Science

Right now I'm taking the required SOC 606 course on Research Methods and Design. It's one of those courses that everyone that does research goes over and the student's eyes glaze over at the thought of it. Not surprising being that the same cases are often dragged out, Nazi experiments, USPHS racial profiling, Crazy Voyeurs, and of course Yalies and Cardinals doing stupid stuff. Students tend to zone out and tell themselves "yeah yeah, whatever, I'm not a psycho, I'd never do such a thing." (Obviously they should listen better, being that the findings of the last two would prove them wrong.)

I don't think I genuinely enjoy the course, (The idea of reading the CFR or the Belmont report for the 20th time doesn't fill me with glee.) but it does give me a moment of reflection on the the whole process of the scientific method. I like questioning the idea of science. Much like religious faith, I think one's personal relationship with the work of science benefits from a bit of questioning. Its not that I don't believe in science, but I do desire to question its worth.

I've been playing Rock Band lately and have tried to not embarrass myself too much with singing the lyrics to "Still Alive". But with close examination of the song, I really think it has a very interesting message about the idea of science.

We do what we must
because we can.
For the good of all of us.
Except the ones who are dead.
But there's no sense crying over every mistake.
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.
And the Science gets done.
And you make a neat gun.
For the people who are still alive.

Really interesting lines put into the perspective of understanding the legacy of Science. In my favorite sociological book ever, Dr. Donna Haraway explains that science has a very strong messiah mythology. In this includes one of the title characters the OncoMouse, and how we continuously sacrifice it to save us from the sins of humanity.

Although I don't often think of science in this way, I would say we still need to challenge this notion of the validity of scientific research and understand that in its essence all scientific research involves this mythology in some form or another. Science is an emotional part of the curiosity of being human and hopefully for the benefit "for the people who are still alive."