| [ |
mood |
| |
 contemplative |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Alright Now ~ JAM Project feat. Matsumoto Rica |
] |
"Too much sanity may be madness; and the maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be."
~ Sadly, I have no idea who said this.
I should keep that in mind, as I continue to be educated here at this great institution and my perspectives continue to change more quickly than I do.
While conducting a random I'm-bored-let's-accomplish-something cleaning of the room, I ran across the old journals that I used for many an English class, beginning in eighth grade and going through high school. And believe me, much more than my handwriting has changed in that time. Interestingly enough, life has become more complicated since I began thinking like a scientist.
Which leads me to another topic. Hold on, let me go get the exact quote. Don't worry, it's not a spoiler, it comes from the first five minutes of the movie.
--
"Science that does not make people happy isn't science."
~ Al, to the crazy uranium bomb guy, Hagaren: Conqueror of Shambala
That one really made me stop and go "Whoa..." and pause the movie to think about it for a minute. "Science that doesn't make people happy isn't science."
I know some people (read: professors) who would wholeheartedly deny that. They, and lots of other academic types, I'm sure, would say that science exists for the sake of science, for the pure pursuit of truth, without other things clouding it. And that has merit.
But nothing in this world can exist for its own sake, because then there's no point to its existence in the first place. (And I swear that one day I will learn how to spell "existence" without having to look it up to see whether that second 'e' is an 'e' or an 'a'. >_>) Science can't be done for the sake of science, that's circular logic, and it means that we'd be just as well off without science, which clearly isn't true.
So, science has to have a wider purpose. That means that, if something done in the name of science isn't done to better humanity, then it isn't science, and it isn't justified, either.
This, I think, is counter to the way scientists think, myself included. I'm reminded of a quote, which I can't get verbatim at the moment because the book is back at home, but it's from one of the Narnia Chronicles, namely The Magician's Nephew. Digory's uncle, I can't remember his name, was a magician, but you could classify him as a scientist, if you can stomach calling magic science; he did research and experiments with magic. He's not a very good person, and he's definitely one who practices science for the sake of science. The things he does are for knowledge and discovery, not to promote well-being or to help people. Here's the quote from him, while he's talking to Digory about being a magician-scientist and sometimes doing things that are morally questionable for the sake of science: "Ours is a high and lonely destiny."
I'm too tired to continue this musing right now, but Al is right. Science that doesn't help people isn't science. I think our world would be much, much better off if all the scientists adopted that as their motto.
~DigiFaith
|
sleepy
frustrated
amused