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130 Posts |
 Posted - 24 Nov 2008 : 18:25:13
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Topic author: kayjatta
Subject: WHAT KIND OF SCIENCE?
Posted on: 18 Nov 2008 10:27:17
Message:
My vision of technology falls roughly between Millikan and Krutch's views, although I lean slightly toward MillIkan's.
Robert A. Millikan, an American physicist and nobel laureate celebrated for his work on the photoelectric effect contends that modern science and technology has relieved mankind forever from the physical bondage of past civilizations and has given us new inspirations and a new emotional basis to life. Joseph W. krutch, a humanist and a champion of environmental science, however argued that although "...science fulfills the details of its promises, it does not in any ultimate sense solve our problems...".
While Dr. Jeghan Senghore argued that the power of science is undeniable because it is self evident, the central question raised by both Millikan and Krutch is whether science and technology make us happier people.
Daniel Sarewitz's studies of the (Mangyan) farming tribe of the Philippine and Tajikistan, a former republic of the Soviet Union sheds significant light on this question of science/technology and happiness. Sarewitz observed of these impoverished farmers that even though he carried more material properties in his backpack than all their worldly possessions, they seemed much more generous, open and contented with their lives than he was. In Tajikistan, the Soviet Union brought about significant progress by creating many of the technological advances of the twentieth century, but at the cost of the cultural foundations of the Tajikistan society. As illustrated by Sarewitz, the futility of the Soviet project in Tajikistan became evident as soon as the Soviet authority collapse. The result was a bloody uprising against the technologically modern secular state.
These illustrations above, about the farming tribe in Philippine, and the Soviet project inTajikistan are very instructive of the disconnect between science/technology and happiness. However, it cannot be denied that science and technology has made life a lot easier and interesting. The dilema of our modern technological society is that we tend to be so much subsumed in technology that technology itself become the defacto reason for our living devoid of human content. Einstein used to rage at his 'aides' every time they bundled him in the car" (poor genius he never learned to drive) that "it is futile to look at the world through the window of a car. Einstein's yearning to be in direct contact with nature, to walk around and meet people face to face and one on one, shake their hands, look into their eyes and converse with them, is a 'luxury' that the technology-clad modern man cannot afford.
Another aspect of the question of the relationship between science and happiness is the relationship between science and democracy itself. The scientist is often depicted as an objective person who is above the fray, and an investigator of facts where ever they lead to. Science must bear all the trappings of a free society. Therefore, science and freedom; science and democracy feed each other. Science and democracy go hand in hand. But there are instances were science and the scientists are subjugated by political ideology. In Nazi Germany, communist USSR and China, science and the scientists often found themselves in the shackles of Nazism and so-called scientific socialism. Science, then largely become a tool for authoritarianism, and a vocation for either the stooge or the endangered. For example the life of theoretical physicists like Albert Einstein became endangered under Nazi Germany while in USSR; Lysenko's so-called "proletarian science" was nothing other than a sugar pill coated in Marxist philosophy. Both Joseph Stalin and Hitler harbored contempt for free and genuine science.
The Gambia's president, Yahya jammeh's claim to have found the cure for HIV/AIDS, and his subsequent transformation of the entire Healthcare system of the Gambia to this end is another illustration of the "ideologization" of science. Dr. Mbowe, the former Secretary of State for Health in the Gambia, a western trained medical doctor who turned himself into a charlatan and Jammeh's mouth piece in this drive for "voodoo medicine" is akin to USSR's Lysenko. Jammeh's recent call for Gambian writers to submit their works for the presidential prize he has just announced could be another showcase for intellectual corruption. There is no doubt that jammeh's prize will not go out to the literary giant of the day; it will surely go the the best praise singer of the day, ala "Everybody Mbye".
I have argued in my poetry that mankind's future lies in science; that mankind will only achieve salvation through science just like Nadine GordiMer, a South African novelist argued at the dawn of the space age that modern man will only reach God through space exploration, not any more by worship. However, if science and technology continues to undermine and destabilize hard-held cultural norms and institutions, the disconnect between science and happiness might remain intractable for a while. Copernicus, Darwin, and Freud, all gave us tremendous insight into the understanding of mankind and his/her position in the universe, thereby literally 'setting us free', but their scientific ideas and technology shattered a hard-held (Christian ) religious view about mankind and his/her place in the universe.
This kind of shock to cultural norms and sometimes complete ways of life can be a source of much unease for many people.
Replies:
Reply author: kaanibaa
Replied on: 18 Nov 2008 15:12:40
Message:
Wow! Kayjatta esabari baba , that was a roller coaster for me I kept going back to a previous line to get a gist of what you are discussing, my god! we sure do have men of sound mind from SUEGAMBIA, there; is a sure example of brain drain.With people like you dotting the points away from home one can see what we are missing but then if this is not appreciated there what choice have you but keep away.I like your analysis and the conclusions are so amazing, keep the fire burning brother , I just love reading your postings.Good Job!
Reply author: kondorong
Replied on: 18 Nov 2008 17:45:37
Message:
Kay
That was a wonderful piece. I am humbled and like Kaaniba said, Gambia is nt short of skilled personnel. I think we have decided to underutilises our labor.
If i may add, science does not survive in a theocracy and therefore a society devoid of science education is a perfect breeding ground for dictatorial governments. As you posited, science thrives where investigations are allowed and ideas are subject to scrutiny. Such an environment can only exist in a democracy.
Would it then be safe to conclude that what Africa needs is science education to dispel all our myths? Certainly, there are many in Africa who still believe that Presidents are selected by God and as such no one should go against them. That is a fundamental believe even in the Gambia. I have heard sermons in Mosques many times alluding to to this myth.
Our politicians have used these dogmas to their advantage and certainly, Jawara's bald head was a source of fear among many gambians. Its a local believe that those with bald heads are genuises and sometimes even believed to to have special powers. This was really reinforced with the helicopter crash which he survived
Science will really tell us that bald heads are just chemical imbalances in the body which leads to hair loss. Nothing more.
Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition. (Adam Smith)
Well done kay.
Reply author: Prince
Replied on: 19 Nov 2008 06:03:41
Message:
Kay, thank you for the insightful post. You mentioned a facet I did not think of before, i.e. the trade-off between science/technology and happiness.
I may not know what I'm talking about, but my opinion about the correlation between science and happiness are;
The tradeoff between science and happiness is always positive. Those who argue that the science brings unhappiness, are just presenting an extension of the “ignorance is bliss” argument.
Like you’ve said, the Soviet Union was an authoritarian state. They did not practice science in its purest form. In Tajikistan, they introduced science with an ideological and dogmatic underpinning. Basically, the Soviet Union used science as a repressive tool.
Therefore, neither Philippines nor Tajikistan could be used to clearly demonstrate the negative trade off between science and happiness.
Maybe, just maybe, both the Philippines and Tajikistan were protesting against repression instead of science. Science provides FREEDOM, and humans everywhere have a tendency to appreciates freedom and its rewards.
Authoritarians skew science and make people have a wrong interpretation of mankind's greatest achievement -science.
Reply author: kayjatta
Replied on: 19 Nov 2008 08:56:49
Message:
Thanks Kaanibaa, Kondorong (my teacher) and Prince for taking your time to read the article.
Kondorong, you are right; Africa needs a lot of science education. I mean genuine science education without the clutches of an unfree society. The story of Dr. Mbowe, an otherwise intelligent and accomplished medical doctor who abandoned the ethics of his profession to stand behind jammeh's "witchcraft" is a testimony to the dilema that science and scientists may face in an autocracy where all the institutions of knowledge (both science and religion) are directed to serve only the interest of the dictatorship. The situation of the Supreme Islamic Council (and other religious leaders) in the Gambia also attest to this.
These institutions were supposed to be free; to investigate and comment on facts as they see it fit. You have made a great comment here; thanks for that.
Prince, thanks for your comment. Does science/technology automatically translate to happiness? It could, but there is a lot of evidence that it often does not. I do not for a momment believe in the Indian anthropologist, Vishvanathan's contention that "progress itself is violence" ( but see how the construction of a new dam can destroy local communities and ecology, or the expansion of the Banjul Port has devastated Half Die residents).
But I think the big lesson of the Soviet project in Tajikistan is that the cultural norms and institutions of the Tajiks was more important to their happiness than the technological representations of the Soviet state. I think, perhaps for technology to be relevant ot happiness, it has to be considered with regards to cultural and other social institutions ...
I think the big issue here is that there might be something else that is important to human happiness than the comforts afforded to us by technology. I recall when my wife arrived here the first time she was shocked to see how secluded life is here. Everyone's doors are shut behind them, there are nobody outside except in their cars with the windows shut, you can't even visit someone without an appointment first. Perhaps I will also recall Dr. Peter's who narrated in his poem that even though he is "...living in a large house with gourmet food and wine ..., he missed the laughter of humbler people ...". Perhaps this is what we mean; technology, the TV, the computer, video game, Ipod, the car, ... (in as much as we love it and need it for the comfort it gives us)often tend to take our humanity away.
Reply author: kondorong
Replied on: 19 Nov 2008 17:30:35
Message:
Kay
I now know that i did not waste my time on students like you. You make me proud.
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