Science and Scientific Progress

“ Science is an attempt to make the chaotic diversity of our experience correspond to a logically uniform system of thought” - Albert Einstein

iamkaripotter@gmail.comThe world has changed. Who brought about the changes? How were these changes achieved? These are only some of the questions that we need to answer as we discuss the past, present and the future of science here in the Philippines.

According to Aristotle, a great Greek philosopher, human beings by nature desire to know. They seek the truth. They explore the environment to gain knowledge of the underlying structure and composition of the material of the world. In investigating the environment, they develop a particular approach of interpreting and understanding the world. This is science.

Looking back at the past, records show that there are three groups of people settled in the Philippines: Negritos, Indonesians and Malays. Filipinos considered them as their ancestors. Like other people of the world, our ancestors believed in superstition and magic charms. Our ancestors practiced a certain degree of science when they practiced herbal medicine, observed the skies and heavenly bodies, prepared their own system of weights and measures, practiced engineering in their ditches as in the world famous Banawe Rice Terraces.

Those are the glorious past of science and technology among our ancestors. As the world keep on moving we are now at our present generation. We are very lucky to to have been born at a time when a lot of great comfort have been provided to us.

Try to look around you. What do you see? A pencil, an eraser, a ball pen, electric fans, clothes, shoes, toothpaste, soap, and etc. Almost everything around you are products of technology. Technology is applied science. And we can say that technology is older than science, our ancestors first fashioned tools from rocks to cope with their environment, that was technology in the primitive form. Our ancestors drank wine even before the process of fermentation was known.

We should be very thankful that so many things have been invented/discovered for our convenience. From almost all aspect of our lives. From the time that we were awake every morning until we retires for the night, we are using the product of science and technology. Thus, we can say that science/technology has a vital role in everyday living. Certainly, our present day life is more comfortable than what it was several years ago. Thanks to the application of scientific principles for practical use.

The advancement of today’s present world were the result of the merging of scientific knowledge with technical know-how. For example: Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric lamp, on the work of Faraday and Henry, Graham Bell, the inventor of telephone on the work of Helmholtz,and the atomic bomb the on the work of Einstein.

Science and technology have greatly influenced human activities. Advances in the communications that lead to rapid information exchange. Advances in transport systems led to greater mobility. Advances in medicine led to longer life expectancy. In short technology improved our standard of living, health, transportation systems, communications and etc. But technology if abused can cause environmental degradation. But technology is not at all bad-as long as humans establish proper goals. Technology when applied should take into consideration aspects of human life and the environment.

As the main preoccupation in today's world is science and technology. Is scientific technology boon to mankind? Or , is it humanity's bane? Curse or blessings, hope or despair, scientific technology poses today's greatest challenge. Every machine, electric device, or electric gadget invented can both humanity's gain and humanity's ruin.