Physicist Erwin Schrödinger wrote in the preface of his famous book What is life 2 : A scientist is supposed to have a complete and thorough knowledge, at firsthand, of some subjects, and, therefore, is usually expected not to write on any topic of which he is not a master. This is regarded as a matter of a noblesse oblige. For the presence purpose, I beg to renounce the noblesse, if any, to be freed of obligation. My excuse is as follows: We have inherited from our forefathers the keen longing for unified, all-embracing knowledge. [...] We feel clearly that we only now beginning to acquire reliable material for welding together the sum-total of all that is known into a whole; but, on the other hand, it has become next to impossible for a single mind fully to command more than a small specialized portion of it. I can see no other escape from this dilemma (lest our true aim be lost forever) than that some of us should venture to embark on the synthesis of facts and theories, albeit with second-hand and incomplete knowledge of some of themand at the risk of making fools of ourselves.