Unquiet Desperation

Phil Plait‘s latest article flew past me on Twitter today, and I was speedy enough to catch it and give it a read.

Read this before continuing: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/03/24/from-distant-planets-to-the-deep-blue-sea/.

I happen to agree with him that even in times like these we need to fund scientific research, in fact, I’d point out that especially in times like these. When the economy is uncertain, it’s all too easy to gaze into the complexity of the problems that face us and want to run screaming into the arms of a comfortable superstition to make us feel better.¹

Good science brings hope. It’s good for the country’s morale. When we make progress, when we understand more about the world around us, we are made a better people. We have a goal, beyond trying to figure out just how to undo what the greed of a few has wrought.

I want to cry when I see how NASA has fared in the last 20 years, perhaps longer, because the boneheads in Congress lack the foresight to embrace science as a priority. My father worked for NASA, and I was lucky to be one of those kids exposed to the Wonder of space and science at an early age. I want my children to have the same, but these days, NASA gets more press when things go wrong than when things go right. That’s an injustice of the highest kind.  We take the Space Shuttle and other advances for granted, forgetting what marvels they are.

I could not agree more with Dr. Plait’s final statements:

It is not only possible, but I believe mandated, that all of us who love science and want to further the knowledge of humanity support each other’s endeavors. The public does in fact have a great interest in many fields of science, including space exploration, ocean exploration, biological exploration… The key word there is exploration, and there’s enough Universe out there for everybody.

1. No, I’m not talking about Atheism or Religion here. I’m talking about the unreasonable ticks that arise in every one of us when faced with something out of our control.[back]