BlogPost 1 — LB492

One of the biggest hurdles currently facing scientific development is the widely misleading view of “God’s eye science”, where science is viewed as or searches for an objective, unbiased truth that once discovered becomes an unchanging law of nature. The result of this viewpoint has led to pushbacks, stalls, and abruptions in the pursuit of science, but most importantly the neglection of other viewpoints that don’t commonly dominate the sphere of ideas. This is a common theme that connects the readings read this week. The conference on “Art as a Way of Knowing” is insightful, as it stated that art has been treated as a simple convention of “technique and production”, and because of that has been neglected in schools, society, etc. because it doesn’t offer any surface level value or production. However, this is only one viewpoint on the spectrum: art is a tool to help us identify and describe the “natural and cultural phenomena” of the world around us, and that the developmental stage of a child can be strengthened by the appreciation of art. We see this in the theory of feminist standpoint theory as well, which states that feminist social science should be seen through the eyes of women studying it — whose viewpoints were long neglected — and not just men. This directly applies to science itself, as the idea of an objective truth without bias falls apart once new information and standpoints are discovered, refuting or challenging the previous belief. That doesn’t mean that all viewpoints are equal and valid/invalid, but that we can hold certain beliefs in high honor until they are scientifically verified to be inaccurate. The debate of a “neutral” science is especially important today with regards to the Black Lives Matter movement, and the question of should scientists stay quiet on the issue of racial discrimination. Just because a dominant viewpoint exists, does not make it the truth. This is important in the regards of scientist demographics, as a change in the makeup of the group can drastically alter the current research and findings. For example, over 70 percent of full-time scientists employed are white, a larger number of that also male, leading to a distortion in how we view society. Because of this, “racial harassment, discrimination and state sanctioned violence are abstract concepts, not everyday worries.” Simply adjusting for demographics however will not fix society, as decades of insidious and malicious behavior still exists. White supremacy, although has substantially de jure gone away, its beliefs and ideas still linger in each and everyone of us, even if we don’t know it. What may be “the norm” as actually perpetuated from a source of hate and aggression that can show up in anybody, regardless of race, gender, class, etc. Simple things such as having a “sense of urgency” or a “fear of conflict” both stem from the fear of obstructing and challenging the status quo — the neutral dominant viewpoint of society — where the former tends to act in the short-term to quick-fix and re-correct these ideas, while the latter avoids bringing up new ideas altogether in the name of rudeness or impoliteness, rather blaming the person that started the questioning of the conflict, rather than address the conflict itself. We can see this in action in the city of Cumbria in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. Radioactive clouds were travelling across Europe and prepared to wreak havoc on farms and livestock, notably sheep. Due to studying another nuclear disaster 30 years prior, scientists had data on how long the deadly isotopes would last in each sheep’s biological system, and thus had a plan that would require farmers to wait three weeks before selling their sheep, as that was how long it took for radiation levels to drop to a level safe enough for consumption. After three weeks however, the radiation levels had not gone down. The problem was that the soil studied in 1957 was a different soil being used than the ones at the time, and as a result the soil was able to allow the isotopes movement into the sheep. This false prediction based on prior data without reverification ended up getting an indefinite ban on sheep sales and was devastating the livelihood of the farmers. This line of thinking non-neutrally has been personally impactful to me and my understanding of the world. Until college, I was a recluse and was heavily entrenched in a number of beliefs and viewpoints that today I consider foolish and damaging. This came from a belief that life was as good as it was going to get and that is that. I had no desire to engage with others of different backgrounds, beliefs, ideas, etc. and did not even want to even try and improve myself socially as a person. After not knowing what to do, I reluctantly went to college full of anxiety and nervousness. This was something I was not used to experiencing, to the point where I was throwing up everyday from August to October. Eventually, things started to get into a groove, and I was more accustomed to the environment and atmosphere around me. I can attribute much of this to simply being around new people and events I had never interacted with before, and was able to learn a lot of information I would have never even considered thinking about in a short amount of time. The second year of college I was much more excited to go back to school as I had made friends and would end up making newer friends as the year would go on.