Some thoughts
I was thinking on the ride in to the store today about some science issues on my mind. Yesterday I heard, on 1370 Connection, a discussion about the First Amendment and high school students. About how today's youth seem to be a lot more tolerant of restrictions on free speech, and free press, then previous generations.
It may have been quite a leap to make, but it got me thinking that science specialists are really a tricky idea. My basis for saying that is that everything is connected, the idea that a butterfly beating it's wings in china can, through connections cause a hurricane in the Caribbean is a bit of a stretch but it supports what I am trying to get at. Forty years ago there was Biology and there was Chemistry, but as our knowledge and understanding of the interconnectedness of reality has grown, we now have Bio-chemistry. It seems to me that this can be related to many more fields.
My favorite being physics and astronomy, two more connected fields. But I will save that for another time, after I shake the potty-training out of my head. I think it was Feynman, or possibly Brian Greene, who said that anyone who isn't totally bewildered and amazed at quantum physics doesn't really understand it.
In my view you really can't have psychology(the study of one person's mind) without sociology(the study of a group of people's minds). No one is alone, except for Tom Hanks' character in Castaway, but that is unrealistic, because everything and everyone in his life before that made him who he was.
The same as everyone alive.
I guess what I am getting at is that for as many specialists, I think there should be "generalists", connecting the pieces and drawing different items and specialists together. Who knows how many different pieces of information out there could be invaluable to another person or project. If anything it might just prevent duplication or overlapping of different people's work. In my opinion peer-reviewed journals or magazines, valuable for verifying work and data, just aren't sufficiant for this.
Someone who I think perfectly fits into what I have been thinking is Steve Squyres from the Mars Rover NASA missions. He is a manager type of guy, who is really good at communicating more complex ideas in a thoughtful and uncomplicated way. That is why he has been doing such much of the public relations work with the Rover project, including 2 episodes of NOVA, and countless press interviews. That type of communication is critical for what I am getting at here. Some people find it impossible to talk about their work or hobbies without resorting to all their jargon or technospeak, but it takes a talented person to be able to bring their information to someone who isn't as immersed in whatever the specialty happens to be.
Just something to think about!
It may have been quite a leap to make, but it got me thinking that science specialists are really a tricky idea. My basis for saying that is that everything is connected, the idea that a butterfly beating it's wings in china can, through connections cause a hurricane in the Caribbean is a bit of a stretch but it supports what I am trying to get at. Forty years ago there was Biology and there was Chemistry, but as our knowledge and understanding of the interconnectedness of reality has grown, we now have Bio-chemistry. It seems to me that this can be related to many more fields.
My favorite being physics and astronomy, two more connected fields. But I will save that for another time, after I shake the potty-training out of my head. I think it was Feynman, or possibly Brian Greene, who said that anyone who isn't totally bewildered and amazed at quantum physics doesn't really understand it.
In my view you really can't have psychology(the study of one person's mind) without sociology(the study of a group of people's minds). No one is alone, except for Tom Hanks' character in Castaway, but that is unrealistic, because everything and everyone in his life before that made him who he was.
The same as everyone alive.
I guess what I am getting at is that for as many specialists, I think there should be "generalists", connecting the pieces and drawing different items and specialists together. Who knows how many different pieces of information out there could be invaluable to another person or project. If anything it might just prevent duplication or overlapping of different people's work. In my opinion peer-reviewed journals or magazines, valuable for verifying work and data, just aren't sufficiant for this.
Someone who I think perfectly fits into what I have been thinking is Steve Squyres from the Mars Rover NASA missions. He is a manager type of guy, who is really good at communicating more complex ideas in a thoughtful and uncomplicated way. That is why he has been doing such much of the public relations work with the Rover project, including 2 episodes of NOVA, and countless press interviews. That type of communication is critical for what I am getting at here. Some people find it impossible to talk about their work or hobbies without resorting to all their jargon or technospeak, but it takes a talented person to be able to bring their information to someone who isn't as immersed in whatever the specialty happens to be.
Just something to think about!
posted by Tim @ 1:59 PM
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