RE: The Most Beautiful Experiment In Biology
I wonder if what the scientific findings and applications already have taken man over the edge of the possibility of not being able to go back the path we so far went.
... Or ... no - I do not wonder but suspect that this not possible. And I also don't know if it is desirable. Probably not.
I have great difficulties to understand the things you write about, though I like to comment but then must search things I can refer to.
So I would like to ask a general question which other readers might have, too:
As it is mentioned and published about genes are "found to be the source of life" (using my own wording but you know what I mean):
From your perspective: what is your hope and are those hopes of yours connected to fears as well related to investigating DNA? I do ask this question because I consider your field of science to have a great influence on humanity - and I am afraid to put up an aversion against this topic. People speak of "overcoming disease" and "stretching life spans" related to genetics and I wonder about the intentions of people actually working in this field.
Sometimes I feel irritated by the fact that scientific related articles do not give answer about the personal intentions of the scientist him- or herself. I perfectly understand that it should be a separate thing and to find out about personal intentions one simply can ask the pro or find out within building up a relationship. Finally arrived to this, I dare to throw this into your comment-section.
Also, I mentioned you today in my article. Me commenting reveals that I myself have some difficulties to marry science & love. But I try and strive to connection and similarities instead of separation and aversion. You might help me out:)
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment!
I would say that most scientists hold the belief that TRUTH will most of the time be beneficial to us, so investigating genes or whatever will ultimately help us. We are basically learning to control nature, in order to realize our values (or satisfy our desires, to put it more plainly).
Now, philosophy has already challenged the idea that truth is always good/useful for you.
Philosophy has also challenged the idea that science searches for truth regardless of desires etc. This is easy to see: there are many truths/facts out there, but we concentrate on very few of them. For example, right now there is an answer to the question "how many worms are there in my garden?" There is also an answer to the question "how many cigarette butts are there in the street where I live". But I don't go out to investigate these issues. Why? Because I don't see the use. If science really cared about all truths equally, you would find scientists doing crazy stuff all the time, like counting the leaves that fell on the ground under a tree, or counting how many times you have blinked in the last minute. These are all facts, after all! So the plain statement that is often given, "science is interested in the facts" is not exactly true: science is not equally interested in ALL facts!
So your question about what drives these scientists to do their work is valid. But the answer I think won't be too different to what drives anyone to do any kind of work. Scientists are not that different from other human beings.
I, personally, would indeed like to live indefinitely! But so does everyone: why did we invent the afterlife in almost all cultures we know about?
There's many things I could say about all this, but I will end by saying that there is indeed an element of "faith" here, the faith that knowing the truth will improve human lives, and relationships.
Btw I studied philosophy, not science, and am currently writing a novel! But I'm like a Renaissance man, I'm interested in all the sciences (though mostly biology, among the hard sciences) and all social and soft sciences, and art, and generally life is very hard for me because I find everything fascinating but not enough time to study everything! :P