Can a scientist compartmentalize inquisitiveness and rational thinking?
jayanta chatterjee
Monday, 27 July 2009 16:18 UTC
The basic qualities of a scientist are rational thinking and inquisitiveness. A good science mind can never restrict his/her abilities limited only to her area of work but will apply to each and every aspect of life, as I think. Sometimes it may create problems for the person to live a “normal” life, mainly in a conservative society in countries like India. It can also become a bit painful experience when s/he start applying these qualities to ask questions and re-visit traditions, religion and religious beliefs that we imbibe since our childhood; from our parents, relatives and society. I know it is always a tricky issue to mix science with religion and tradition. I also should make it clear that my intension is not to hurt any religious sentiment here.
Let me give an example: In India majority are Hindus and so are majority of Indian “scientists”. Many of us believe that beef eating is not allowed in Hinduism, which is clearly not true, as per historians and social scientists. Many of Hindu “scientists” religiously follow that so-called religious custom and never eat beef for “religious” reason. There are many such rituals that we follow in the name of tradition and religion. This attitude gave rise to a very conservative and close society even among so-called educated people, as I think. It has a bigger impact on society when an established “scientist” follows such rituals. It strengthens many superstitions in the name of religion/tradition among common Indian people, who are not that much literate or well informed. I think I should make it clear that respect to one’s heritage and acknowledgement of one’s past is a different issue as compared to accepting and encouraging distorted version of religion and negative aspects of tradition.
We need to keep in mind that single most important reason of killing people is religion since pre-historic time and India has more than fair share in that number. Mass murder, brutal torture of weaker sections of our society (e.g aganist women) in the name of religion/tratidion is still a burning issue in Indian society which mainly originates from ill-informed notion about “religion” and lack of transparent, rational thinking.
My questions are:
1. Does a true scientist (or any truly educated person) have the social responsibility to behave a bit more responsibly with more open, logical attitude outside of his/her area of work?
2. If the answer to my previous question is “Yes”, then, can we afford to continue compartmentalizing inquisitiveness and rational thinking?
3. Lastly, is it at all possible to become rational in some issues but not in many others?
Updated 28 July 2009 14:44 UTC
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I fully agree with Jayanta’s view. Yes, scientists have responsibility towards society both in term of advancement of knowledge and awareness. I commonly used a dialogue “First become good human-being before becoming good scientists”. Some time I feel our highly educated or so called intellectuals are not better than illiterates; otherwise our scientific community can become ideal model for society (every one is highly educated); instead of that we have lot of problems like ragging, exploitations of students by faculty/seniors . Same time it is also true that individual scientist or person can not change system and can become target of bed elements. Best-way is change system around you which you can change within your power. Time is major factor for a scientist, one need to balance time for science and for social cause, otherwise you will be no where. For any scientific work you need time otherwise it is difficult to achieve anything in competitive world.
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Gajendra, I appreciate your post. I also feel that one must first be a good human being and only then he can become a good scientist. This is true not only for a scientist of for any educated person. Sometimes s/he may have to pay heavy prices, in terms of fame (publication included) and money but at the end of the day s/he will start having a great sense of fulfillment and joy of doing something meaningful s/he truly believes in and doing it in the right way.
I know many scientists in US who prepare manuscripts much before s/he even start doing experiments. Now it’s the duty of the students/postdocs to get the desired result and fill the figure spaces. If they fail to bring the expected data, or if the data does not support boss’s expectation/hypothesis, the boss gets angry. Many times such people publish high impact papers by doing the experiment just once (and if you have proper connections, it will not be that tough to get it published in a decent journal). I am not much convinced if they have got “education” in true sense or stiff competition forces them to do so to get publications and grants.Coming to the point now, I am not advocating that all scientists to start a mass movement to eradicate religious superstitions and social prejudices leaving less time for their main profession. I am wondering how hard it will be for us to set examples to others (mainly to our students and juniors) by our own deeds in personal lives. I do not think it will take any extra time away from our research. I have seen many Indian “scientists” wearing rings with gem stones to rectify some rogue star/planets to change their “misfortune”. Whatever such scientists teach in a class or in his/her lab, is not going to make his/her students more rational and “educated” in real sense.
What we do has more profound impact on our students and juniors than what we actually preach in classes. As a teacher our duty is not only to train some techniques and transfer information in the name of “education” and “professionalism”, but also to train them, to encourage them to become a better human being; to gather the courage and wisdom not only to remain personally honest but to oppose corruption in an effective, feasible way. I am not asking my students or juniors or friends to become a martyr by opposing crimes and corruption of powerful people in a country like India but simply asking them to think of a better way to do it without sacrificing too much. And the best and most effective way we can do it, by setting standard by ourselves.
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There is a typing error in my previous post. The third sentence will be- “This is true not only for a scientist but also for any educated person”.
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Indeed, you have touched a very sensitive but very crucial issue. I do not think rational thinking can be compartmentalized. If a person is rational in true sense, s/he will be that way all the time. Sometimes situation may impose some degree of restriction of expression but overall the person will be critical and analytical. That is very important to becoming a true scientist. As a matter of fact, that ability is very important in any creative profession; it may be film making, painting, writing etc. Our society does not encourage that quality from the very beginning (probably due to our long foreign rule and subsequent power struggle using religion and “tradition” in form of culture, language etc. Our education system at school and then at university also does not encourage critical thinking. On the contrary you will be at great danger if you have that quality, during your studies and ever since. Rot memorization and following protocols become the real qualities that can bring good marks in exams, awards in career development. We are never encouraged to ask questions. So it’s not so surprising that average Indian student abroad are very good to following protocols but almost useless when out-of-box thinking is needed. That’s why we may have some great first author publications while doing PhD or postdoc but we are as good as useless when our own research start in India or abroad. It does not surprise me when India becomes one of the “least innovative nations in the world”. If you think outside science-research area, the consequences in our society and country are far worse. Root of that lies much deeper in our “culture”.
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Anonymous
In an ideal world yes it should be true but
We have scientists who take money from student grants.
We have scientists who will claim expenses without spending any penny.
We have scientists who will even take money from student fellowships.Above points are limited to our country
and
Following points were observed in other countries too
We have scientists who will ask their students to bring milk for house, take dog for a walk, shift their furniture and expect to work as drivers and guards for themselves.
We have scientists who will abuse their students in the best possible way.
We also have scientists who will force their pregnant lab members to attend labs till the very last day and if asked for vacations will not give salary.
We have scientists whose students have committed suicides due to continues harassment.
US universities will not shy away from hiring a person with killer history if he/she is a good scientist.
We have scientists in West who will hire students from Asian countries so that they can abuse them and pay them less salary…
We have scientists who will not allow their students to even go for lunch and forget about vacations or weekends.
Everywhere we have scientists who will back stab their own colleagues in terms of promotions, research, grants and awards.
ARE WE TRYING TO FIND A GOOD HUMAN BEING IN THESE SCIENTISTS, SORRY BUT IT IS NOT POSSIBLE ANYWHERE
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Anonymous
Just read this idea in “Nature” editorial (Inspiring non-scientists. Nature 460, 552, 30 July 2009) on how a national leader from one of the most conservative religions, Islam, fought religious superstition and fundamentalism.
“The title of this year’s UK (TED) conference was ‘The substance of things not seen’. Thus the advertising guru Rory Sutherland’s dissection of how Kemal Atatürk, the first president of modern Turkey, sought to prohibit the public use of the veil not by banning it, but by insisting that it be worn by all prostitutes.”The consequences of such actions are evident in front all of us; just compare Turkey with majority other Islamic nations.
Can anyone imagine doing any such thing in India? Even in our wildest dream, even in distant future, Indian leaders will never gather the wisdom and then courage to do such thing for any religion. Very few Indian “scientists” (if at all) do have the wisdom and conviction to foresee the problems and denounce such acts of religious fundamentalism and superstitions, openly to encourage young people to start asking questions regarding religion and “tradition”. -
Anonymous
This is to the response to first anonymous.
The way you described a typical Indian scientist in many of our universities and colleges does not give much scope to have any confusion about their (in)human nature. But if you talk to them, they have thousands one reason to support their actions. The same is true for many (if not majority) US scientists. They mainly take Postdocs and Phd students from countries like India, China, Korea etc mainly to exploit them with cheap price, day-night work without proper weekends and salary. Current American higher education and research industry is addicted to cheap labour force from third world countries. Majority career-minded new postdocs accept that as reality and exploit the situation for their personal career development. When they become faculty, they are one step ahead to exploit fellow Indians and others. In the process the research sector in US is increasingly becoming dominated by mediocre people who have lost basic human values and have almost no connection with their families (wives and kids who live with them).
Many highly exploitative faculties do not always give you the opportunity to personally meet and judge each other, as they take students from outside. No in-campus students join them. My personal suggestion is always meet and check how your supervisor is as a human being (inside the lab), if possible. For your overall development that is more important than working under a brilliant but crooked scientist. If you have talent and determination you can prosper in science, may not be so fast as many of your colleagues. But the rare quality of your boss will allow you to flourish as a human being and as a scientist on your own merit. There is a high chance that you will have a more balanced and cheerful life.
If you have a decent exposure about West European lab culture (preferably not working under US returned scientists) then it will be easier for you to understand the difference. But if you directly come to US from India, it will take a long time before you realize the situation here and then it will be too late (to admit and change yourself), as the case for majority of Indians here in US. Initially you will be very happy (expect personal relationships) as you will always compare US with India. Currently very few west European PhD students come to US for settling here. The vacuum will be filled by Indian, Chinese and other people from third world countries. In future we will see more Indian and Chinese faculties here in US and can expect more exploitation, longer working hours, reduced holidays, less benefits, worse lab condition and less pay. These people from those countries feel that even with all such negative aspects people will come and join them in US. They have no intension to groom students or postdocs but to use for what they already know and throw them when you need something newer or better.
This discussion is relevant for US as well. The fundamental question is: what you prefer? To become a good human being with happy life or a famous and “successful” one (most probably with stressful life but with money and fame)? Choice is yours. But remember that your choice will have a much bigger consequences on whole society and the country. You are and will remain a part of that. You can not have both- you yourself will do almost everything inhuman and expect others to become human and make a very nice society for you to enjoy! -
Anonymous
To add up
Have enough courage to stand against your boss if you don’t like his/her behavior towards you. You are not here to do a slavery but to groom yourself to be a better human being and a scientist. People who stood against such harassment always end up with good and productive career. Those who do not have any substantial skills or assets will carry on and will never rise against such bosses. These people will end up becoming bullies too.
A better human being is the one who can stand against anyone including his/her boss when something is not done according to rules and respect for other human beings. Remember you will suffer for a while but at the end you will be proud of yourself and your boss will never be able to stand against you.
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“Quality of life” is highly under-appreciated in American research field. This is the ramification of deteriorating value system in American society (and education) as a whole. Personal greed and lack of moral values among many highly “educated” people that lead us to recent subprime mortgage and global financial crisis is just one example of its dangerous consequences.
It will be unfair to brand only Indian and Chinese faculties in USA to use such oppressive tactics. White Americans have their fair share in that as well. I know many American faculties that are more oppressive than any Indian or Chinese faculties I know. It’s particularly obvious when both husband and wife is faculty in the same university and worse, in the same department. Such people hardly have family life and hell bent to ruin family lives of postdocs and other students working under them. You can never see a happy face in those labs. Such bosses really get worried if someone smiles by mistake and say “have a nice weekend”.
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Maintaining quality of life and scientific productivity is major challenge in real life. In order to publish paper in reasonable journal you need to do lot of work, competition is too tough. Sometime, this also leads to difference between scientist and students. Question is what is solution in present situation;
i) if you are taking science too easy then you will not be productive. If you are not productive then it will be difficult for you to survive. If you do not earn money then your family will disturb
ii) if you are working hard and successful in scientific life then you will be a rich person. In this case you will not able to enjoy as you do not have time for yourself and for your family
In any case, its difficult to maintain quality of life.
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