Long time no see everyone - I've been busy studying and haven't had much time to explore the boards as much as I used to.
This may sound strange coming from me, but science is really starting to get boring. Don't get me wrong, I strongly believe in empirical experimentation - science searches for answers in a testable way which usually leads to a greater understanding of the 'truth'. Two years through my PhD though, I'm finding it more and more frustrating - it's too clinical and reductionist and always follows a well travelled path from hypothesis to result. It teaches you what to think but only teaches you how to think in the limited sense of focussing on external processes, separating yourself from the world that exists within us all and turning the scientist into an automaton. I thus decided to set up a little experiment with my co-workers (without their knowledge) to see if their understanding of the world extended outside the lab and their own little bubble of specialist knowledge. I was rather disturbed with the results.
I began my experiment (for use of a better term) a few months ago. I discovered that of the three people I'd spoken to about philosophy in the past few months, none of them had any grasp on the topic nor knew the name of a single great thinker (i.e. Hume, Kant, Popper etc.). Each of the initial three knew little about politics, history and religion either. I wondered whether all scientists equally ignorant when it comes to life. Since my 'experiment' began, I've spoken to 16 people about topics that didn't concern science, and every person (with exceptions in certain areas) are completely ignorant of everything EXCEPT their science. Talk to them about their research and one gets the feeling that they are among the most intelligent people in our society. Talk to them about topics that don't involve science - philosophy, politics, religion, history, art etc. and most of them sound like dyslexic primary school students.
My supervisor is a perfect example. Every time I try to talk about 'real life', he quickly changes the topic to 'did you read the paper by Umi et al. - he showed that MBP is a good substrate for SnRK2 kinases', or 'Yamaguchi et al. has shown that ABA activates EF-hand containing transcription factors... interesting hey'. No, it's not bloody interesting, I don't give a shit. There are so many things going on in the world, so many different modes of thought, why would I want to spend my whole life revolving every thought around a minescule protein that may be involved in drought stress tolerance in wheat? Fuck it, leave that for the socially inept, uni-directional thinkers, those who are too scared to open up their minds, hiding from the world in their own little unpenetrable sphere of intellectual superiority.
I greatly respect the scientific process, and being a scientist for better or worse, things must be empirically proven before I'm willing to believe them (thus, I still doubt whether I'll ever believe in God, reiki and alternative therapies, etc.). Nonetheless, when dealing with the human mind, MY human mind, the words 'fact' and 'truth' are obsolete in an objective sense. Fuck self-analysis - trying to justify my thoughts, explaining them in a biochemical or evolutionary sense.
Time to lose my mind again, time to befriend the bong once more - I was a lot happier back then.
This may sound strange coming from me, but science is really starting to get boring. Don't get me wrong, I strongly believe in empirical experimentation - science searches for answers in a testable way which usually leads to a greater understanding of the 'truth'. Two years through my PhD though, I'm finding it more and more frustrating - it's too clinical and reductionist and always follows a well travelled path from hypothesis to result. It teaches you what to think but only teaches you how to think in the limited sense of focussing on external processes, separating yourself from the world that exists within us all and turning the scientist into an automaton. I thus decided to set up a little experiment with my co-workers (without their knowledge) to see if their understanding of the world extended outside the lab and their own little bubble of specialist knowledge. I was rather disturbed with the results.
I began my experiment (for use of a better term) a few months ago. I discovered that of the three people I'd spoken to about philosophy in the past few months, none of them had any grasp on the topic nor knew the name of a single great thinker (i.e. Hume, Kant, Popper etc.). Each of the initial three knew little about politics, history and religion either. I wondered whether all scientists equally ignorant when it comes to life. Since my 'experiment' began, I've spoken to 16 people about topics that didn't concern science, and every person (with exceptions in certain areas) are completely ignorant of everything EXCEPT their science. Talk to them about their research and one gets the feeling that they are among the most intelligent people in our society. Talk to them about topics that don't involve science - philosophy, politics, religion, history, art etc. and most of them sound like dyslexic primary school students.
My supervisor is a perfect example. Every time I try to talk about 'real life', he quickly changes the topic to 'did you read the paper by Umi et al. - he showed that MBP is a good substrate for SnRK2 kinases', or 'Yamaguchi et al. has shown that ABA activates EF-hand containing transcription factors... interesting hey'. No, it's not bloody interesting, I don't give a shit. There are so many things going on in the world, so many different modes of thought, why would I want to spend my whole life revolving every thought around a minescule protein that may be involved in drought stress tolerance in wheat? Fuck it, leave that for the socially inept, uni-directional thinkers, those who are too scared to open up their minds, hiding from the world in their own little unpenetrable sphere of intellectual superiority.
I greatly respect the scientific process, and being a scientist for better or worse, things must be empirically proven before I'm willing to believe them (thus, I still doubt whether I'll ever believe in God, reiki and alternative therapies, etc.). Nonetheless, when dealing with the human mind, MY human mind, the words 'fact' and 'truth' are obsolete in an objective sense. Fuck self-analysis - trying to justify my thoughts, explaining them in a biochemical or evolutionary sense.
Time to lose my mind again, time to befriend the bong once more - I was a lot happier back then.
