Data Is a 'Substitute for Thinking'

Sydney Brenner was in Bangalore to give a keynote speech at the Indian Institute of Science. There, he said that scientists should read the human genome themselves as computers miss a lot in processing it. Brenner added that young researchers shouldn't be lured into systems biology where data is a "substitute for thinking." Brenner also said, "There is a crisis in all sciences these days. We are drowning in a sea of data, and yet we are thirsty. Science today rewards only those who collect and distribute data. There is no reward for those who organize the data and theorize based on it."