Sociology of Science | The Socjournal

It’s not often you get a honest account of the foundation of modern science. To be honest, accounts of science, especially those given to second year initiates” is often more polemic and ego that it is science and rationality. But here’s an account that exposes the irrational roots of our rational inquiry. Science, it seems, is as much founded on the irrational (and often egoic and competitive) pursuit of fantasy and imagination than the cold hard facts of reality. And in fact that’s a good thing because, as Tim points out, without fantasy and imagination to drive us, we’d not have achieved the technological wonders of the modern world. It is interesting though. If imagination can bring us the technological world of Captain Kirk, can’t it also bring us the social world of the future as well, a world where money is abolished, everyone is provided for, and nobody suffers or goes hungry. Perhaps you’ll say its just “human nature,” but perhaps its really just a failure of imagination!

Are humans basically good, or basically bad? Some people, like Freud, Hobbes, and Foucault, say bad. We’ve got a beast within and the only way to control that beast is to beat it down and repress it. You want proof? Just look at how badly the adults in this world act. They are greedy, selfish, violent, and brutish. But is that the result of human nature, or is it simply the result of toxic socialization? Personally, I think its the latter. Take one giggling, innocent, bubbly, effervescent child, subject them to two decades of disregard and abuse (statistically, rates of child abuse are high), and turn them loose damaged, angry, and desperate! It’s no wonder we live in the world we do. But is it human nature, or should we fault our The System and its agents of socialization? It’s up to you to decide. But be careful, the choice you make determines the society we build.

Picture the following scenario: a small group of wunderkinds celebrates the end of a long day at their university. Upon arriving at their dorm, they flounce into mismatched furniture, pop open bottles of beer and wax poetic about the future …

When I was a kid I was always disappointed by the toys I got. They never lived up to the crazy expectations generated by dissembling advertisers as they manipulated my soft and malleable child-mind. I remember, and now I tell my own kids to watch out because the toys they see on television are never, ever, ever as good as they appear in the commercials. Well I guess not everybody remembers their childhood disappointment because now we have a new generation of older children who, dutifully obeying the media manipulators, buy the lie and live with disappointment. But then, at least they get to live. Can’t say the same for the workers at the Foxconn (where Apple builds its iPads) are so disappointed with the way the company treats them they’ve actually had to install nets outside the windows to prevent the workers from jumping out and killing themselves as a result. Thanks S. J. for a job well done! – Mike Sosteric

Implausible as it may seem, as the Fukushima Daiichi disaster has grown ever more cataclysmic, nuclear energy advocates have come out of the woodwork to tout the virtues of nuclear as a “safe” form of energy. Safe? Are you kidding …

A sociologist looks at energy. Not oil, not nuclear, but renewable. Solar panels, wind, geothermal, these are all part of a decentralization of power generation. When every home has its own energy generating power plant we won’t be dependent on big power producers. This may mean less mega profits for a few, but the decentralization and democratization of energy needs to happen.

As Bob Dylan once sang, times they are changing. Finally it does appear to be that way. The Middle East has boiled over with grass roots, ground up revolution! It’s too soon to tell what’s going to happen, and the installation of a military dictatorship in Egypt doesn’t bode well for democracy, but things are certainly on the move. What will the powers that be do to contain the nascent democratic leanings. Only time will tell.

Why bother with space travel? As America’s terrestrial problems escalate (e.g., budget deficits, financial crisis, war on terror, healthcare, etc.), critics have charged that space flight is little more than a futile and expensive hobby. After all, what hope is …

Cory S. Wanamaker Fulbright Fellow Master of Fine Arts Educator www.airyhillstudio email: [email protected] I write this as a Fulbright Fellow who was fortunate to receive a Fulbright Scholarship for International Teacher Exchange. I was imbedded in an assessment-based system of another …

BOOK REVIEW: Science, Evolution, and Creationism 2008. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. [amazonify]0309105862[/amazonify]In an effort to extol the virtues of evolution, the National Academy of Sciences has published an updated version of Science, Evolution, and Creationism (2008). In this brief, but colorful …

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