Why is science important?
I met Alom Shaha last year while in London; by coincidence, really. He was working with my friend Gia filming an interview with her, and I tagged along (I got to use the clapper to start the clips!). Afterwards we went to a diner and had a great conversation. Gia and I left, and I figured I’d never hear from him again.
Wrong! Alom had an idea, and it was a good one: get scientists and science popularizers to write essays and make videos, saying why they thought science was important, and put them on a website called, oddly, Why is Science Important. Alom asked me to do one, and I kept blowing him off until he I felt way too guilty, so I finally caved and made a video.
It’s now online, but you can also watch it here:
Although it’s a little rough around the edges, I’m proud of it. I did it in one take, and decided I wanted it to have some slight bobbles, some places where I interrupt myself. Science is honest and open, and it makes mistakes, so consider the video an allegory.
Love it, hate it? Leave a comment at Alom’s site! And check out the videos and essays others have sent him. There’s a lot of very good stuff there.
Science is important. Go find out why.
Good stuff, Phil. Every time I hear you talk, I think to myself, “I would need about 10 espressos to have as much energy as this guy”.
Good timing. I just wrote about a defense of the humanities today. Our economy is in the John-crapper, and we need a combination of applied and pure science in concert with relevant humanities.
http://somecanadianskeptic.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-humanities.html
The global economic crisis looks “constructed” . Can Skeptics comment about it?
If you’re asking about conspiracies, I’d say no. I blame governments using (defunct) Keynesian economics rather than the Austrian flavor that predicted the current crisis. This is due to the fact that Keynes said that government could manage an economy better than the market could, whereas the Austrians (rightly) say that the government’s intervention may have short term benefits, but the long run effects will always be negative and the best thing the government can do is get out of the way unless there is a clear market failure.
Check out Mises.org, Cato.org and and Reason.com
Phil, looks like the video has been removed from the site.
I thought science was about getting your ideas plastered on the media and getting courts to force schools into teaching your ideas. It doesn’t matter if your ideas are not supported by experiments or observational data. It’s about sticking to your guns no matter what the evidence says.
Oh, wait. Sorry, I was thinking about pseudoscience. Never mind.
Its baaaaaack! Nicely done Phil. A good reminder of what we take for granted from science.