Science: Why not?

I’ll confess. I murdered an entire jar of fruit flies. They were waking up before I typed their wings, so I dumped them in mineral oil—hence, my less than stellar performance in college biology. But I don’t hold my lack of proficiency against science. I was never meant to go there professionally. That doesn’t mean I can’t be fascinated by advances in science or scientists who can keep on working on a problem for YEARS without ever reaching a definitive answer.

Science doesn’t have to be perfect to be useful. Now and then, the answers aren’t exactly wrong, but they aren’t entirely helpful, either. Remember when doctors said smoking was good for the nerves—especially in women who tend to be hysterical? (Science can be distorted by the perceptions of the humans doing the work.) As a little kid, I was sorry when science discovered I shouldn’t be taking codeine for my coughs. It tasted good—unlike the fake cherry stuff that could make you vomit. Now they know codeine is an opioid. Like any one of us, scientists have to keep learning, replacing faulty information with better information. Give them a break.

The only scientists I resent are like any closed-minded people; they KNOW. If there’s anything all of us should KNOW by now, it’s that we don’t (maybe can’t) KNOW everything. The people who cling to absurd ideas (such as believing the earth is flat) are simply bizarre. Perhaps they feel a need to KNOW something few others believe. It’s a club. Certain religions are like that, too. Their followers KNOW the ultimate truth, even if their version or their actions conflict with their source material. Because we’re simply humans who formulate our beliefs based on what we  want to be true—and hubris—we often take ourselves down shadowy paths we built  for ourselves. As a woman, I can’t avoid mentioning the inexplicable, frequent need of male dominated societies to use women for entertainment, subjugation, or derision—in spite of ABUNDANT evidence that we don’t deserve such a fate. Give us a break!

Not being a scientist and bound and gagged by precedent, I do wonder that many scientists discount the unseen world so casually. “Impossible” is a descriptor commonly used to dismiss that which is difficult to measure instead of wondering how we can improve our measurement methods to suit the problem. I firmly believe in pursuing “what if.” Why? Because we don’t KNOW everything, and some principles we were sure we had down pat are wrong. For example, the earth does have tectonic plates that move—as nutty as that sounds. We finally accepted the fact, although our explanations as to the details may yet have to change a few more times. Our “common sense” is at least partially based on ignorance. The possibility of unseen dimensions—or intelligences—not merely in space but around us is a challenge. Time is a fooler.

After our fascination with the recent solar eclipse, people who grumbled that vaccines are evil without understanding their genesis or limitations could still be awed that our sun can be so easily shadowed. Science provides the means for us to observe just what we as a humble planet look like. In the end, we live on a small orb in space, stuck with our fellow living beings, reminded that we may or may not survive to fascinate future archeologists, if any. Give us a break. We’re trying to learn survival with tribal distrust and a hunger for power as our heritage. Maybe more attention on developing unseen empathetic or superconscious connections could be useful. In the meantime, my thanks to the many ethical scientists who go without recognition or appreciation.