We now have better understanding of the physical aspects of this Universe, our planet and of life. Our scientific advances have helped spawn several new technologies which were never even dreamed of, except by a few science fiction writers and visionaries. These technological advances have enriched our lives. They have contributed to elimination or better control of diseases, longer life, rapid travel, rapid communication, space travel etc.,
For example, when I traveled to USA from India in 1958, the duration of
the journey had already been shortened from several months by ship to a few
days by planes. Yet, the jet age had not arrived, and the travel took multiple
hops and three days. We can now fly, even without supersonic speeds, in about
16 hours.
And humans can now fly to the moon and be back safely and can take a
space flight around the earth if one can afford to pay.
In the 1950’s I did not have any phone communication with my family for 5
years (from 1958 to 1963). For one thing
everyone in India did not have personal telephone line. Besides the
transatlantic underwater cable collections were poor and the costs were
prohibitive.
Where are we now? I know of daughters who live in USA now who are on
Facetime or Skype with their mothers in India to get cooking instructions.
Music lessons are conducted online. We can see and talk with anyone, anywhere
in the world at any time. Meetings, Conventions and Conferences attended by
hundreds of participants are conducted on virtual platforms.
In the 1950’s, when
I was working on research projects,
we did not have the internet. To do my literature research, I had to go to the
College of Physicians of Philadelphia which had the largest collection of
medical journals going back to the late 1800’s. Journals from each year were
bound into volumes and kept in their stacks in the basement of the building. We
could not go to the stacks and pick out the volume we wanted. We had to go to
the beautiful large reading room at the College and fill out a request slip with
the details of the name of the journal,
volume number and the year. An attendant will go down to the stacks and bring
the volume we requested. Since I was in training, the only days I could go to
the College of Physicians Library were Saturdays. I usually waited till I had a
list of 10 or more references to look up before I went there.
Fast forward to 2021, what is the status now? I can sit in my own study and look up almost
any research article I need by scrolling the computer screen and clicking!
Indeed, that is how I obtained data on Infant Mortality and Life expectancy for
an earlier paragraph.
But science and technology have come with
their own burdens. In other words, they have contributed to human welfare; but they
have also contributed to some of the dangers we face today.
We develop evidence-based approaches and new
technologies to solve specific problems. But every problem cannot be solved by
scientific and technological solutions because every technology will have its
“downside” unless we use them wisely. As quoted by Garrett Hardin in his classic
article on Tragedy of the Commons (Garret Hardon, 1968), when Wiesner and York
were asked to advice the US Government on the problem of nuclear proliferation
and the arms race, they said that “ If the great powers continue to look for
solutions in the area of science and technology only, the result will be to
worsen the situation." The implication was that we must change our human
behavior to solve some of the problems. This is true for our current problems
such as climate change, disappearance of species, rapid spread of both viruses
and misinformation.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of
science and technology?
Facts and objectivity are the strengths of
science. But it tends to ignore, marginalize, or minimize the importance of
emotions and subjective experience.
Measurements and quantitation are its
strengths. But it tends to quantify even qualities which cannot be measured.
Putting a number on a quality and measuring does not make it scientific.
It breaks down a field of knowledge into parts
and makes it understandable. But it struggles to make a whole from its parts.
It knows the trees, but not the forest. As pointed out by Vine Deloria,
“…..modern man has foreclosed the possibility of experiencing life in favor of
explaining it”. (God is Red, Grosset Books, 973, page 298)
Demonstrable evidence makes the conclusions
arrived by scientific method reliable and useful for better understanding. But
complete knowledge requires the faculties of our body, mind with its reason and
emotion and the spirit. Science does not allow for information from two of
those four domains.
Science helps us to know about a thing as
perceived, but not a thing as is.
By its very nature, conclusions arrived at by
scientific inquiry are tentative. They do change and should change when new
facts emerge to give a better explanation. This is its strength. But this strength
is misunderstood as weakness (“scientists do not know. They keep changing their
mind” is the way some folks see) and this misunderstanding is used to sow the
seeds of doubt in the minds of the public by politicians and industries.
Scientists are often not able to bring their
knowledge to the common folks in a language they can understand. Sometimes they
even look down upon common folks. By insisting that everything gets approved by
“science”, they tend to ignore the wisdom of the native and indigenous people
and their “lived” experiences. In short, science is making the same mistake
religions did for a long time insisting that everything – even evident facts –
had to be approved by the religious heads. (Remember what happened to Galileo)
To the common man, scientific knowledge
appears to be too objective, too cold, sterile, and value-less.
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