Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Fear of Questions- BEDA- Day 10

Me sitting here today, as a scientifically literate person, (One day, an astrophysist. I hope) has more knowledge of science than Issac Newton did at any point in his life.
Any kid with at least an eighth grade education has more scientific knowledge than Issac Newton. 
Sir Issac Newton likely knew everything there was to know about science in his day.
And most know more.
But these days, that doesn't mean a whole lot.
We've grown into not caring, or even noticing science in our world.
E= mc squared is the most basic science equation for most. Almost everyone knows it. But we, as people, never see it in play. 
And that doesn't matter to the average person.
We can say that science and exploration are our natural instincts, but we don't seem to feel the need to follow them.
Even JFK admitted he didn't care about science. He cared about beating Russia.
When we put a man on the moon, we did it out of fear.
And now we are without a space race, and therefore have thrown ourselves out of the league.
The government makes the decisions of our scientific research as a country, and they clearly  don't put a whole lot of precedence on it.
Sixth-tenths of your American tax dollar funds NASA.
Six-tenths.

We are afraid of questions. We are happy with lingering on the answers because now, we need instant gratification, which the universe can't always grant.
We've stopped asking or wondering.
And now, America has lost it's place as head of science. And I don't think it will ever get that place back.
We have stopped maned space exploration, and it is our first hop back.
And I'm only expecting more from here.

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