'IS SCIENCE A SOLUTION TO EVERYTHIG OR SCIENCE IS THE END TO EVERYTHING'
It shocks me that I used to be such a book worm and a writer growing up. However, lately I cannot express my words in writing but rather in silence.
I studied science in high school and also my first degree was the Bachelors of Science in Human Physiology, Genetics and Psychology. Having to integrate this science degree with Psychology gave me an awakening or rather it challenged me to ask myself if science is really a solution to everything or an end to everything.
Science cannot solve all our problems. While science can help battle things such as diseases, hunger and poverty when used properly. It does not do so completely and automatically. It is evident that most scientists are born. Most of them start at a young age by exploring things around them, experimenting on how things work etc. through observation of the physical world. Yet, understanding how the physical world works solves no problem. For example, it is through science that we know that excersing can lower your risks of being unhealthy but knowing this fact without acting on it will not help.
Lately, there is a lot of new technologies developed for instance the water and electricity meters. Instead of these helping people with water they now deprive people of the basic need water and electricity how bizarre (In South Africa currently we are in a serious crisis of loadshedding).
Most women are also put on birth control at times they get sterilized without their consent for population control measures yet this is unhealthy for them. New technologies on how to give birth, choosing the genetic make up of the child are implemented etc. This is the end of naturally conceiving our children. Is Science playing God?
Moreover, we consume a lot of unhealthy genetically modified food and processed food because of technology. As a consequence, we become unhealthy and our lifespan is reduced. Gone are the days when our grandparents will teach us to plant and grow crops. Then eat from our own gardens, the world now seems to be fast paced and everything is detrimental to human kind.
'Is science really a solution to everything or an end of everything'? I have also noticed with the use of social media as human beings we become conditioned and programmed through our posts and likes to chase instant gratification. For example, once your post become viral or generates a lot of likes you end up posting a lot with the thought that your posts will gain the same attention and followers. When I took a conscious decision to not be part of Social media 2015 it sure changed my life. I was not putting up a fake lifestyle on Social media because of likes, I was not chasing the next big thing to post for likes. My life has been mine without being programmed and conditioned to think a certain way because of social media.
I challenged myself to start a YouTube channel as I really am not technology savvy, I wanted it to enhance my editing skills. Nonetheless, it bores me now I only post my exercise shorts. I have also figured that once a short generate more viewers I want to post more. This is all being programmed to think and do things a certain way by technology. Which is detrimental to human kind. It creates a lot of anxieties . So many people cannot have an hour face to face genuine conversation because they are constantly on their phones . People no longer have a time to read books, spend with family because of technology. If we are not in our phones, we are constantly on the move to secure the bag and post about it on social media.
THE END TO EVERYTHING.
You raise such an interesting question (whether science is the solution to everything or the end to everything); as we discussed last week, a lot of the time scientists are regarded as experts in their field and whatever they say is trusted by the general public. I can speak from personal experience before I came to university and got taught to question things, when seeing that a scientist endorsed anything my first reaction would probably be to trust, because there was almost this underlying assumption tat they were right. The critique you made on science really got me thinking, especially where you mentioned social media, and how the posts and likes generate instant gratification. I like that social media sites have become more conscious of this and implemented things such as removing your like count.
ReplyDeleteI think technology aids us in a lot of ways (and if we continue to use technology as a means to enhance our lives then it will be serving its purpose); as you said, you started a youtube channel in order to enhance your editing skills. I think the lockdown restrictions also made things worse, as we are definitely more dependant on technology. For one of my other classes, we interviewed a climate (intersectional) activist; and they mentioned that technology has made things a bit harder because a lot of the time people would rather conduct online meetings as opposed to in-person (on the one hand, this could be positive because it allows people all over the world to join but it also makes things harder because the sense of community is lost to a sense, it also makes it harder for people to interact as much as they would in person).
As easy as it is to be caught up and loose sight of things outside of technology, some of the responsibility does fall on us to be more intentional about how we choose to do things. For example, I know that sometimes I can be easily distracted especially if need to study but do not feel like it. In order to force myself to be more intentional, I have installed an app called Flora (it is a focus timer; in this app the more time you spend off your phone your tree grows; if you exit the app, the it notifies you that you have killed your tree). I think reminding yourself of things of importance is helpful (for example, thinking if spending an hour on instagram will be more beneficial than spending an hour reading).
interesting, I think I also need that App. Thank you for a different perspective on this . I now wonder why did I not talk about this on the podcast but guess it is ok.
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