Science, Art, Litt, Science based Art & Science Communication
Answering the criticism on science
I have seen people criticizing science without knowing any thing about the work and with prejudice just to support their beliefs both religious and personal. Science doesn't accept anything that is not rational and scientists don't accept criticism done with half knowledge. You can get away with anything rubbish with regard to art but you cannot follow the same rules for science. Science criticism should be based on facts and truth. You cannot use the same yardstick for both. As the saying goes everyone is entitled to have his or her opinions (applies to Art) but not to his or her facts (applies to Science).
Some critics say itsn't it hypocracy of the intellectual community to spend billions of dollars when the man on the street suffering without basic necessities? My reply to them would be: Science always tries to understand the world in its true form so that it can help people live in a better way. It is the misuse of the fruits of science and technology by the people that lead to the chaos, confusion and suffering of the people and science itself is not at fault.
For instance, Scientists (intellectuals) are responsible for higher production of food grains. The main purpose is to feed the ever growing population. But due to the mismanagement of production and distribution systems of food grains, several people in the world go hungry every day despite all the hard work put up by the scientists to alleviate the sufferings of common man. In what way scientists are responsible for this situation?
Agreed some scientists are influenced by certain things like politics, pressure by the industry and also personal problems. But these types are rare and there are checks and balances to overcome these type of influences. I don't accept the view that experts don't think about the broader context. They do and do it in a scientific way. I will give a few examples here: In science, nothing is a waste. People -laymen would be an appropriate word here - say space science is waste. "What will you do by going to the moon? What is the use of finding that moon is a barren land?" It is just ignorance to think space science is a waste. The technology used in space science is being used now in medical field too to save money and lives! And this is a fact. It is also being used to improve infrastructure and technologies used in industries. Are we not using satellites for communications and educational purposes? So according to scientists space science is not a waste.
Some people may wonder about the benefits of finding Higgs Boson and work in Particle Physics spending billions of bucks. In fact Indian President Ms. Pratibha Patil while visiting CERN asked the scientists the same question.
My reply would be: Modern physics has led to tremendous leaps in technology, which have changed our lives. The entire electronics industry - the cell phone, the computer, the television were the products of scientific research in modern day physical laboratories. The World Wide Web was created at CERN! Accelerator science has led to many improvements in medical imaging which saves lives! Without modern physics, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Apple, Facebook, iPad, iPhone wouldn't have been born at all! There would be no silicon valley! Millions of jobs created by these technology based companies wouldn't have existed at all!
A glimpse of the Higgs Boson proves intellectual capabilities of Human Mind! We can understand the basic working of the universe and build hugely complicated machines that can stimulate fundamental physical processes. Is it a waste? Definitely not! And isn't it an occasion to celebrate?
And if consumers are asking: What's in it for us, Higgs? - particle physics already has an answer. It has aided development of serviceable stuff like the World Wide Web, medical imaging and cloud computing. Quantum mechanics, remember, had a huge quantum of solace: the transistor, lasers, PCs. And if man landed on the moon, he also landed - as lunar science's utilitarian offshoot - the battery-operated vacuum cleaner on earth! Ergo, when the Higgs boson comes, can advanced spring-cleaning be far behind? Maybe the ultimate kind, that'll help us flush out those dirty gases in the atmosphere and crack global warming?
Here you can find another example on how science in one field can be useful in other areas of human lives: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/basic-space/2011/11/27/why-the-...
Science is knowledge. It can be used one way or the other and nothing in science is ever going to be a waste. When Edison was asked what he had achieved by failing 999 times and only succeeding the 1000th time, he replied: I realized how you cannot make a bulb in 999ways. That is the spirit of science.
People who don't know what it is like going in pursuit of knowledge and help people in the process and who have no experience of the thrills of scientific inventions and discoveries and the sublime feelings that take us beyond this world to the edges of heavens, can never understand the scientific way of life.
Neither do they understand the depth of human lives and endeavours and waste their time on loose talk.
We really feel sorry for them.
Copyright 2012 Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Permalink Reply by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on
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I want to answer some of the questions posed by common men and remove the misconceptions.
Some misguided publicist decided to call Higgs-Boson the "God particle". All most all the physicists disapprove of this as it is highly misleading and has nothing to do with God or religion.Science always tries to understand the world in its true form so that it can help people live in a better way. It is the misuse of the fruits of science and technology by the people that lead to the chaos, confusion and suffering of the people and science itself is not at fault.
For instance ,Scientists (intellectuals) are responsible for higher production of food grains. The main purpose is to feed the ever growing population. But due to the mismanagement of production and distribution systems of food grains, several people in the world go hungry every day despite all the hard work put up by the scientists to alleviate the sufferings of common man. In what way scientists are responsible for this situation?In science, nothing is a waste. People -laymen would be an appropriate word here - say space science is a waste. "What will you do by going to the moon? What is the use of finding that moon is a barren land?" It is just ignorance to think space science is a waste. The technology used in space science is being used now in medical field too to save money and lives! And this is a fact. It is also being used to improve infrastructure and technologies used in industries. Are we not using satellites for communications and educational purposes? So according to scientists space science is not a waste.
Some people may wonder about the benefits of finding Higgs Boson and work in Particle Physics spending billions of Euros. In fact sometime back Indian President Ms. Pratibha Patil while visiting CERN asked the scientists the same question.
My reply would be: Modern physics has led to tremendous leaps in technology, which have changed our lives. The entire electronics industry - the cell phone, the computer, the television were the products of scientific research in modern day physical laboratories. The World Wide Web was created at CERN! Can you think a life without it now? It has both benefits and shortcomings. It all depends on how you use it. Accelerator science has led to many improvements in medical imaging which saves lives! Without modern physics, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Apple, Facebook, wouldn't have been born at all! There would be no silicon valley! Innumerable jobs created because of these technology based companies wouldn't have existed at all!
A glimpse of the Higgs Boson proves intellectual capabilities of Human Mind! We can understand the basic working of the universe and build hugely complicated machines that can stimulate fundamental physical processes. Is it a waste? Definitely not! And isn't it an occasion to celebrate?
Is it right to make light of 50 years of hard work put up by innumerable physicists day and night around the world to find Higgs-Boson? Is it appropriate to "criticize" the way of life of the scientific community through humour?
People who don't know what it is like going in pursuit of knowledge and help people in the process and who have no experience of the thrills of scientific inventions and discoveries and the sublime feelings that take us beyond this world to the edges of heavens, can never understand the scientific way of life.
Neither do they understand the depth of human lives and endeavours and waste their time on loose talk.
We really feel sorry for them. -
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A person says: "I have had many questions that science cannot answer, and have seen the many holes in the logic of science in general, which led me to explore this project, and I have so many questions that I can't abandon my train of thought now. Science itself has been repeatig many beliefs that are being presented as facts with theoir repetition, and in the process, has been veering off course."
And my reply: Science is not repeating beliefs but some people - not all - who deal with it do! If these people are in the driver's seat naturally they take science off course. But science has its own correction course. Don't worry.
People say science cannot solve all the problems and doesn't answer all the questions human minds pose. True! But think about this: This universe started with a Big Bang some 14 Billion years ago. But science is just a few hundred years old. It is still in its infancy. It has to learn a lot, study a lot, think a lot, experiment a lot and then only it can come up with all the answers we are seeking right now. How can you expect a child to solve all the problems of his ancestors? And answer the questions posed by his great, great, great, great grand fathers? Is it appropriate to even expect such a thing? I don't think so. We should be amazed at how we have been able to get so far in understanding the things in this universe despite our inadequacies! Science is doing its best with the limited resources it has to both answer the questions and solve the problems. As the time goes by, I am pretty sure, it will succeed more and more.301
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