Some changes make our lives easier. But others make our lives more difficult. Science can help find new solutions for almost everything humans do, from energy and food production to waste disposal and clean water supply. Being a scientist doesn't necessarily mean working in a lab for the rest of your life. If research is not for you, there are many other science-related career paths that you can try.
To keep your options open, consider combining your BSc with a degree in business or arts as part of a conjoint programme. Every year, a US study ranks job satisfaction according to five criteria physical demands, work environment, income, stress and hiring outlook. Science professions consistently come out on top. In , of the top 20 ranked jobs, more than half were science-related.
Our own experience tells us that the subjective perceived phenomena, the human sensations, are not reliable, because what is perceived cannot be separated from the perceiver. Knowledge is inevitably constructed by the knower in interaction with his nervous activity, and we should never forget that each scientist has his own values, priorities and may also have all sorts of cognitive biases, prejudices or unfounded speculations Popper, Much of the public hears what it wants to hear.
Thus, although science attempts to unify different ideas, prejudice and self-righteousness, it bases itself on an illusion from a particular viewpoint, and there may be struggles. Many things have to be scientifically understood.
We are far from understanding the truth Ameniya, The same things may look different if our viewpoint is different, as it is evident from the quite well known Indian tale about six blind men who touch an elephant to learn what it is like: The one who feels the leg says the elephant is like a pillar; the one who feels the tail says the elephant is like a rope; the one who feels the trunk says the elephant is like a tree branch; the one who feels the ear says the elephant is like a hand fan; the one who feels the belly says the elephant is like a wall; and the one who feels the tusk says the elephant is like a solid pipe.
At various times the parable has provided insight into the relativism, opaqueness or inexpressible nature of truth, the behavior of experts in fields where there is a deficit or inaccessibility of information, the need for communication, and respect for different perspectives. We cannot thus ignore the subjective experiences and the limitation of our faculties of perception, given that the human cognitive capacity is limited.
Reality goes beyond the Limits of Science. We have just asserted that science only gives information about what is apprehended by the senses, but these senses do not reveal the Reality. This does not necessarily have to be restricted to physical terms, by suppressing its subjective dimensions, even if—we have to admit it—these observations are subtler.
If we want to understand the human being and the universe, science has a lot to say, but it is not the only test of validity. The uniqueness of a human mind is its ability to think about things which do not fall under the senses. There are other ways of knowledge, but to see life steadily and as a whole, we need something that will overpass the limits of science, ethics, philosophy, art and theology, all of them equally valid and limited in isolation, like science.
What is the origin of life on Earth? Are we alone in the universe or is there a probability of life elsewhere in the universe? What is human nature? How much can human life span be extended? How do organisms know when to stop growing? Can cancer be cured or ageing be stopped? What genetic changes made us uniquely human? Is morality hard-wired into the brain? What are the limits of learning by machines? Given the enormous complexity of reality, there will always be things unintelligible to the human mind.
For instance, the existence of moral values, social institutions, God… cannot be subject to experimental tests, but it does not mean that they do not exist. We need them as pilots of our life and our social relations. The vision of the human being searching for a purpose in life thus transcends scientific knowledge.
Ignoramus, Ignorabimus! Belief is a decision rationally as fundamental, and consequently at least as respectable, as no belief. We dare to say that everybody has faith. Others, even if we are color-blind and have no religious sense, still use faith in acceptance of science, because, otherwise, we would not accept any science that we have not personally studied ourselves and get convinced of the evidence presented.
We would like to add to these considerations that there is a need for a bridge between science and religion , because both have things to say about the same subject matter. Some aspects of the world can be known through empirical observation; others, through religious thought. Science tells us more and more about how things work. Why they work, and what is the overarching reality, are issues of an evolving religion.
Science without religion is soulless. Consequently, science and religion should not be seen as conflicting forces; on the contrary, they have to progress and share the same pedestal: science has to be inspired by values such as love for Creation, respect for life and promotion of human dignity.
In sum, recognizing the limits of scientific knowledge—science does not have the last word—includes an explicit recognition of the tentative nature of science, combined with the fact that some things are, theoretically, unknowable scientifically.
In the end, we seem to be brought to the theologian dictum of Tertullian, credo quia absurdum. How Scientists can help create a Human-centered Society.
In spite of their limitations, scientists can play an important role in favouring a human-centered society. We suggest a few simple examples of how this may be done. Its goal is to increase the speed at which researchers get closer to the truth, taking into account four major categories: methods, reporting and dissemination, reproducibility, and evaluation and incentives.
Who are responsible for improving the quality of science? Not just the researchers, but also other stakeholders, such as research institutions, scientific journals, funders and regulatory agencies. Fomenting scientific knowledge and enhancing cross-cultural connections and joint cooperative research have to be their main goal. Scientific cooperation in easing relations between governments: Science is fundamentally an interactive, cooperative pursuit, which allows us to expose the results of research to review and critique through a common language to more easily cross cultures and borders.
Rachel Rothschild, analysing centers on The European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme EMEP , which was designed to investigate the pollutants causing acid rain and began operations under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in , notes that the creation of the EMEP is an evidence of how addressing global environmental concerns can pave the way for easing geopolitical conflicts.
The impetus for cooperating across the Iron Curtain on air pollution monitoring came from a group of scientists and environmental officials in Norway working on acid rain.
Despite security concerns over disclosing power plant locations and resistance on placing pollution monitoring stations within the Soviet Union, the Scandinavian scientists were eventually able to secure the commitment of the Communist bloc to a Europe-wide environmental research program—a breakthrough that resulted in limited technological cooperation.
This development helped ease Cold War tensions, fostering subsequent political relationships, which culminated in the UN Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution. Another example is how science brought Americans and Russians together, just after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of Cold War, in late , a US-Russian collaboration into sensitive areas, like the safety and security of nuclear weapons and materials.
VNIIEF sent to Los Alamos explosive magnetic flux compression generators from Russia, which were charged with US-supplied explosives and stationary pulsed power machines to produce ultra-high electrical currents and magnetic fields that, in turn, produced a wide range of high-energy density environments needed to pursue a unique approach to civilian nuclear fusion.
This joint collaboration resulted in over joint publications and presentations between and , and opened the door for joint work in other areas Hecker, These stories clearly demonstrate that countries can achieve some scientific collaboration by working together, although it is less evident whether scientific cooperation can become a precursor for political collaboration, i. We hope science would play its part. Although the fake news phenomenon in the context of science is not at all new, social media disseminates this kind of news much faster among online social networks.
Surrounded by like-minded friends and followers, opinions are reinforced and become more extreme, because simply presenting facts is unlikely to change beliefs when those beliefs are rooted in the values and groupthink of a community. People often have strong opinions about issues they understand little about. Science is a system for exploring, and for innovation. It can form a path for our young people in a competitive global marketplace. And it can fire our imagination. Thank you for your kind attention.
She was formerly editor in chief of Scientific American and executive vice president, Magazines, for Springer Nature. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Go Paperless with Digital.
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