# Uncertainty Is a Feature of Discovery by Neil Gershenfeld > "Building models is very different from proclaiming truths. It's a never-ending process of discovery and refinement, not a war to win or destination to reach. Uncertainty is intrinsic to the process of finding out what you don't know, not a weakness to avoid. Bugs are features — violations of expectations are opportunities to refine them. And decisions are made by evaluating what works better, not by invoking received wisdom." > **— Neil Gershenfeld**, *2011, Edge Annual Question, “What Scientific Concept Would Improve Everybody's Cognitive Toolkit?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [Truth is a Model](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/10395) — Edge published this passage in its 2011 Annual Question collection, *What Scientific Concept Would Improve Everybody's Cognitive Toolkit?*. The full response preserves the qualifications and argument surrounding this exact extract. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2011 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2011 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first archive record for the complete yearly response cohort. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/STEVE|STEVE]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Art is Long|The Art is Long]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Architecture of Continuity and Emerging Neuroinformatics Standards|Neuroinformatics Standards]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Knowledge Graph|Knowledge Graph]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Provenance|Provenance]] - [[wiki/Model Contestability|Model Contestability]] - [[wiki/Model Error|Model Error]] - [[wiki/Epistemic Status Separation|Epistemic Status Separation]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "Building models is very different from proclaiming truths. It's a never-ending process of discovery and refinement, not a war to win or destination to reach. Uncertainty is intrinsic to the process of finding out what you don't know, not a weakness to avoid. Bugs are features — violations of expectations are opportunities to refine them. And decisions are made by evaluating what works better, not by invoking received wisdom." — Neil Gershenfeld, 2011, Edge Annual Question, “What Scientific Concept Would Improve Everybody's Cognitive Toolkit?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-neil-gershenfeld-uncertainty-feature-discovery ```