Originally written on July 7, 2012; mildly updated February 6, 2026

As a scientist, I understand uncertainty. It is no surprise to me that the CERN scientists, who are undoubtedly more excited than 10,000 teenagers at a Justin Bieber concert, are holding back and qualifying their announcement on the probable discovery of the Higgs Boson (popularized as the God Particle by Leon Lederman to the chagrin of Peter Higgs).  After all, the history of science is rife with examples of stunning and sometimes embarrassing error.  The geocentric universe.  The plum pudding model of the atom.  Cold fusion. 

One needs to be cautious.

As a human being, I understand shades of gray.  Things are almost never black and white. As a university administrator, I developed a maxim that for every conflict, there are n+1 sides to the story, where n is the number of people involved. Everyone brings their own truth to the table.  Being able to see and understand multiple points of view is a valuable skill, As F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, “The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”

Clarity can be elusive.

So, I understand both uncertainty and ambiguity.  A healthy appreciation of both is crucial to learning and thinking.  If one is always sure and things are always clear, there is not much to think about, is there?  If one is always sure and things are always clear there is no incentive to probe deeper into the dark and tangled realms where real understanding lies.  

Yet, I think there are a few phrases that should never be qualified.  For instance, the phrase “I love you” should never be followed by the word “but.”  Likewise, the phrase “I am sorry.  I was wrong”  should stand alone.  There are no “buts” in love or apology.  

As celebrate the feats of human intelligence and imagination.  Congratulations to the thousands of people who worked on the search for the Higgs.  I hope it stands up to further scrutiny.  (2026 Postscript: It hasstood up to time. .40 years after Higgs and Englert predicted its existence adequate evidence was obtained. For their pioneering theoretical work, Higgs and Englert won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics.)