We need a lot more Science to Survive and Thrive

In today’s world, where long histories of human errors and ignorance compound and amplify the already difficult situations created by natural events, such as hurricanes, earth quakes, mud slides and so forth, what are we to do? Part of the answer is simply that we need a great deal MORE science, not less, if we want to survive and thrive in the 21st century.

Consider also that very many of us today share a yearning for a more satisfying "whole life". I suspect a majority of us are deeply dissatisfied with the empty life offered by hyper consumerism and celebrity madness required, it appears, by the processes of mass production with its dependence on mass markets. This dissatisfaction takes many forms. It also makes some of us very defensive and leads to lashing out and other regrettable behaviors, greed, looting and even terrorism of many sorts, for example.

Are our current cultural tensions an unavoidable conflict, a sharp dichotomy, between faith-based approaches or a fact-based “scientific” approach? I see this as a truly false and dangerous dichotomy. What we need is an and/both approach that is greater than the sum of the parts. The fact of mystery is ancient and undeniable. Given the ever lasting condition of all of humanity’s imperfect knowledge, mystery is also ever lasting. Science, on the other hand, is an ever more necessary and useful tool. In the face of deteriorating world conditions, we need a lot more of it, but more readily available and comprehensible to much greater numbers of all peoples. We can be confident, however, that science is no threat, and can never be, to the deeper mysteries.

Perhaps it is only by integrating science and mystery into something greater than the sum of the parts that can we rediscover the satisfactions of a richer life. Perhaps we must acknowledge and respect our intrinsic drives to both participate in mystery as well as to understand the way the world works. These are not mutually exclusive goals, any more than, as Franklin showed in his Junto, are our drives to both individual achievements and our desire to contribute to the common good of community.

In episode 10 of the 1978 TV series "Connections", for example, James Burke argued that if the principal modern agents of change are scientists and their science and technology, chiefly represented by the computer, then the man on the street, not comprehending any of the what, why or how of the process of science and technology, is essentially left out n the cold: powerless and "disenfranchised". The person on the street does not see themselves as an equal player in the process of change effecting him/her. This has to lead to increasingly deep resentments.

Earlier, in episodes 5 & 6 I believe, Burke had pointed out the issues and resentments, the loss of "meaning and sense of individuality", that we agree to accept in return for living with the "benefits" of society firmly locked to the demands of the technology driven assembly line, the wrist watch and now the "crackberry".

So in 1978 Burke pointed out two powerful engines of growing discontent with the modern world, both of which seemed to push the ideal of a whole life further and further into the past.

Twenty seven years latter this resonates deeply with current American politics. Burke probably could not fore see this. Nor does he talk about the end of oil, nor pandemics, nor man's impact on the stability of the global climate.

But consider this:

President George W. Bush, with his good ol boy, gut, anti science, "religion", and his faith-base approach to all things, talks to the alienated, discontented and resentful folks in powerful ways. He makes them feel like they matter and have power. He makes them feel as if there is more to life than being trapped in the assembly line. Together, they twice defeated the fact- based, we take science for granted, reality crowd.

The many factions of the Democratic party, and traditional moderate Republicans, have yet to figure this out. They still do not comprehend even the nature of the problems Burke saw so clearly in 1978. So their fact-based reality has become a political liability. That is, the more the moderates advance science and technology as essential for success, without promoting an and/both view of the world, the faster they drive the alienated and disenfranchised voters to the so called faith based, anti-science, view of the world.

Anti-science won in 2000 and 2004. Now the alienated and resentful have dominant political power -- or have become non-state, asymmetrical terrorists. But without facts and science, they are driving into the ditch. They, however, do not know it and appear not to want to know it. They appear to prefer to believe exclusively in dogma in the face of constant change.

The most likely solutions to the 21st century's hard challenges will come not from less knowledge, science and technology but only from a great deal more. To be successful, this more science approach must be far more readily accessible and understandable to everyone: Distributed to everyone, every where, all the time. A possible example of making technology more broadly accessible might be Hey Math.

Education that works to make science and math broadly meaningful to the majority of us will be essential for our future success. Without it we will fail. Our approach to the 21st century must, at the same time, also acknowledge and respect the mysteries of life that are beyond the comprehension of our always imperfect knowledge.

I recommend the Connections programs 1-10. The whole first series produced in 1978, and shown in 1979, is a great experience and is perhaps more relevant today than when first broadcast. They are available on the darknet and also on DVD. Burke also wrote the book Connections.

Posted by Jock Gill at October 11, 2005 1:01 PM | TrackBack