Scientific Research

Researches in Science

I got this article two months back and I mailed to many. I even posted it if I remember correctly in FB group science matrix or something like that wherein only research students are members.

It is indeed pathetic that there is no actual real research at all nowadays it is either mixture of data , materials, existing literature in the specific field etc presented in a pleasant manner or inputs fed in by guides for a fee; there is no research in pure science at all unless it can advance some technology which can in turn propel some business or some research which can enhance the pharma industry  or pesticide industry or it must in some remote way help enhanced military operation, cyber scheming etc .

There  is also that purely academic elite pleasing field of very high research in the field of physics where  they keep piling hypotheses upon hypotheses and they are a virtual island of research pleasure loving crowds like the crowds at classical music concerts ,only they know its value and pleasure,,. However they are criticized by many other scientist who feels application in practical life, of these research works, which is the sine qua non of science is missing here, so they feel these research works are done more out of pleasure and aesthetic appeal rather than utility.  At present the business of all research is pure business. This is in the field of science and in other fields research is no research at all, it is vomiting of materials  gobbled up from search Engines, peppered with survey reports, sauced with statistics etc. Anyone involved in research in pure science with great enthusiasm is bound to get frustrated after some time seeing everything happening around to discourage the pursuit of research to the maximum.

The culture and context together offering a conducive atmosphere alone can encourage academics to work on certain fields or even for that matter any intellectual to embellish.

You can witness this trend operated impact manifesting in many fields. There was a period which encouraged great literature, there was a period which encouraged great movies, now it is filthy movies, there was a period when sitcoms were only about triangular love stories and romantic drivel like bold and beautiful, now we have better stuff like big bang theory, gray’s anatomy etc. There was a period which encouraged astronomical research very much, there was a period which promoted mathematical research, and there was then research in political and administrative reforms and economic systems throwing up lot of materials in social inventions.

Similarly there was a time from the late 17^th century till mid 19^th century when all scientific research were encouraged  and promoted and these scientific research produced industries and promoted military might and subsequently which then took an upper hand and started defining what are the areas in which scientific research must be confined to and who is to sponsor and for what purpose etc all these and the craze for taking credit for [ which is like eternal masturbation] discoveries and inventions have led to too much politics, bogus claims, suppression of really worthy works etc.

Justin Pollard’s book titled BOFINOLOGY which reveals the ugly ‘the real stories behind our greatest scientific discoveries’ like for example ‘”Archimedes never said ‘Eureka’ and hated baths anyway”, Thales “credited as ‘the father of science’, whose only real claim to fame is that he often fell into ditches” and this book reveals how eleven people have claimed to have invented the stream engine etc

However, beyond all these dirty politics and polluting trends and catastrophic cultures ,still , if there is any field of activity that has helped humanity’s advance more tangibly meaningful  and life in general more comfortable and brought people out of their caves of blind beliefs and trite traditions and helped them to see and savor the world with ease and in better ways than all the rest the credit must go and still goes to scientific inventions, discoveries and the multiple technologies that they have given to the world. In short it is a supra religion, along with bold philosophical inquiries, which has pushed aside the many useless diatribes of centuries of religious edicts, narrow ethnocentric pronouncements and bluffs of history which were irrelevant to life.

So, with all the hindrances, still, one may pursue research as a hobby or at least munch it in mind and mindfully follow it up whenever one can afford it. I wish all of you read the wonderful book by Thomas Crump ‘A brief history of science as seen through the development of scientific instruments’ to get an idea as to how these inventions have shaped our lives in many ways.

Unless one is rich like Michio Kaku doing serious research is out of the reach of many well  meaning middle class students for many of whom research will remain either a journey of many failed attempts to succeed or a frustrating dream, but that need not necessarily discourage anyone because researches, discoveries and inventions are always useful sometimes they result in fruitful and satisfactory outcomes to those involved and other times the credit goes to someone else or the fruits or benefits of research come out through some other source from somewhere else, it benefits humanity all the same.

So criticism of all the ugly aspects of research is not to discourage researchers and research works but either do away with these ugly aspects or proceed with researches ignoring these ugly aspects and politics.

Life is an unmapped atlas which gets its maps based on our choices, beliefs, actions, reactions, thoughts, attitudes etc and it is our hands to make each one of these continents as great and as good as possible.

http://crypto.junod.info/2013/09/09/an-aspiring-scientists-frustration-with-modern-day-academia-a-resignation/