SCI-ART LAB

Science, Art, Litt, Science based Art & Science Communication

Q: Is there a world that is beyond human perception?

Krishna: Yes! 

If a bird sings in a forest where there are no human beings, there will be acoustic waves but there won't be human ears and brains to perceive it. Like wise, if the acoustic wave range is beyond a human ear's grasp, there will still be waves but no perception!  

Like wise there will be colours beyond our eye's grasp. If colour consists of electromagnetic radiation of certain wavelengths that a human eye can see, there there will be colour. If colour only exists in the human brain, there there isn't, if human eye cannot perceive it. Since our definition of light, sound and  colour are defined by how humans respond to it, even if a world exists outside our perception we are deaf and blind to it and cannot perceive it.

Similarly dogs can smell better than human beings. Other animals can perceive a world that is beyond our senses. Their 'reality' will be different from ours. 

There is a world beyond our perception. But if human beings cannot perceive it, it is  as good as 'no world' if we go by just our senses.

Q: People say this world is an illusion. Can science remove that illusion and construct reality as it is for us?

Krishna: Science can do many things you can't even imagine! But the results depend on how well you can use science to do those things!! Science can detect and explain these illusions very well if you are capable of using science to perfection!!!

For instance, human beings can only see visible (for us) light. Other animals can see other lights too and therefore their world perception will definitely be different! For instance, the colors and patterns that a butterfly sees are invisible to man. Butterflies have extreme vision (1). The colors of flowers, the patterns of color on its own wings appear much different to a butterfly. This is because, the butterfly can see ultraviolet light

Snakes like vipers, pythons and boas have holes on their faces called pit organs, which contain a membrane that can detect infrared radiation from warm bodies up to one metre away. At night, the pit organs allow snakes to 'see' an image of their predator or prey — as an infrared camera does — giving them a unique extra sense (2).

So these animals' world will be somewhat different from that of ours. Then who is seeing an illusionary world and who is seeing reality here?  If your world was real, it should be independent from perceptions of any kind of creatures. That is every creature exists on earth should share their similar view of the world but in fact each of these animal share only some part of reality and other parts are beyond their cognitive ability.

Reality should be independent from our view and this is why your world you see now is just an illusion created by your brain. Science clearly shows that! 

 If our senses don't provide the correct information about the world, we can use scientific tools and methods to get that. Yes, absolutely. Science is the most reliable way to seek out the truth. But it has its limits because it is still being developed by humans. If a tool is not fully developed, it only tells you some parts are correct and the rest is still being questionable. How can you be sure if our next humankind’s discovery won’t tell you a totally different story from everything we’ve ever known?
Even with the aids of science, we still can get into numerous illusions all the time because of our limitations in using science right now.

We cannot get rid of our own perception and therefore everything that hasn’t got a satisfactory explanation by science is some kind of illusion. But don't worry, a day comes when science can construct the exact reality for us. Have patience and wait till that day arrives.

Q: Why do birds commit suicide in Jatinga, Assam? 

Krishna: The birds do not commit suicide and are actually killed, but the myth of the suicides has spread far and wide among common people. At the end of the monsoon months especially on moonless and foggy dark nights between 6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., birds are not disturbed by the locals but out of the dark northern skies will start to descend as they are attracted to lights. These dazed birds are captured using bamboo poles by the locals. The birds are mostly juvenile, according to ornithologists.

 The cause of it is likely to be disorientation at high altitudes and high speed winds due to the widespread fog characteristic at the time.  The birds, mostly juveniles and local migrants, are disturbed by high velocity winds at their roost. When the disturbed birds fly towards lights as refuge they are hit with bamboo poles and killed or injured.

Conservation groups and wildlife officials in India have taken steps to prevent wanton killing of birds across India, creating awareness in the illiterate villagers.

Q; Why are educated people screaming just "science" 'science" to understand human?

Even your emotions which you call ‘human’, your life processes, all that that comes under the definition of human are controlled by bio-chemistry and physics.

If you don’t understand this, you can never fully understand not only yourself - to have a good life - you can never understand this universe to manipulate it for a better and fruitful life. Period!

Q: Do scientists have a moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any catastrophic threat and to 'tell it like it is'?

Krishna: Genuine Scientists are bound by scientific method (SM). So they try to “describe like ‘it’ exactly is” following SM.

But what horrifies a scientist is how the media interprets it, or how the men on the street analyse or perceive it with their conditioned minds.

Most of the things are lost in translation. Rest is lost during the process of perception.

What stands before the world in the end is a chimera that doesn’t look like the original description.

Even a scientist finds it difficult to recognise his own findings in the end.

That is what is happening with climate change papers, GM products, vaccinations and …. need I add more to the list?

Q: Does it really take 21 days to build a habit? Is there any scientific evidence to back this up? 

Krishna: No. There is no scientific evidence to back this up.

As soon as a scientific evidence comes to back a good habit, I instantly adopt it. I don’t need 21 days to build it. Likewise if science says something is bad, I immediately abandon it.

It depends on the psychology of people. How mentally prepared they are to a new situation.

21 days time is a myth.

Q: What is the relationship between science and social change?

Q: Should all scientific facts have evidence?

Krishna: Yes! Not any evidence but genuine Scientific Evidence of the highest order. And that evidence must be able to stand on its own and strictly stick to scientific method.

Q: (Based on the above Q): What if we provide a few facts written in good books or articles?

Krishna: Sorry science doesn't accept books and un -scientific articles as evidence. Because anybody can write a book with all his or her opinion and belief-based arguments .

I will tell you now about an interesting conversation I had recently with a lawyer. According to her Hanging Gardens of Babylon   had scientific secrets modern science couldn't unravel. When I told her the very existence of Hanging Gardens of Babylon 's controversial as we don't have any evidence that they existed.  Then she quoted an article written by somebody and a book . I told her I cannot accept them as evidence.

Then she said what she 's saying was a fact because it is based on her 'firm belief'! I told her firm beliefs cannot become facts. She said, her beliefs 're based on facts as they 're not based on superstitions!

I told her even if  something is not based on superstition, it doesn't become a fact! It can be mythological, or a thing  based on perception and not reality. It can even be science fiction. 

But the lawyer thought it was a court battle and tried to convince me all her beliefs 're facts and scientific because they are based on books which use some scientific terms to  mislead people!

Then I explained a few things to her like scientific evidence, scientific methods and why something should stick to them to get the 'scientific' tag! 

And she refused to accept them and told me I was blind because I couldn't to see the good points of her argument! And I was unscientific because I closed my mind to her arguments! 

Oh my, a lawyer 's trying to tell me what is scientific and what is unscientific! This is what happens when people get their idea of science from the media and then analyse it with their conditioned minds and understand it with ... oh leave it!

Yes, we are blind to unscientific arguments, we are blind to baseless beliefs, we are blind to pseudo-science, we close our minds when people try to dump trash into our  minds. 

People, please don't complain. This is the realm of science.  Here only scientific method rules. All the rest  belongs to trash cans! And try to learn what genuine evidence is what scientific method is and how science is demarcated using them. If you don't, you w ill have problems in understanding arguments based on science.

Q: Is there a difference between the thought process of a scientist and an ordinary person?

Krishna: A scientist's thought process need not be different from that of an ordinary person if s/he is not a critical thinker! 

Yes, there will definitely be a difference between the thinking of a critical thinker and that of a person who doesn't know how to think critically.

If you take the example of the above  story, did you notice what is wrong with the argument and thought process of the lawyer? And the difference between the two minds that argued about science? 

Let me mention them once again...

First people want us to consider their beliefs and opinions as facts. 

Then they want us to treat books and articles written by somebody as evidence. 

Our training in science told us not to do both!

So when you refuse to do both you are accused of being blind to facts! And branded as unscientific because you closed your mind to irrational things.

That is the difference between a Critical Thinking  mind and an ordinary mind.

It is difficult to argue with people who don't know the difference between genuine science and nonsense! Because if you don't know the difference, your thought process takes the wrong route and you blame others for your inadequacies! 

Feel sad but that is the way the world is and that is why we are trying to communicate science despite our busy schedules.

Q: How do you influence people to deviate from superstitious meaningless activities?

Q: Who should be a corresponding author in a scientific publication?

Q: What is the science behind positive energy?

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