Scientists often legitimately distinguish themselves from the unquestioning adherents of any religion by saying that unlike the latter they are not driven by dogmas, certitudes and ultimate truths. That is mainly because science is about constant inquiry and forever keeping open the possibility that any theory, discovery or finding can turn out to be wrong.
It is from this standpoint that one is amused by some of the skepticism being expressed by physicists about the possibility that neutrinos could travel faster than light. While much of their skepticism is scientific and merited, some of it resembles the kind of dogmatic certitudes one sees among the religious and the faithful.
So troubled some of the scientists are at the prospect of Albert Einstein being proven wrong about the gospel that no particle of any mass can travel faster than light that they are threatening to do things which would be embarrassing if they were not amusing.
One such scientist is the otherwise respected Jim-al-Khalili, a professor of physics at the University of Surrey in England. He has said he would eat his boxer shorts live on television if Einstein’s law about the speed of light as being the unbreakable ceiling is proven wrong. I used to know a strident follower of the late Satya Sai Baba who would threaten never to wear her sari if he was ever proven wrong or fake. In the interest of accuracy, I never saw her without a sari. But somehow in that particular context her threat seemed not that out of place because it concerned faith. In the case of Professor al-Khalili, however, it is extraordinary.
To his credit though he is threatening to do something entertaining. I would like him to clarify whether he would eat a boxer shorts which is freshly laundered or something he wore overnight. Also, clarify whether they will be silk or cotton because that makes a difference in how easily he can swallow them. While at it, he might as well tell us what kind of beverage he would prefer with his boxer shorts to wash them down with.
I would argue that Einstein turning out to be wrong would be the most defining development of science in recent times and would merit eating an unlaundered boxer shorts.
On the larger issue of whether there are eternal scientific theories which are forever right, my guess is that the universe offers so many different situations that we have to get accustomed to the situational rightness of theories. May be there are no overarching absolute theories that hold true in every conceivable and inconceivable corner of the universe. Perhaps it is a puzzle that has no underlying reality. Or perhaps I am talking absolute non-sense. So, so like that.
