Science by itself is devoid of emotion, and yet beautiful;
however the human endeavor of science is emotional, which adds another layer of
beauty. This layered intellectual aesthetics is what makes pursuit of science a
worthwhile effort. Scientific quest is also an exhilarating journey into the
deepest corners of the mind, which no fiction can take you to. So, welcome aboard.
The
quest I am writing about is not on a scientific problem, but a sociological one
related to India. Science and technology are backbones of any country, and are
essential ingredients to drive its economy. Usually a scientifically advanced
country is also a well-developed economy. Apart from being an economic indicator,
science and its pursuit also reflects how evolved a society is. To really
understand whether our country is “scientific”, two aspects may be interesting
for exploration:
Science as a part of
our culture
On the priority list of Indian public, science is way at the
bottom, if not absent. Here I am not talking about the investment in science. I
am more interested in the cultural aspect of science, and how the society
values it like arts and sports. If you
talk to any aam admi on the streets
of India, they are fairly comfortable in grasping many aspects related to money,
whereas you ask them why is the sky blue or how does a mobile phone work? They
have never given a thought on such
questions and neither are they interested in such curiosities, as they are
caught-up in the daily rumbling of their lives. Only a few have a subdued-curiosity,
but they too feel that they cannot afford to think on such aspects as there are
more important tasks to achieve. Such attitude may be general human phenomenon,
but the disturbing fact is that in India it much more prevalent.
The general public,
especially in India, confuse gadgetry to science. No doubt that gadget-making
does involve quite a bit of science, but the definition of science is much more
than 'knowledge of how to make a cool tool'. What is discomforting is that not
only the general public, but even the well-educated people who are exposed to
internet and other media are neither interested in science nor are they curious
to know about it. Economics dominates every walk of their life, and
unfortunately the curiosity about nature takes a back-seat. Unless this
attitude is drastically altered, we cannot bring any important change in our
society. This is because, if we do not value science as a human endeavor, we
are also demeaning an important culture of questioning. This scientific culture
and the pursuit of curiosity is the main reason behind all the developments. Be it scientific, economic or social. What
starts as a scientific curiosity has many a times evolved into a “life-saving”
technology, and has further impacted economic and social spheres of the society.
Without this we are not only losing something which can be precious in future,
but also we are, in an essence, curbing an important human expression: questioning.
There is nothing more powerful than a refined question, and good science
evolves through such questioning.
Value of scientific
thought in family and society
A majority of India is still soaked in superstition. You will
have to just switch-on any of the regional-television-channels for a proof. Not
that many of the English-speaking media is any different, as their content is
anything but scientific. Instead of questioning outright non-sense and
unscientific practices of society, the media highlights them as cultural practices,
as people mistake blind faith to cultural values. Indian culture is too
beautiful for such a treatment. Traditionally, the Indian culture has given a
large intellectual-space to all philosophies and life styles, and importantly encouraged
debates and questioning. Interpreting culture with narrow borders will serve no
purpose; and in fact, will decay it further.
Scientific temper
and tolerance can play a vital role in understanding our culture and its connection
to other cultures, and a family should be an epi-center of such thoughts. Parents
need to seed the scientific way of looking at things into their children. This
is very much possible, and an easier task. The more difficult part is to seed
scientific thought into the parent’s mind, and that is where the challenge lies.
Bending a hard tree is very difficult, you see. The unfortunate part is that
people even do not know what is scientific temper, and how critical thinking
can be adapted into their everyday life. In the name of conforming towards the
elders or authorities, too many questioning minds have been killed, and have
been adapted for drudgery. Accepting anything without questioning probably is
the biggest disservice we can do to our self and our society. The essence of a
human being is that we have an evolved brain, and our society is a byproduct of
such evolution. If we do not think, how will the society evolve? Putting critical
thinking to use for everyday living is highly rewarding, and questioning
everything makes our life more interesting.
As a nation, we are much too occupied only in questioning
things which are of monetary and social relevance. I admit that they are very
important, but we cannot build an intellectual ecosystem without bringing scientific
temper on board. Science brings an excellent admixture of objectivity with
human creativity, which is based on “verifiable” knowledge, and furthermore it
teaches us the capability to falsify something.
This is the crux of scientific temper which we need to adapt.
Are we ready to embrace it?
