#6 The Uselessness of Theoretical Science—And Why That’s the Point


People crave utility. We want knowledge to be actionable. We ask not just what is true? but what should I do with this truth? If an idea doesn’t lead to a better product, a longer life, or a smarter decision, we tend to discard it.

This is why theoretical science is often misunderstood—and undervalued.

Think of heliocentricity. It tells us that Earth orbits the sun, not the other way around. It’s an elegant truth. But what can you do with it? It won’t fix your faucet or increase your income. It doesn’t promise better health or better behavior. At most, it reorders our cosmic self-image.

Darwin’s theory of evolution goes further. It says we are the result of four billion years of mindless drift—changes accumulating without plan, intention, or direction. Natural selection explains how we came to be. But it doesn’t tell us what to do, how to live, or what to value.

Still, we try. We try to extract meaning from these theories, to find moral guidance or practical payoff. We ask: What does evolution say about ethics? or How should we behave if we’re just animals? We search for answers where none are promised.

But here’s the truth: theoretical science doesn’t care what we do. And that’s what makes it profound.

It describes systems we do not control. It reveals processes that have unfolded without us and will continue without us. It puts us in our place—not as masters, but as participants. Not as central actors, but as byproducts of deeper forces.

And maybe that’s why people resist it. Because it doesn’t serve us. Because it doesn’t flatter us. Because it doesn’t help us "win."

Instead, it humbles.

It tells us: the universe was not made for you. Life was not engineered with your comfort in mind. Your species is not the endpoint of anything. You are not at the top of a ladder. You are the current expression of a process that doesn’t care where it’s going.

There’s no evolutionary mandate to be good. There’s no cosmological lesson in kindness. The Big Bang does not care about your career.

So what’s the point?

The point is—there is no point. At least not one that’s given to us. That’s what theoretical science is best at: stripping away illusions. It offers us a mirror, not a manual. It doesn’t tell us what to value—it reveals that value, in the human sense, is not embedded in the fabric of the universe. We bring it with us.

And that realization, unsettling as it may be, is a kind of freedom.

Theoretical science won’t tell us how to live. But it might help us see more clearly where we stand: not above the world, but within it. Not outside nature, but entirely subject to it.

Maybe that clarity is the only value it offers.

And maybe that’s enough.

This article resonates with themes explored in The Metropolis Organism — a video series examining cities as literal biological systems, where human beings function not as masters, but as necessary organelles in a living urban body.

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