Sock Science

The student cautiously approached the great scientist. “Sir, I performed the experiment carefully and rigorously; I went home and searched my sock drawer thoroughly, in fact, I searched it many times. But there was no evidence of a Sock Maker to be found.”

The Great Scientist peered over the rims of his glasses. “Son, you misunderstood. Did you expect the Sock Maker to be at the final destination? Ask yourself, ‘where do socks come from?’”. The student frowned, and then his eyes lit up. “The store!”

“And did you search the store for the Sock Maker?”

“No, but I will!” And the student thanked the Great Scientist and ran off.

A week later the student again approached the Great Scientist. “Sir, again I performed the experiment. I went to the store, found the socks, and searched them time and again for the Sock Maker. But there still was no evidence of a Sock Maker to be found.”

“Did you check all the stores at the mall? And all the other stores in the city?”

“But there are too many stores that have socks. In fact there must be stores in other cities that have socks; I couldn’t possibly check them all.”

The Great Scientist smiled gently. “And what should we conclude from this?”

The student lined up the data in his mind. Then he replied, “First, stores have always existed; they existed when my father was born, and his father before him.”

“Second, there have always been stores that had socks. This was true when my father was born, and his father before him”.

“Third, when my socks wear out, there are always more socks at the store.”

The student paused cleared his throat, and prepared to deliver his Theory of Socks.

“From this I conclude that socks spontaneously come into existence when the right conditions occur. And that the right conditions for the spontaneous self-creation of socks do not exist in my sock drawer; rather the right conditions exist only at sock stores.”

“And…?”, the Great Scientist prodded.

“And there is no need to postulate a Sock Maker! This theory covers everything!” But then his brow furrowed again. “Except how the socks spontaneously self-create.”

The Great Scientist then smiled broadly, “But don’t you see? Sock Science is still young! Some day sock Science will explain all the small and inconsequential questions such as that!”

The student beamed with self-satisfaction as the Great Scientist pulled out his grade book, and marked the student’s record with an A.