entirely random, but constrained by prior successes and failures - of the current individual (such as Bohr) or of predecessors (such as Nicholson). The time seems right for abandoning the naive notions of intelligent design and genius, and for scientifically exploring the true origins of creative behavior.	invoke= mention, refer, quote vague= unclear, abstracted, dreamy merely= simply, just, only advance= to suggest an idea or theory psychologist = someone who is trained in psychology groundbreaking= revolutionary, innovative, advanced hold= to state that something is true refrain= avoid doing, cease, hold back refrain= desist, abstain, renounce objective= purpose, goal, intention particular= specific, precise, exact provenance= origin, background, birth place operate= work, conduct, carry out constrain= restrain, restrict, control abandon= end, leaving, cancel naive= simple, childlike, innocent notion= idea, view, concept