The Scientific Method Turns IV Century: Is it Ready for Adulthood?

Prelude: the SM was born in response to theological Truth, with the aim of grounding knowledge on Earth and on human observation, instead of God and the church interpretation. The SM in based on three abstractions (things are separable, measurable, reproducible) and one wishful thinking (models must be checkable). Despite its fragile constitution, SM has grown up strong and conquered first western physical sciences, to later expand worldwide and knowledgewide. The encounter with Relativity and Quantum Mechanics signed the passage from boyhood to juvenescence, with the recognition that the parents‘ truth was neither so definitive nor so general. Case: science teaching, at all levels of education, is still based on the childish simplification that to measure the "external" world, a sectoral approach to independent disciplines is sufficient through repeatable and classifiable attempts. The historical perspective of continuous growth and knowledge construction over ‗fundamental‘ principles does only marginally account for the implications that the technology made available by the SM is now posing not only in questioning the foundational principles (objective reality, causality determinism), but also the very same knowledge of the agent itself: Sapiens. One suggestive effort to put it in mathematical terms is the Harari‘s equation: B x C x D = AHH. The equation implies that the accessible Biological knowledge, Computational power and Data availability will soon Allow the Hacking of Humans. This is a nonlinear equation modelling a very complex system. There is no unique solution and slightly different initial conditions can generate completely different scenarios, from self-destruction, to irrelevance, from critical instability to a new equilibrium state. Proposition: for the young SM to become adult, it has to get rid of its adolescent arrogance and the exclusive belief on evidence based conclusions. It should openly face the uncertainty and acknowledge the ignorance inherent in any attempt by the human brain to make sense of life and universe. The old Greek inscription γνῶθι σεαυτόν has to move out the philosophical and psychological academic courses to permeate all sciences and humanities tracks. It is not the case of setting rules, fighting, or withdrawing in a safer spacetime. It is the case of opening wide our eyes now shut on the intrinsic entanglement of life and training at an equal level the two legs Homo adapted to walk with: scientific and philosophical knowledge, without which no comprehension would ever be possible.