…and this is a 
Hi there everyone!
Category: Science
Posted on: August 7, 2008 7:00 PM, by PZMinion
MAJeff here, and I'll be one of your guestbloggers for the next several days. I'd first like to thank PZ for asking me to do this. I was more than a little surprised to get an email the other day inviting me, and I hope I can keep up the quality people have come to expect from the place.
I'm not sure of everything I'll be posting about yet. But, I'll probably be doing some of what I do when I teach, and that is asking questions. Y'all are a chatty bunch, so I probably won't need to do much asking. Sometimes, though, I just like to get to know folks better, to move beyond argument and talk. As a sociologist, I study people. I don't always understand them, but I do find them fascinating. Opportunities to get to know what drives folks are never to be turned down.
So, here goes: What is it about science that so enthuses all of you?
My brief answer--it's not Boobies; not that there's anything wrong with that, w00t--is below the fold....
This is a picture taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It's a photograph of the Phoenix Mars Lander, with parachute deployed, descending onto the surface of the planet. The first time I saw this image I burst into tears. Yeah, I cried over these mere dots of white on a rippling black field. It was so overwhelming just imagining that we were taking a picture of our own work from another planet, and sending those images back to ourselves.
We're an incredible species. We're also amazingly insignificant. Indeed, some of the things that make us so incredible are what allow us to realize how insignificant we are. I love the fact that we have figured out how life developed on this speck, and that we've figured out I'm my cat's cousin--about 85 million years or so removed. I love that we were able to send men to the moon, and bring them back alive. I love that many people I care about are able to live longer, healthier lives than they would have a mere decade-and-a-half ago. I love the thrill of discovery.
So, for me, the answer is partially emotional. For all of the talk of rationality here, we are emotional beings. I, for one, revel in that. Science locates me in the world, and in the universe that contains this world and it allows me to understand that location. Scientific knowledge allows us to see how--as Eddie Izzard would say, in "the original meaning of the word"--awesome existence, and the spaces in which it takes place, really is, and I love experiencing the sense of awe.
Comments
Posted by: Steve LaBonne | August 7, 2008 7:07 PM
Aren't you supposed to keep a low profile until Obama wins the election? [ducks]
For me with my training as a biologist it's the astounding diversity of life, its ability to adapt to every possible niche, and the fascination of the intricate molecular mechanisms that make it work.
Nothing irks me more than idiotic claims that science "takes the mystery out of life". The reality of the universe is infinitely stranger and more awe-inspiring than any of the puny stories that people have made up.
Posted by: DMH | August 7, 2008 7:08 PM
A certain Prof. Dawkins put it very nicely, and I agree:
"Science is the poetry of reality"
Posted by: jorge666 | August 7, 2008 7:08 PM
Welcome to the hot seat. PZ will be a hard act to follow, but I know you will give it your all....
Posted by: Qwerty | August 7, 2008 7:09 PM
"I love experiencing the sense of awe."
You could say that science is aweful in the old sense of this word which means full of awe for something. Now, youngsters may say is awesome.
I am not a scientist but I appreciate the understanding of how the world and the universe it inhabits works that is informed by science and scientists. At least the part of it that I can understand.
Posted by: Karen | August 7, 2008 7:09 PM
Well, I'd have to ponder a bit to respond appropriately - my love of science is also partially emotional, and it'd take some real thought to attempt to improve upon your and PZ's takes. (The first time I read PZ's post, "Proper Reverence..." at http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/01/the_proper_reverence_due_those.php ) I finally understood the feeling people must get when reading their religious works. It felt like someone had artfully crafted my inner thoughts into something tangible and awesome.
Inappropriately, I am thrilled to see you hosting Pharyngula for a bit. You should know that when I picture you, I picture Capt. Jack Harkness. I don't know if you're a Who/Torchwood fan, but I assure you it's a compliment.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | August 7, 2008 7:11 PM
Aren't you supposed to keep a low profile until Obama wins the election?
Nah Gah Happen.
Nothing irks me more than idiotic claims that science "takes the mystery out of life". The reality of the universe is infinitely stranger and more awe-inspiring than any of the puny stories that people have made up.
Exactly!
-----
I'm just happy that the "schedule" function worked for the post. I haven't dealt with MT in a few years, and never used that function before. For someone who used to be a mid-early adopter, I'm a bit freaked at how I've fallen out of that over the past couple years. These little successes make me so happy.
Posted by: inkadu | August 7, 2008 7:11 PM
I like everything about science that MA Jeff and Carl Sagan like about science.
But science is a great way to stay humble from a different point than standing on the last three seconds of the cosmic calendar. Science reminds us how easy it is to be wrong, and how hard it is to be right. In fact, there's is no "right," there's just successive approximations towards the truth.
I also like the way a scientific mindset tends to bleach moralistic thinking out. You might think things are "wrong" but acknowledge that results are more important than being right. Take abstinence only education as contrapositive example...
Also, MA Jeff, will you be performing any acts of desecration during your tenure?
Posted by: Johnny Vector | August 7, 2008 7:11 PM
Nicely put. That about sums it up for me too. Except...
The coolness of the MRO photo (and that coolness is coolest of the cool) is more a matter of engineering than science. If you ask me.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. I still recall reading an article in Scientific American long long ago about the Voyager missions, and all the things that went wrong with them (loss of primary radio receiver, loss of all but 100 Hz of bandwidth of secondary receiver, eventual gumming up of the camera platform, reduction in signal strength due to billions of miles of intervening space, yadda yadda), and the things they did to get around it.
Interestingly, it wasn't until after I started working at a certain well-known space agency that I remembered being inspired by that article. But inspired I was. How cool is it to send robots to the far reaches of the solar system and have them actually work? Wicked pissa, as they say up north.
So yeah, science good (boobies too!), but engineering good too! Really, the convergence of both is best. Aw hell, I'm a fan of all three.
Posted by: Kahootz | August 7, 2008 7:12 PM
In response to your question, I'm always fascinated by how complex tiny things can be. I could look at those black & white images of a spider's feet and fangs and eyes that have been enlarged x500 all day long.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT | August 7, 2008 7:13 PM
Oh kick all kinds of ass. Woot! Nice Jeff.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT | August 7, 2008 7:16 PM
son of a bitch.
well i screwed another blockquote.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | August 7, 2008 7:16 PM
Also, MA Jeff, will you be performing any acts of desecration during your tenure?
I doubt "desecration" will enter into the equation.
First, to do so is to buy into the religious "framing" of reality (I'm a sociologist who works in public discourse and for whom "framing" is a central concept. Working on narrative in my dissertation.)
I do have an idea or two for other "offenses" though :-)
Posted by: Aaron | August 7, 2008 7:17 PM
(.)(.)
Posted by: MikeM | August 7, 2008 7:19 PM
While I'd love to give you a fascinating answer with deep philosophical undertones and subtle nuances, I just can't.
I'm driven by rational thought, and I'm curious about how stuff (whether it's a car, a watch, a bicycle, a computer or science in general) works.
I'm just a curious guy. Not much to it.
Posted by: craig | August 7, 2008 7:22 PM
I dunno why I love science. I have loved it since I was a toddler hunting for fossils at the creek near my home, and as a teenager poring over Voyager photos.
All science is is exploring our world, our universe, and learning about it. How can it NOT be exciting? It's all there is!
Posted by: Wowbagger | August 7, 2008 7:22 PM
You're not planning to post anything anything, er, inflammatory while you're in PZ's seat are you, Jeff? I'm sure he wouldn't mind...
Posted by: Nick Gotts | August 7, 2008 7:23 PM
Hi Jeff,
Good question, here's my attempt at an answer:
The way it simultaneously reveals ever-broader and deeper connections between what have appeared to be unrelated or even incompatible theories; and fascinating and astonishing particular facts. I find the same combination in mathematics and history. Also, the way it works as an institutional system, making it possible for us as a species to understand far more than any one of us can.
Posted by: spurge | August 7, 2008 7:24 PM
The first thing that comes into my head is that science is just so fucking cool.
I don't think there is any branch of science that does not interest me.
Looking up at the stars and thinking about how vast the universe is gives me a thrill that is hard to describe. Seeing the beautiful pictures of the universe that Hubble takes and then getting to find out what they are and how they formed is wonderful.
I am also happy that I work in bio-tech so that I can do a little science too.
Posted by: inkadu | August 7, 2008 7:25 PM
Now we just need a post on engineering a breed of space-faring triple-breasted squid and we will have the trifecta.
Posted by: andyo | August 7, 2008 7:25 PM
I remember Phil Plait also said something similar about that picture, if I recall correctly. For me, it's still Sagan's Pale Blue Dot, with its accompanying text:
The Earth is where we make our stand. I loved that.
Posted by: craig | August 7, 2008 7:26 PM
Just another thought on the "science is all there is" idea...
That's the sad thing about religion. It's as if during your only chance ever to watch the main feature, you've decided to close your eyes and pretend you're watching a different movie.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | August 7, 2008 7:26 PM
You're not planning to post anything anything, er, inflammatory while you're in PZ's seat are you, Jeff?
Moi?
I'm too mild-mannered and non-confrontational to ever consider such a thing.
Actually, it's kind of funny. Everyone talks about how calm and mild PZ is. Get to know me in persona and I'm annoyingly Minnesotan--I'm nice.
Posted by: CGM3 | August 7, 2008 7:27 PM
"Life is not only stranger than we imagine; it is stranger than we CAN imagine."
I ran across that quote years ago, and it still holds true. Just wish I could remember who said it.
Posted by: Nick Gotts | August 7, 2008 7:31 PM
CGM3@23,
J.B.S. Haldane - but it was actually:
"Now my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose; it is queerer than we can suppose."
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | August 7, 2008 7:32 PM
Inappropriately, I am thrilled to see you hosting Pharyngula for a bit. You should know that when I picture you, I picture Capt. Jack Harkness. I don't know if you're a Who/Torchwood fan, but I assure you it's a compliment.
*blush*
just wait....*evil grin*
Posted by: John C. Randolph | August 7, 2008 7:33 PM
I think that Feynman said it very well in the title of his book, the pleasure of finding things out. There's a lot going on in this world and this universe, and the feeling of "Oh, that's why that happens" is a lot of fun.
-jcr
Posted by: Glidwrith | August 7, 2008 7:36 PM
I can't say I can write deathless prose or even doggerel, but for me, the beauty and complexity to be found inside a cell is enough to make you weep; to look at the human body in all its intricacy....how often have you watched a running horse.....and the challenge to unravel billions of years of change, to deduce a piece of that puzzle within your lifetime........
Posted by: Bride of Shrek OM | August 7, 2008 7:37 PM
As a child I could spend hours poring over my Dad's old copies of National Geographic in his surgery and I'd also lie on the floor in our study for hours flicking through encyclopaedias randomnly reading and learning.My very favourite thing however was to "read" atlases. You know just stare for hours at the various maps and wonder what those countries were like, whether they had mountains or rivers. What was the climate like, did it have glaciers or lakes. I loved learning terms like ox-bow lake or moraine and what they were. I guess I was just fascinated about the world and how it all came together rather than the people in it as such. I desperately wanted to be a physical geographer and not only did that but went on to specialise in climatology. I'm in another profession now but I still love my sciency stuff.
Anyhow, fantastic to see you guest blogging MAJeff- a fine choice if I might say so, I always love reding your posts. I could also say that whilst the cat's away the mice will play but I figure there's very little our particular cat hasn't already done himself so I doubt there's not much us mice could do that would shock him.
Posted by: Mrs Tilton | August 7, 2008 7:37 PM
MC MAJeff in da house, a-scritchin and a-scratchin, a-hippin and a-hoppin yo!
... umm, sorry. I'll try not to let that happen again.
Anyway, as to your question: leaving aside the vast practical benefits science has brought us, the Scientific Method has produced explanations of life, the universe and everything that are mindstaggeringly, gobsmackingly weirder and wilder and make-your-head-explode-with-sheer-wonder than the explanations we produced through the Making Stuff Up Method. Nature is exciting and intricate and beautiful, and science can make sense of it.
There's also the trivial matter that the explanations provided through science, unlike those provided through myth-making, are fairly often true.
Posted by: Wowbagger | August 7, 2008 7:39 PM
Science is great because it gives us insight into - in the words of Douglas Adams - life, the universe and everything. Where would we be without it?
Posted by: Glen Davidson | August 7, 2008 7:39 PM
Science is what can give us "magic". Whereas magic gives us nothing.
Of course as science it isn't considered to be magic. But there's nothing hard and fast that can tell us that the world wide web is not magic (it's a matter of interpretation).
But then we're consumers of information, and science has most of the best (new, interesting) information. That's probably the better reason science is wonderful.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
Posted by: Nick Gotts | August 7, 2008 7:39 PM
CGM3@23,
On looking up Haldane in Wikipedia, I find that there's a quote which is closer to yours:
"Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine" - Arthur Stanley Eddington.
I don't know whether Haldane or Eddington was first.
Posted by: Max Fagin | August 7, 2008 7:40 PM
It's simple for me. I like science because, well . . . IT WORKS.
I find it satisfying when I can say something about the world, AND FIND OUT THAT I'M RIGHT. What more reason do you need :)
Posted by: Alex | August 7, 2008 7:41 PM
It's fascinating. It also distances me from the Teen Christian Movement, which I find hilarious.
Posted by: Gregory Kusnick | August 7, 2008 7:41 PM
Actually, science puts the mystery into life. There is no such thing as final knowledge or ultimate answers (string theory notwithstanding). The universe of potential knowledge is, in Dyson's phrase, infinite in all directions. The more we know, the more unanswered questions we have about what lies beyond the frontier of knowledge.Posted by: Nick Gotts | August 7, 2008 7:42 PM
Glen Davidson@31,
"Science is magic that works." - Papa Monzano in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle.
Posted by: Hap | August 7, 2008 7:43 PM
jcr's comment is the closest to what I feel. I like to put things together (well, nonphysical things, which is why my wife fixes things at home) in my head, and figure out how things work. I don't think I have so much of the unfettered curiosity or logic of thought that other people have for science, though - chemistry has a mixture of theory and practical experience that fits me. I like looking at chemical plants and seeing how they do things and how they work, and I like chemical structures.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | August 7, 2008 7:43 PM
MC MAJeff in da house, a-scritchin and a-scratchin, a-hippin and a-hoppin yo!
Well, maybe a little House or Disco, if not Hip-Hop.
Posted by: Stark | August 7, 2008 7:44 PM
Well, for the raw power of course... the power to rule the world.... mwahahahaha!!!
Oh. No wait, that's not it at all...
I love science because of what it inspires in humanity. The seeking of knowledge just for it's own sake and the public sharing of that knowledge to any who are willing to learn.... it's the most amazing conept mankind has ever discovered. I suspect it may be the best concept we ever will come up with. Science has no agenda. It is such an amazingly simple concept - observe, theorize, test, repeat - and yet it has produced such amazingly complex understandings of the universe and all in it. It's beauty at it's simplest form - without science it is impossible to appreciate the the rest of our universe for the amazing and stunningly beautiful place it is.
BTW - the picture you have above - it has been my desktop since it was released and I've printed and framed a copy of it in my study as a landmark in human history. I too shed a tear when I saw it the first time - and I'm not ashamed to say so. I've also had to explain what it is it to at least 50 coworkers... and enjoyed doing so every time I did. A few even understood the significance of it and left my desk with that sense of awe that only science can create.
Posted by: Wowbagger | August 7, 2008 7:45 PM
Is that like a bowel movement?
Posted by: LisaJ | August 7, 2008 7:47 PM
Great post Jeff, and some very inspiring words!
Why do I love Science? Well, it's just beyond fascinating. Science has the power to reveal anything you want to know about our world and who we are, and better yet it can reveal things that you never even imagined. Science is everything that's real in this world, and discovering new truths about this magnificent world, whether it be through work I've done in the lab or just leisurely reading, makes me very happy. It's just beautiful stuff!
Posted by: Lindsay Waterman | August 7, 2008 7:47 PM
I feel the same way - a big part of the value out get out of science isn't so much in the facts themselves but in how those facts relate to humanity as a whole. Science puts human life in context. I find the experience of being put in my place is often emotional.
Posted by: Boosterz | August 7, 2008 7:48 PM
Scientia est potentia
nuff said.
Posted by: Crudely Wrott, Dayton, Ohio | August 7, 2008 7:53 PM
Science provides links. Science is also intensely human both on a personal level and on a broader societal level.
When I was little and first learning science the attraction was that is was "neat." Surprising and illuminating insights were at hand doing simple chemistry, looking through a telescope, collecting and comparing leaves and bugs and stuff. The main hook was the novelty of things unseen, unexpected. For me this was a most pleasant sensation.
Time passed and I began to notice how disciplines in science overlap; there is seldom a sharp demarcation between, say, physics and chemistry. Or chemistry and biology. Or physics and meteorology and biology. Or the one event that sets the stage for the next event. Things are linked on all levels. OK, processes and phenomena are dependent upon extant conditions which are dependent upon previous processes and phenomena and et cetera.
These days I use and view science not only as a window into the workings of the world, but also as an example of the best of human endeavor. The ability of curiosity and memory and stubbornness to build a useful model of the universe is more impressive to me that our ability to build detailed and convincing fantasy. Building tools with purpose and learning to wield them amazes me, even while I find new uses for old tools. I work with my hands, carry a tool box and am welcomed in many places because I can fix old things and build new things. I solve problems and riddles on a daily basis by practicing science. I observe, I cogitate, I think of what I have on hand and what I don't and then I decide on a course of action. This approach works remarkably well which is why people call me back to their homes and businesses repeatedly.
Not only can I make a living by doing this sort of "mixed science" (I use knowledge from many disciplines and trades), but I make people happy. And I get a satisfying kick out of it, too.
Great stuff, science. It challenges and informs me daily.
Posted by: Stephanie Z | August 7, 2008 7:55 PM
Heh. I was hoping you'd be one of the guest bloggers, and only partly because we've got to keep up the Minnesotan side.
Aside from science being a neverending set of nested puzzles and a great thing to have at your back in an argument, I think it's just the coolest thing to wonder about something and then be able to go find out. There are so many places I can't actually go--all those stars, inside an atom, inside someone else's experience--but science can take me there anyway.
Posted by: DingoDave | August 7, 2008 7:55 PM
Posted by: Aaron #13
(.)(.)
Nice pair of boobies Aaron.
Posted by: Dave Godfrey | August 7, 2008 7:57 PM
One of many things I love about science is that it is the most useful tool ever invented. It tells us how the world works. It allows us to build all sorts of things, all of which have come from asking a few simple questions, and discovering that the answers are not simple, and the world is all the more interesting because of this.
I have never forgotten the feeling I get from discovering something. Asking a question, and reading a book that told me, yes, someone else wondered that too, and went out and found the answer.
I want to work in museums, and while I doubt I'll ever do much original research, by preserving collections and making them accessible to the public and professionals, I'm helping people to questions no-one has tried asking yet, and passing on the answers that we do have.
Posted by: iDN | August 7, 2008 7:58 PM
You're essentially asking what I love about science..
Hmmm, without considering the stunning simplicity with which it explains our world and our role in it, I like the fact that it's based on correct logic and the correct process of thought. For me, the latter is the most attractive.
Posted by: ElfPirateMonarch | August 7, 2008 7:59 PM
What is it about science that enthuses me, hmm that is a tough one. I think to answer that requires an understanding of my own progression through discovery. I started off with dinosaurs (like a lot of kids) and when I was shown all these drawings and cartoons etc my question was "How do we know that?" The fact that unlike so many other paradigms *cough*religion*cough* science tries to find answers. After that it was watching the supreme beauty of a shark in the ocean. There is something majestic about a predator that is as close to evolutionary perfection as the shark. Seeing the majestic beauty and complexity of life, I can only stand and wonder how.
Posted by: Malcolm | August 7, 2008 7:59 PM
When I was a kid, I wondered why some leaves turned red in autumn. Now I know. That's why I love science; it provides a way to find answers.
Posted by: ndt | August 7, 2008 8:00 PM
I, too, share the wonder of discovery. But for me science has a very personal importance. Without it, I would have died of an asthma attack before I was three years old. Many of us would not be here if it weren't for vaccinations, sanitation, and other things that were developed because people endeavored to learn how nature works and how we can interact with it.
Go science.
Posted by: Pikemann Urge | August 7, 2008 8:00 PM
Science is a toybox for grown-ups. A big, expensive, vast, limitless, wonderful toybox. And let's admit it: we all love play and creativity. :-)
Posted by: Pikemann Urge | August 7, 2008 8:03 PM
Science is a toybox for grown-ups. A big, expensive, vast, limitless, wonderful toybox. And let's admit it: we all love play and creativity. :-)
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | August 7, 2008 8:03 PM
And let's admit it: we all love play and creativity. :-)
yup....at least I do.
Posted by: nobody | August 7, 2008 8:04 PM
Perfect. The Mad Professor, Little Paul, gives the reins over to the Lead Inmate, Igor. This should be interesting.
Posted by: firemancarl | August 7, 2008 8:04 PM
IMO, it's prolly one of the best pics NASA has ever released. How cool is it that those things lined up at the right time. Is this the first ever picture we have of a lander descending onto another planet? Wowza!
Posted by: BMcP | August 7, 2008 8:04 PM
I was going to say it was the Boobies, but you took that from me. :D
I suppose it is because it is the best method to use to answer all those wonderful questions I have about the universe, the Earth, life, and so forth. Without science, I doubt any of the real questions could be adequately answered.
Posted by: Jeremy | August 7, 2008 8:04 PM
There's nothing like the thrill of discovery.
I've always been fascinated with science, ever since I started watching "Wild Kingdom" and "Nova" on PBS starting around age 7. I've always been excited to learn new things.
Now I'm an undergrad in geology and biology, and the fascination continues unabated. Everything from exploring and understanding geologic formations up close to seeing life through a microscope and studying how it works is really exciting to me.
Posted by: Dagor | August 7, 2008 8:06 PM
Well, I am the son of a biologist/psychologist and a surgeon. So i grew up with science and i was always fascinated by it. As a Teenager i mainly wondered why people do what they do. I read a lot about philosophy and sociology but in the end i came to the conclusion that you have to start with the basics so i became fascinated with neurobiology. My main interests still are biology and medicine although i did not become a neurobiologist.
Science has always been what provided me with the explanations i needed and its beauty always touched me more than anything a philosopher could write (Ernst Bloch excluded).
Posted by: Anonymous | August 7, 2008 8:09 PM
MAJeff, that's precisely how I feel!
Posted by: mk | August 7, 2008 8:09 PM
I have only a high school education. A high school that frankly wasn't so swift academically. As a result, neither am I. Everything I know about science (relatively speaking that's very little!) I learned on my own. Sagan, Gould, Dawkins...later (lately?) PZ, Sean, Jason et al. I can still remember elementary school days and I guess a few high school days in science classes... just being absolutley awed, thrilled, amazed, genuinely excited about these cool things that we explored in these classes. I never got over the rush it gave me. I wanted more! The more I learned the more I wanted to learn.
Ultimately, I guess that's it. The rush. I'm addicted to science!
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | August 7, 2008 8:13 PM
... for whom "framing" is a central concept.
Uh-oh. Did whazzisname know that you indulge in that particular perversion too when he handed over the chariot reins?
What is it about science that so enthuses all of you?
The Greek root for "enthuse" breaks down to "in-theos", meaning (I think) that a person in that condition had a bit of the spirit of one or more gods within. Since so many of their deities were condensed expressions of one emotion or another, that's not so serious an infection as catching a case of Yahweh, but it's still an alarming development in a veritable den of atheists.
Even if the Professor doesn't get stuck for an indefinite interlude on some uncharted Pacific island with a set of slapstick zanies (a known occupational hazard in his current approximate area), he may not even recognize his multiply-transmogrified blog upon his foretold return.
Posted by: craig | August 7, 2008 8:13 PM
Science is like "Lost," in that the more you learn, the more you find there is to learn. It's never over, there's always a new twist. Or a zillion new twists.
The difference is that the story science tells makes MORE sense as you go along rather than less... the more you learn the LESS confusing it is.
Posted by: The MadPanda | August 7, 2008 8:13 PM
Hats off to MAJeff, OM!
It's always fun to read your observations, sir, so you are clearly one of the better people to herd this bunch of domestic felines along.
Alas, I can add nothing to the erudite reasons to enjoy and embrace science listed above, except perhaps with a rambling anecdote about how when I was but a wee Cub frolicking in the bamboo thickets of South Idaho, I liked to break stuff to figure out how it worked...
The MadPanda, FCD
Posted by: Barklikeadog | August 7, 2008 8:16 PM
I developed my sense of awe by watching the first moon landing live. Dates me somewhat, no? It was an incredible thing to watch & I get choked up just remembering it.
I took to biology when confronted with the majesty of Africa. I've never felt so at home than I did there. I got to see it when it was still pristine and set me on the course of understanding the life I encountered. Besides I got to see boobies for the first time as a young lad of 13. Needless to say I've been fascinated with those ever since too.
Posted by: Ali | August 7, 2008 8:16 PM
"What is it about science that so enthuses all of you?"
That no matter how crazy my imagination runs amok, science will kick my imagination's butt hehe.
Posted by: Trixie | August 7, 2008 8:17 PM
I love the unanswered questions of science and am always so fascinated that I never seem to get bored. I actually tell people that I "get to play in the lab all day" when they ask me what my job is.
On a different note here is a recent article that is really peaking my interest at the moment!! Anyone out there familiar with the idea of contagious cancers?? This is something totally new to me.
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/04/0081988
Posted by: Mike Mahovic | August 7, 2008 8:19 PM
Why do I love science?
I have to say, a certain very recent commercial sums it all up very nicely. ;)
Posted by: David D.G. | August 7, 2008 8:21 PM
My sense of it is similar to yours, MAJeff, and to that of Carl Sagan in the sense that I have always experienced what Sagan called "the romance of science"; it was only when he expressed the phrase that I knew that to be what it was.
I am awed by natural sciences most of all (as opposed to the breathtaking accomplishments such as have been done with applied sciences in space exploration, medicine, and so on -- even as cool and wondrous as those, too, are, and even though they often make it possible to experience these natural wonders). Some of this is because of their implications; sometimes, though, it's as much because of inimitable aesthetics.
I marvel at the planets, soaking up the sight of weather patterns on Jupiter and trying to make sense of them. I get goosebumps in a powerful electrical storm -- watching the lightning flash, hearing and feeling the sound waves of the thunder, smelling the rain and ozone in the atmosphere. In a cave, looking at the delicate "soda straw" stalactites and more massive flowstone formations, all of which take centuries to form bit by bit, eventually forming chambers that can look and feel like cathedral sanctuaries, I often feel the sort of reverence for nature that I'm sure compares with the sort of ecstasy that overcomes many religious people in an artfully built church.
I also just love learning how the universe works -- how the continents once fit together and have drifted apart (as seemed obvious to me by 5th grade from looking at a world globe, just as the theory of continental drift was being introduced and disputed in geology conventions!); how the various forces of selection and other factors shaped, and continue to shape, the development of life forms, many of them in stupendously fascinating ways; how gravity can cause gas and dust to become stars and planets and moons, can turn some of those moons to dust again, force atoms to fuse and turn stars from hydrogen into helium, then later oxygen, then carbon, and eventually into iron, and then explode those elements back out into the cosmos to be regathered again -- into us.
As far as I'm concerned, experiences and knowledge like these blow the mind way better than any drug ever could!
~David D.G.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT | August 7, 2008 8:23 PM
Humm. I guess I didn't really respond to the question exactly.
Science enthuses me in the wonder of what is still to be discovered. Yes we know some about our surroundings. But there in so much more out there. While I laid in that ledge in Zion NP there are plenty of explanations for what I was witnessing but we've only touched on what is out there.
Posted by: charfles | August 7, 2008 8:24 PM
I couldn't agree more. When I first saw it and read the caption I cracked a huge smile. Definitely ranks up there with earthrise and pale blue dot.
Posted by: John Phillips, FCD | August 7, 2008 8:27 PM
I was born and encouraged by my parents to be insanely curious about life, the universe and everything, which has only grown worse with age :) and science is the only method I have found that can, however fleetingly, assuage that curiosity.
But best of all, science is FUN.
Posted by: negentropyeater | August 7, 2008 8:29 PM
I have always been interested in science for a simple reason : it's the only method I know of to get closer to the truth about reality. I on't know any other. Other disciplines such as the humanities, philosophy, history, are complementary, they help to format what science discovers and also help to develop new evidences and different ways to look at things. But fundamentally we need science, because it is the only method to clearly eliminate hypothesis and false evidences.
I received a solid general scientific education in a french "grande ecole", with the basics in Physical sciences, chemistry, and of course the fundamental tool of science, mathematics. Not enough in biology for my liking, I miss it, I now realise how much I miss it, I'm 44 years old, I stopped my scientific career when I was 28, because I made the choice to go into business, also because quite simply science doesn't help you very much to make money. Two years ago I sold my business, quite succesfully, and now I am making a break where I am trying to reeducate myself in the areas am most missing, and where I am most interested.
I am an agnostic. I have always been an agnostic. So one of the things I am particularly interested is the following :
being an agnostic (I have always been an agnostic) I believe that we haven't found any positive evidence for God's existence, religion has always been incapable of doing so and building a realistic hypothesis for what is God. They have always refused to do so, they "hide" behind the term god and have never spent time to try at least to come up with a deatiled descripton of what a god would be, how he would have come into existence, and what kind of evidence we should look for and test through the scientific method, which as I said early, the only way I know to do it.
Also, religions always assume a priori, that there is a God(s), but that basically eliminates it as a valid method to ascertain the truth. You should assume that it doesn't exist, but keep the possibility open.
So the question for me is, is there a valid hypothesis, a valid description for what God is, and can we still find evidence ? I don't believe any body has done so for now. That's what I am trying to keep busy with.
I thnk I have found a plausible hypothesis, I am still developing it.
I know that many here have already abandoned the idea that any hypothesis could be plausible, and that there are absolutely no evidences that could support such a hypothesis. That's what I would like to know, is it the truth ? Is atheism really the truth ? I am not certain about it.
I could spend more time tryng to explain what I believe might be directions of study. What are the right questions ?
I'll do that in a next posting, and think Pharyngula is
a valid test.
If I can found nobody interested, then it should mean that there is something wrong with this "hypothesis for God".
Posted by: E.V. | August 7, 2008 8:36 PM
Passion. The difference between a job and a vocation. Success is being able to rediscover passion over and over again. Without it - Shakespeare said it best: O, that way madness lies.
Good job MA Jeff! Woohooo!
Posted by: Carlie | August 7, 2008 8:39 PM
I made a big "squee" sound when I saw MAJeff, guestblogger. Yea we get to read MAJeff!
I love that science is getting your hands dirty, figuring out how things work and what they do and just learning. It's a limitless font of finding out new things, which excites me to no end. As for particulars, I was honestly stunned when I started really looking at things through microscopes and realized just how beautiful they were. (Take that, all you religious "atheists don't appreciate the world" people!) I can actually point to a specific moment when it was confirmed to me that yes, I was on the right career path, and yes, I wanted to do science my entire life: Undergrad plant biology class, dissecting petunia flowers under the scope. I got the anther open, and found purple pollen. Purple. Pollen. I never knew pollen could be colored anything besides yellow. I just stared at it, having an epiphany. If I had never learned that, what else hadn't they told me???? What other amazing things are there in nature that I haven't learned yet? I MUST KNOW. And ye gods, plant anatomy is just about the most gorgeous thing on this planet. Love it.
Posted by: BobC | August 7, 2008 8:44 PM
One nice thing about knowing next to nothing about science is everything I learn about it here and elsewhere is brand new to me.
I've been an atheist for four decades, after recovering from the usual childhood religious brainwashing most Americans are abused with. What's neat about science is everything I learn proves to me I was right to throw out the god disease I used to have. It's really amazing to me that this beautiful planet I live on, and every species living here, developed from natural processes. Even more amazing is my species has figured out so much about these natural processes.
The first time I read about how biologists found ERVs, and other things, in identical locations in the chimp and human genomes, I thought "holy cow, wow, biologists can actually see the history of life with their own eyes." I thought there wouldn't be any creationists left after they hear about this undeniable evidence for the idea we share an ancestor with chimps. I forgot how willfully ignorant they are. It's too bad for them. They have no idea what they're missing. What a horrible waste of a life. The creationists will die never knowing what they are.
Posted by: Carlie | August 7, 2008 8:44 PM
Um, limitless fount. Although a limitless font would still
not be able to do justice to all of the wonders of science.
(Decent enough save?)
Posted by: Gerald | August 7, 2008 8:45 PM
Comment about presentation: Could you please just post the entire thing at once and avoid the annoying "Read the rest of this post..." on the main page and rss feed? PZ rarely does that, and I like him more than other bloggers for that! Okay, for the desecrating stuff too; But I'm not asking that from you. :-)
Posted by: Pat McComb | August 7, 2008 8:45 PM
I had a fascination with astronomy from a very early age. In high school, this grew into an intense curiosity about relativity and then quantum physics (to the extent I could grasp it).
At the same time, I also became quite an advocate for the existence of God. In college I had many arguments with atheist friends. As a philosophy major, I looked very hard at my arguments and they started falling away. My last best argument was the design argument. Despite my love of astronomy and physics, I still did not believe evolution happened.
Armed with my design argument I enrolled for a course called Evolution and Behavior. As far as I know it was the only intro-level college course which discusses sociobiology, ethology, kin selection, etc. "The Selfish Gene" was one of the course texts. This was a very popular course at Henry Ford Community College. And "The Selfish Gene" was one of the most talked-about books on campus. If my design argument could hold its own against evolution, my belief in God would be rock solid.
Evolution and Behavior was an outstanding course. The ideas were exhilarating. I had dismissed evolution under the faulty "theory of randomness" argument. I hadn't understood natural selection (grade school barely touched evolution). When I did learn what natural selection means, it was revelatory.
However, it did pretty well dust my last best argument for God. I finally had to give up on the God belief. This stung initially because I found the afterlife idea very appealing.
The real surprise came with the realization that my being alive in the first place is an incredible piece of luck and much more valuable for its brevity. Life becomes more precious when the supernatural auditors are eliminated. (Many believers have a tough time believing this.)
I think science ranks with writing and math as one of the most powerful conceptual tools our species has made.
At a basic level, the scientific method is a growing repertoire of tricks to avoid self-deception. This set of tricks has revealed a world that is truly amazing.
Richard Feynman's says, in "The Value of Science":