I'm starting to realize how strange the public opinion of science is. On the one hand, people think that science will eventually figure everything out--and when I say 'eventually' I really mean within their own lifetimes--and have this weird, blind faith in science's ability to find the answer...but at the same time, scientists are seen in a number of less-than-flattering ways.
The big one is the soulless representative of cold, hard logic. The weird thing is that this even covers doctors and hospitals to the point where people are pretty much convinced that they're just 'subjects' with a 'disease'...among other things, I have to wonder how preferable the alternative really is. Would you rather have a wonderful emotional friend who's also too distraught to think about your condition with a clear head? (Okay, so "House MD" pretty much sums up the pros and cons of this view.) But anyway...it's sort of strange. I have to wonder if understanding the need for the rigor of experimental conditions and, in human testing, absolute consistency of behavior would help 'fix' this strange view. Or, really, is it even necessary that this change?
It's sort of weird that the people working to improve human life are the ones regarded as most distant from it. I mean, shows like "Bones" where the main character's geniosity is directly correlated to a complete inability to understand human interactions are annoying, but not completely off considering some of the nerds I've met (physics and math majors, I'm looking at you). I guess what I really want is more recognition for we the life scientists--not just the crap that the media pulls out of poor readings of abstrusely-written journal articles, but, like, the real thing.
After all, we will be curing your disease.
No comments:
Post a Comment