I am constantly amazed by the observation of a rather curious behavior pattern among humans that ignorance and arrogance are so strongly correlated......that those who are the most sure of their thinking and most unwilling to critically evaluate available evidence and their own thinking are those who are the most ignorant.

In many cases the arrogance (or unfounded confidence) in their thinking is so strong that they become incapable of changing their state of ignorance. Arrogant in their knowledge of the answer, they don't even understand the question -- they know not what they are criticizing, having neither the faintest grasp of what or how science has come to understand about a particular phenomenon, nor even a reasonable understanding of what the model (aka scientific theory) says.

While scientists are often confident, they are rarely arrogant in what they know. Their confidence lies in the existence of vast amounts of data as well as in their models of nature that successfully explain and predict its behavior with the fewest assumptions and which organize and unify wide ranging observed phenomena. They are also keenly aware of the limitations of their models and understanding of the world, given its vastness and complexity in the face of finite data and human intellect. Science's open-inquiry with nature allows scientists to remain aware of nature's subtleties and surprises, which confront our models and tentative understanding against the "real world".

Nevertheless, we are constantly amazed by the fact that nature behaves in a manner consistent with a small set a simple laws.