In a world increasingly driven by data and prediction, we risk mistaking utility for understanding. A scientific model may accurately forecast outcomes, but if it lacks an explanation of why those outcomes occur, we’re not practicing science—we’re reenacting rituals with equations. This insight, explored in Science Without Understanding, warns against elevating predictive models to untouchable truths. When science becomes performance—repeating patterns without grasping causes—it mirrors the very dogma it once sought to escape. True science must remain grounded in curiosity and doubt, not cloaked in certainty and authority. Without the ‘why,’ even the most accurate model is just a map with no compass.
