Science & society: notice board entry
This is a public group
Are we contributing enough?
- Posted by:
- Sangeetha Vijayakumar (group admin)
- Date:
- 09 September 2007
- Comments:
- 1 comment
Ten years back I made a choice when I did not get in to medical school. I got into graduate school and got my Ph.D. Now with the degree in hand I always wonder how can I make a difference. After all, the common person out on the streets is looking up to a “PhD” as one who is going to make a difference… probably even a radical difference. However,in the midst of supporting a family on a minimum pay, fighting against pressure to publish or perish, amidst all the frustration of failed experiments, how many of us actually think that we are contributing actively to the society.
Indeed it takes years of research and an estimated cost of an average of $802 million to bring a single new drug to market. Are we all happy contributing a Wetern blot ot a gel that somehow helped to aid this study?
Indeed people like us come to “research” to satisfy our curiosity of how the body works or how the world works. But with an advanced degree like ours should we not be involved in doing much more in helping the world to be a better place
I welcome members to contribute comments on this article and to share thoughts as to how we can contribute more to the society.
Well, Well Sangeetha, I must admire your zeal to make a difference.
To make a difference, you will have to think differently.
You will have to go to basics and see where we might have gone wrong.
A scientist should be like a chess player who always looks for new openings but constantly reviews existing theory (Chess has complicated theories) and see if someone has missed a line of play or has made an error.
How a scientist can contribute to the society?
I guess first by talking in the language that society understands. As such, these days not many people can explain some of the terms that they use in their theories. I will just give one example, in physics no one knows what ‘expansion of universe’ means. or what universe is expanding into.
Take the science to the level of a layman. If your theory or your line of thinking is right then you will find a language to explain it to a layman.
Science is not about publishing and perishing; Science is about bringing a positive change in the lives of the masses.
Think positively and you will find the way.
I request your comments on my recent post ‘Physics and Medical Science’.