A wordy post about Science

I asked my wife to review this post before I published. Being a teacher, she is good at marking my work! She warned me that this post is a little heavy and tad wordy compared to previous ones. However, I think its a worthy topic for discussion and have decided to post it anyway.  To try and lighten the mood I have left Louise's comments in - they made me laugh! I have highlighted them in Bold and put them in brackets.

Unfortunately, Science isn't fashionable. The majority of people find Science complicated, too abstract and inaccessible. Is there some truth to this assertion? In reality, Yes.

LC (To the layman, science is complicated)

For starters, advanced scientific theories can only be understood properly with a good grasp of mathematical equations and principles. Moreover, as Science becomes more specialised, the level of knowledge required to function in each specialist field rises exponentially and consequently makes passive participation almost impossible - even for other Phd's studying different fields within the same subject!

LC (Basically you need a good understanding of maths equations and principles)

Science is also expensive and it often lacks the funding/financing to make it an attractive career proposition. As a result, talented Scientists often end up in careers that don't involve Science - either developing predictive mathematical models for city hedge funds, making computer chips smaller, or writing oil search algorithms for energy giants. Science, by nature, is speculative and long-term but pragmatic businesses don't tend to make big investments in long-term speculation and Governments don't have the deep pockets they used to have either (as most of this cash has been spent on war or bailing out banks)


LC (Talented scientists don't follow the career path they are passionate about but rather the one where they can earn decent money)

I am not a scientist, nor do I believe I possess the right talents to be one. I am not absurdly intelligent nor am I a particularly academic person.

I am, however, a good communicator and if I am given enough time I can generally muddle my way to an understanding of most new concepts or subjects presented to me. I managed a degree in Economics -which is highly mathematical- but essentially I am prepared to admit that most modern scientific theories are completely beyond me. I would have more joy rolling my ankle in a pothole than I would in trying to understand string theory. I have a PhD friend who once tried to explain it to me using actual string - I am still convinced he was just having a laugh.

Having confessed my relative ignorance, I will proceed to my point with renewed ignorance and twice as much vigour.

Firstly, I would like to say that there is one thing I do clearly understand Science. It is incredibly important! Science has shaped our past, is shaping our present and most importantly will make the future very very exciting.

I grew up watching Star Trek and Star Wars. I wanted to believe that we could -in my lifetime- explore the galaxy at faster than light speeds. I wanted to ask a high-tech vending machine for anything imaginable and have it delivered -from thin air- in a matter of seconds. I wanted to live on the Deathstar and anyone with any sense would upgrade their dog for a Wookiee at the drop of a hat (sorry Winston). However, none of this will happen in my lifetime and this makes me sad!

LC (me too)

The holy grail of science is energy production. Anyone who can find a method of producing limitless amounts (both in terms of availability and in magnitude) of clean and self-sustaining energy that can be easily harnessed will essentially evolve the way we live in a matter of years - not centuries or millennia  This discovery would eliminate poverty and famine. The importance of business and industry would diminish and basic standards of living around the world would be dragged into the stratosphere.

Anyone interested in digging into the tech a little more (hell, just nuclear fusion would be enough to make a big difference) -feel free, but trust me - with enough energy there is very little we can't do. The cost of production, whether it be food, materials, medicines, or whatever, would very quickly drop to zero or negligible. Economics would go out of the window and people would no longer live to survive, they would live to learn and to explore and to better themselves -and those that choose not to, won't be harming anyone by draining resources (because there are plenty!). If anyone has ever watched Star Trek - this is the very model I am describing.

Why oh why, do we not pump all our R&D and efforts into making this happen? The problem is Capitalism and Greed. Capitalism is a wonderful engine to drive production, it has got us to the standards of living we now enjoy but it is essentially flawed (interesting article). You only have to look at the poor distribution of wealth around the globe today for proof on this (even here in Britain it is noticeable).

However,  Capitalism is the best of a bad bunch and we are stuck with it now. Stuck being the operative word. Too many powerful people have too much invested in things staying the way they are - for example, how happy would Oil and Gas companies be if the demand for their goods and services disappeared overnight. If people no longer cared about money -because it became irrelevant- what would bankers and lawyers do? People get invested in what they do and as a result, struggle to embrace change - particularly when they are at the top of the tree.

Ending on a positive note, there are some people at the top that want to drive positive change and dream about things other than more power! People like Richard Branson with his Space flights. People like Tim Berners-Lee who invented the world-wide-web and gave it away for free. That's changed the way we live a little bit, hasn't it? ;-)

It only takes one idea to come good -from the right person- and it will change everything.

Keep Dreaming People,

Chancey