Why I Love Science

As many people on this forum know, I am an avid follower of all things scientific. Some people do not quite understand or grasp the attachment that I have with it. I think that many people fear science for various reasons. Some people see it as a conflict with their religion and some people just genuinely don't "get it". I think that a large part of it comes with how science is taught in school. Rather than allowing schoolchildren to think about and explore the natural world, many are given dull and drab assignments that seem ridiculous, petty and over our heads. No one wants to regurgitate what a zygote is or the process of mitosis is. Physics seems like a deplorable and horrid way to just make people frustrated with the array of formulas and calculations required.

However, there is an element of science that is all too often not provided in schools. There is the element of being able to put forth ideas, hypotheses, and allowing a child's mind to roam free in wonderment as to the reasons why something works a certain way. Much of what is explained is all too often a direct dichotomy of findings rather than what is put in an otherwise simpler format. The general misconceptions of science such as the misunderstanding of Evolutionary Theory and the Big Bang seem to be the two largest problems. Yet, there is something about science that we should be excited about and quite giddy over.

What science does to me is not only explain why things work a certain way or provide highly technical answers for rather simplistic things but it allows my mind to wander. It allows me to put forth a thought process that I can compare and take notes against others. It allows for a free train of thought and one of the greatest rewards in my life is when you learn about a highly complex theory and you truly understand it. It is as if a flood of images come into my mind about all sorts of other various possibilities so many people often misunderstand or write off as impossible. Sometimes, when I have finally grasped the implications of something and truly gotten a grasp of something the hair on the back of my neck stands up, I have a tremendous surge of adrenaline, and sometimes my heart pitters and patters in an almost anxious-like state for reasons I have yet to figure out. It is not a bad feeling but perhaps a feeling of genuine clarity and overwhelming joy at once again figuring something out on my own and realizing just how complicated it once seemed only to become so clear in my mind.

Once you begin to learn what the greater implications for science can be it becomes fun and it encourages a development of free-thinking thought processes. There is no zeitgeist attached to it that says you have to abide by this, that and the other thing as long as you can disprove something with the scientific method. Simply put, if you disagree with something and can prove it using scientific methodologies you have the capability to set groundbreaking precedents but the road is often not easy in this form or fashion. Yet, it is with that alone that some of the greatest ventures of pseudo-science are blown out of the water and some of the most common and simplest forms of thought are accepted as realities.

However, above and beyond all that, it also allows you the opportunity to think of the possibility that perhaps one day you will discover something so wonderous and fantastic that no one has ever thought of before. I wonder what Darwin or Newton or Einstein felt like when they realized just how precisely perfect and dead on their theories were? What a feeling that must be! Imagine having a moment of enlightenment, a moment of thought, a clear-headed moment and unlocking one of the secrets of the universe with the power of your own mind?

I have mostly self-educated my things on many matters of science but the beauty of it is that I understand how so much of it all works. I am not left to recite dribble that has been the "standard" for millenia but I am able to really grasp the explanation behind things. Thoughts about why time flows a certain way, what entropy is, how evolution works, why there is a uniform microwave radiation left over from the Big Bang, all of these things excite me and allow my mind to race with wonder at all of the fantastic things both discovered and undiscovered. While science does not know the answer to everything, the wonderful part of it is that you have the opportunity to perhaps one day unlock another piece of the puzzle and more often than not this takes an incredibly creative and unperturbed thought process.

There are also theories out there that mean so much that so many people choose to ignore. The wonderous and grand implications of what String Theory may mean to things are simply groundbreaking and shattering. If it is proven to be true, String Theory should and will surpass so many different scientific achievements throughout history. It will be bigger than Einstein, bigger than Newton, and perhaps bigger than Darwin. It is, essentially, the Theory of Everything and I want to be a part of it.

I find science to be more invigorating, more self-satisfying, and more complementary to my mind than anything else. I constantly sit in wonder as to why something works a certain way, how it works, and the implications that it can have. It allows me to be skeptical, the flow of thought to be uninhibited, and it suits me perfectly.

For me, science is how I interpret the world. It's what truly captivates me and allows me to both level with what I do understand and explore that which I don't. There are so many opportunities, so many things unknown, and I want to be a part of it all. It is, in essence, what makes me happy. To understand it all, to look at something and know how it works in detail, to get a better picture of the workings of the world - it is truly invigorating.