This clip, from the British documentary The Ascent of Man, is one of the most convincing arguments for the scientific method I’ve ever seen. Scientific inquiry is made of people, which means it’s inherently flawed — but it’s the best tool we’ve found, in our long search for truth, to overcome our tragic shortcomings. Science is the opposite of dogma.

Science is a tribute to what we can know although we are fallible. In the end, the words were said by Oliver Cromwell: ‘I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken.’”

We have to cure ourselves of the itch for absolute knowledge and power. We have to close the distance between the push-button order and the human act. We have to touch people.