World Science Day: What constrains our scientific advancement?

Mars in science and mars in astrology. Many believe both!

- BY PRoF. KIRTHI TENNAKONE

The world celebrates science today. [rime United Nations proclaimed November 10" World Science Day for Peace and Development in 2001. Since then, different themes of global importance have been emphasised each year with activities conducted worldwide to focus the attention of the public and policymakers. The theme this year is Trust, Transformation and Science for Tomorrow.

How did science originate and transform the world? What constrains instilling science in society? And what science do we have to pursue today to manage the 2050s?

The human species transformed through three distinctive steps, driven by forces of organic evolution and linguistic communication; empirical technologies and beliefs; and finally, science and science-based technologies. Linguistic communication sharpened thinking - a much older trait humans possessed - empowering empirical technologies and indulgence in beliefs. Technologies, learned by experience and improved by trial and error, increased the production of commodities.

Tools and implements reduced the burden of manual labour, providing people with little relief of leisure. They pondered how the world they see and the good and the bad they experience arise. A straightforward conclusion was that agents like them, but extraordinarily superior (gods), ordered everything.

Thales of Miletus

A remarkable feature of human society is the opinion of an outstanding individual, influences its transformation. The Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus (620 -545 BCE) was one such exceptional person. He argued natural phenomena are not the works of gods; they are correlated and have cause and effect. Thales’s assertion gained acceptance; amidst controversy and opposition, more and more observational facts were explained as natural consequences.