Science
Knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation
One thing I like about science is that it's fluid. The "laws" of science are malleable, they are often corrected and improved. You can oppose any theory as long as you are able to provide support for an alternative... shoot you could oppose a theory without support and nobody's going to imprison or torture you to retract your statements, offensive as they may be. I imagine that if science could speak I imagine it saying constantly "I'll believe it when I see it, you knucklehead!" Also, if science was a human it would be a 5 year old child; "so if I push down on this tube some colors come out? I wonder if colors will come out if I press this tube on the wall so mommy or daddy can see my artwork." Markers on the wall are a 5 year old's equivalent of the Egyptian's hieroglyphs.
Questions: So what happened to America, we used to be the leaders in innovation and technology? Have people suddenly lost their sense of curiosity or lost a will to see the beauty in nature? How does your iPod work? How is it that you are reading my blog from miles upon miles away on a different machine? How do plants grow, why do stars twinkle but planets don't? Why is beer so delicious?
The Future: Clearly science can offer some answers to interesting questions. However, the purpose of my entry is not to ridicule everybody uninterested in science. What I want to do is display how crucial science is to international relations and society's future. As Einstein would say lets perform a gedanken experiment (a thought experiment)...imagine a world ( ✓)...good. Okay, imagine a world, a world I'll call Jontopia, similar in all ways to Earth except that it instituted a global consortium (think CERN's LHC but greater cooperation or the Montreal Protocol but durative) that received funding from all participating countries and used those funds to organize and perform world scale (Jontopia scale) experiments. The consortium could be multifaceted...
1) Environmentally Active--> these experiments would be to provide facts and evidence to policy makers so that said policy makers will install laws that maintain the diversity and overall health of Jontopia's environment. Remember these are to be global scale experiments, no one country is targeted. Think climate change or despeciation.
2) Information Gathering --> undertake experiments to better understand natural phenomena.These experiments would provide insight to the life and the universe and would not necessarily provide direct research to support or oppose specific legislation. Evolutionary science and biology, physics and astronomy would lead many of the projects here.
So what does this mean for all Jontopians? I think they would probably find it hard to imagine a world without their global consortium. A few of the things to note:
1) Ultimately the cooperation of multiple countries to achieve a common scientific goal must decrease the chances of disagreeable nations to engage in military action. Remember that this is not the UN or NATO. The purpose of the consortium is scientific and does not stand to benefit any nation politically or economically.
2) This project would provide a multitude of jobs for Jontopians. Participating in an international consortium would provide opportunities for scientists and universities to gain notoriety. Also, anything on this type of scale has to command significant media coverage. Given all this wouldn't it stand to reason that more young minds would be likely to see the benefits of science? I'm not saying people will get as excited about it as the Super Bowl or maybe for international comparison I should say the World Cup or the next Miley Cyrus concert, but if some of the research supplants 1 news story a month about celebrity gossip or athletes contracts it is giving people a chance to think about more important things.
3) Countries will disagree, scientists will argue, projects may fail. Where to conduct the research, what to conduct it on, how much to time and money should be spent on specific research, how to limit and respond to failures. These questions demand a lot of attention. Eventually they will argue about the results. These are healthy disagreements, and this would help people think globally rather than locally. With the mass distribution of 7 billion people we must adopt a global mindset.
4) In order for countries to participate they need to meet strict requirements. They need to commit a certain portion of their budget to this as a "down payment" (perhaps demand a percentage from military spending). Agree to a non-violent treaty with all other participating countries. Agree to a global constitution. Of course open their borders to research teams. In return each country will choose an ongoing project they would like to be a part of and submit a project they are interested in. Also, thanks to modern technology, all participating nations will give their citizens voting rights on all projects. Votes may be weighted depending on where research is to take place, population of nation, or perhaps all nations are given the same amount of votes. Votes may not be integer numbers in the latter scenario. Suppose each country counts as 3 votes and 120 million votes are cast in a country: 50 million vote YES and 70 million vote NO, then from that country 1.25 votes are YES (3 x 50/120 = 1.25), and 1.75 are NO (3 x 70/120= 1.75). You sum all the YES and NO's from the globe and maybe a simple majority wins. I don't know, it's just an idea
5) This should be an expensive venture. Hopefully redirecting a nation's military funds. This way countries are committed once they join. Remember this is not-for-profit. All transactions and spending will be transparent to members and citizens. Assuming things are done right, big assumption!, these projects will make Jontopia sustainable and in effect less money will be spent cleaning up. Also, consider all the products and new technologies top-of-the-line research creates.
So how did Jontopia institute this consortium in the first place? That's a story for another blog. I think the main questions that arise are can we put aside our differences to work towards a common goal and are we able to realize the value of something even if it does not turn a profit?
Next Blog: Solar Power: (Light) Wave of the Future?
