Science has not been successful by making up explanations of things that fit with the current social fabric.

The remark contrasts scientific progress with socially convenient storytelling. Mullis is emphasizing that science advances by testing ideas against nature—often producing results that disrupt prevailing beliefs, institutions, or moral expectations—rather than by crafting explanations that harmonize with what a society already finds comfortable. The implication is that “fit” with the social fabric is not a reliable criterion for truth; predictive power, reproducibility, and empirical constraint are. In Mullis’s hands, this also functions as a critique of consensus thinking and of pressures (political, cultural, or institutional) that can reward conformity over inquiry. It frames science as inherently countercultural when evidence demands it.