Abstract

The scientific method is a potentiation of common sense, exercised with a specially firm determination not to persist in error if any exertion of hand or mind can deliver us from it. We are all affected by our past. I grew up in the “Land of Lincoln,” so stories about the 16th U.S. President, “Honest Abe” as we called him, were unavoidable in my youth. In particular, we learned that Abraham Lincoln never told a lie. Well, one day when I was 10, a friend caused a bike accident that broke my left clavicle. When my parents asked me what had happened, I lied. I told them that I fell against the corner of a building. As I recall, I lied in order to protect my friend. His family was very poor, and my young mind ..