Hostility toward science is almost a cultural norm in this nation. Research on fruit flies is considered mock-worthy, even when it produces insights into birth defects.
Why is science so reviled? One reason is that it is persistent in a vision that isn't self-centered. Copernicus knocked us out of the center of the universe, and Darwin knocked us off the ladder of beings, or at least made us share the same rung with meadowlarks and tapeworms, which are both the pinnacle of progress in their particular fields.
To quote the Animaniacs: "It's a great big universe and we're all really puny."
Another reason that science may be viewed with hostility is because it isn't dogmatic. When science is encountered by dogmatists, they may assume that it plays by the rules of dogmatism. It doesn't. Science is always changing its mind. When it finds out something new, it doesn't ignore it or deny it. It takes note. It theorizes and hypothesizes. It systematically seeks out information--that is the nature of experimentation. Science has gone down some blind alleys in its discovery of the world, but, unlike the misguided seals that ended up mummified in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, it changes direction when the evidence warrants.
* I loved science so much I married it. Here is a picture of science getting his ear pierced in a hut in Antarctica.
I love science because it is just so incredible, the way everything works, the amazingly intricate, convoluted nature of life forms and geological features and just about everything in the whole wide world. But the very idea of indexing a math book makes my mouth dry up. It's funny: I certainly don't understand all science, but it still fascinates me endlessly. I don't understand math, but it only confuses and depresses me... But I would not mock science OR math. I'm above that.
ReplyDeleteIs that a seal mummy? Does your husband actually document things like this? That is SO COOL!
The book is about mathematical models of collective animal behavior. So its actually a sort of math that is tangible to me. My husband was studying algae that live in perpetual darkness and saline water in a Dry Valley lake. The lead researcher is now involved with NASA's Endurance Project, which uses a submersible robot. My husband is now a full-time science/travel writer and parent.
ReplyDeleteI am a wannabe nerd. I love astronomy, cosmology, and physics but lacked the mental wattage to pursue it professionally. One of the first essays I workshopped in my MFA program was about Aristarchus and how he was the first person (on record) to present a heliocentric vision of our world. I thought it was the coolest subject ever, but most everyone else thought I was a huge dork.
ReplyDeleteI am a lover of science as well. Despite the fact that I have a hell of a time with complex math, I love reading works by scientists and physicists. There is so much elegance in logical thought.
ReplyDelete