T.C.D. FRONT Miscellany COVER
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Hilary Term 2009: Volume 116, Issue 2
This publication is partially funded by a grant from the DU Publications Committee. The opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editor. All serious complaints should be addressed to: The Editor, T.C.D. Miscellany, House 6, Trinity College, Dublin 2. Appeals may be directed to the Press Council of Ireland.
T.C.D. Miscellany is a full
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Contents Editorial ..........................................................................................2 Different Details: The Museum Building .....................................3 Under the Microscope Abstinence .......................................................................................4 Animal Behaviour ...........................................................................6 Nuclear Fission ...............................................................................8 Psychology ....................................................................................11 Innovation .....................................................................................13 College Magnified Trinity Greens ...............................................................................15 SPECIAL FEATURE: Miscellany Student Survey .............16 The Science Gallery ......................................................................20 Honorary Doctorates ...................................................................21 Through the Telescope Scientific Reasoning .....................................................................22 Scientism .......................................................................................24 Science and Ideology ....................................................................26
the special r fo t u o k o lo ut ! Keep a C oming Soon ion of T.C.D. M iscellany o on bumper edit ing the final t wo statues a next term. Tak, Medicine and Divinit y, in the Campaniletheme, we’re producing double issue! L U O S D N a BODY A
The Miscellanists: Editor - Jean Acheson Assistant Editors - Conor James McKinney, Jean Morley Layout and Design - Jean Acheson, Conor James McKinney Front Cover Illustration - Elaine Jennings Contributors - Andrew P. Allen, Mark Anthony Barbour, CiarĂĄn Cleary, Conor Gannon, Luke Maishman, Conor James McKinney, Barra Roantree, Kate Southall, Jenny Whilde, Michael Wynne, Steven Lydon Data Analyst - Joyce Acheson
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Editorial
Welcome to another issue of T.C.D. Miscellany! Once again taking the Campanile in Front Square as the inspiration, Miscellany now turns its magnifying glass onto that most earnest of statues and shining of disciplines, Science. Trinity and Science have a long history together. Subjects like Physics and Mathematics have been taught here for over three hundred years. The students that came and went have contributed much to scientific fields. In the late seventeenth century, William Molyneux wrote the first book on optics in the English language; in the mid-nineteenth century, William Rowan Hamilton invented quaternions (it seems assured this was rather clever of him, although do not ask of me an explanation as to what they were); and in the twentieth century, Ernest Walton split the nucleus of the atom, earning himself a nice little Nobel for his troubles. But what is, in may ways, more impressive is not what they achieved, but the premise - the foundation - behind it all: the deepseated desire to comprehend the world we live in. What drives our desire to explain and experiment? Why are we never satisfied with the answers we’ve been told? It’s comforting to assume that there is a finite number of ways of explaining the world and our behaviour in it, but if Science proves anything, it is that this is not possible. Ultimately what drives us is not the (illusive) product; it is the process that engages and inspires. As long as we are questioning, we are alive in the world, no matter the unpredictable or inexplicable or incorrect answers. These days, Science in College is not just the preserve of Great Men. In late 2008, a group of very gender-balanced Trinity researchers was awarded a prize by the European Psychiatry Association for their work on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). And with the opening of the Science Gallery last year, greater interaction with scientific ideas and applications can be enjoyed by all of us. Hopefully, the reader will also enjoy a little interaction with Science through these pages. Our contributors this time question the logic and ideology of Science; they examine its application to our natural environment; they even find time to show how giving up sweets can make you more successful (take heed, take heed!). Within this issue, the reader will also find Miscellany’s own attempt at experimentation and scientific method. The survey conducted in early January was a modest affair, but its results will be of some interest in confirming and confounding assumptions about the students here. Overall, it seems Trinity students are a satisfied and active bunch. Yet certain results cause concern. When only 25% of respondents can correctly identify a picture of the Minister for Education, and at a time when he is of the greatest relevance to their college careers, it is time to worry. Let’s heed the clarion calls of Science - question! explain! prove! - and apply it to our political leaders and college staff, who hold the future and tone of our education in their hands. Jean Acheson T.C.D. Miscellany Editor
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Different Details: The Museum Building
The Museum Building, built between 1853-57, was inspired by the Byzantine architecture of Venice. A competition was held for its design and the winning architects were Thomas Deane and Benjamin Woodward.
Just inside the door of the building stands the remains of an Irish elk, who once walked the midlands 10, 500 years ago.
The pillars, balustrades and bannisters contain examples of Irish marbles and Cornish serpentine, while the domed roof is made of blue, red and yellow enamelled bricks.
The many interior and exterior carvings were executed by the Corkborn brothers and masons John and James O’Shea, who gathered fresh flowers to use as their models. The college gave them complete artistic freedom in their work.
Photos taken by Kate Southall. Other work accessible at www.kesouthall.co.uk
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Under the Microscope: Abstinence
The Science of Giving Up Sweets Conor Gannon considers deferred gratification and how it makes us more successful.
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ne of the most delightful aspects of Easter Sunday is tucking into a delicious chocolate Easter Egg after forty days of abstinence and self-restraint. With the pain of Lent over, you feel entitled to celebrate - and that Easter Egg is the perfect reward. However incredulous it may seem, your ability to give up sweets for the forty days of Lent will probably increase your chances of having a successful life.
told them they could eat it if they wanted to. However, if they could wait while he left the room for a few minutes, he would give them a second marshmallow. Mischel would then leave the room for 10 to 15 minutes. He found that about a third of his subjects would grab the marshmallows immediately; a third would wait for his return to claim two marshmallows; and the rest would try to wait but give up at varying times.
Scientists have now conclusively proven that the longer a four year old child is able to wait before taking a sweet, the better their chances of doing well in their chosen career and having happy, stable relationships. According to Professor Walter Mischel, a pioneer in this field of psychology, it’s all to do with the science of deferred gratification.
It was not until 14 years later, when his earliest subjects were leaving school and going to university or work that Mischel began to confirm a significant correlation between marshmallow-munching and success in life. The children who grabbed the sweets turned into teenagers who lacked self-
Mischel began his investigations into why some people are better at resisting temptation than others at Stanford University in the 1960s. His experiments began with a simple proposition. He placed a marshmallow on a plate in front of his subjects and
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“Why are some of us better at resisting temptation than others?” confidence and had difficult relations with peers. Those who waited for a second marshmallow turned out more socially
competent, self-assertive and academically successful. In their school exams, “waiters” scored an average of 210 more points than “grabbers”. Mischel continues to monitor the progress of his original subjects and his findings have become highly regarded among the academic community. His findings have become so compelling that forty of his original subjects, now in their forties, are preparing to undergo scans in the hope of answering a perplexing human question: why are some of us better at resisting temptation than others? By examining the differences between the brains of subjects who are good at controlling their impulses and those who ate the marshmallow the moment it was offered, researchers hope to devise new ways to teach the benefits of delayed gratification. Not only might this improve the career prospects of young marshmallow addicts, it could also revolutionise the multi-million dollar dieting industry. The trick, according to Mischel, is to persuade the children to think differently about the marshmallow. Instead
Under the Microscope: Abstinence
of focusing on how temping and delicious it looks, as the “grabbers” do, he encourages them to imagine the marshmallow as something else, such as a cotton ball or a cloud floating in the sky. In this way the thought of eating the sweet is deferred. For some, self-control is found
“If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.’” through believing in oneself and remaining fixed to one’s objectives. For the Christian, it also involves a spiritual dimension. A power greater than ourselves is acknowledged which can help us overcome temptation and selfdestruction and lead us to greater happiness. This power can only be released through prayer, which, in essence, is the process of becoming conscious of this higher power. Some would consider this self-brainwashing: a way of regulating deviant behaviour in accordance with social norms. Whether it is or not, the fact remains that it’s pretty effective. Those who have recovered from addiction problems will certainly applaud the benefits of the famous “twelve-step programme”, the first step of which involves a recognition that the addict is powerless over their addiction; and secondly, that a higher power can provide the necessary assistance to overcome that difficulty. Indeed the very image at the centre of Christianity, that of
Some of us want a man, some of us would settle for an ice-cream.
Christ on the cross, is one of deferred gratification. Christ came into the word and endured the pain and suffering of the crucifixion for the greater good of humanity, so that sins might be forgiven. He is a paragon of self-sacrifice. As a symbol, it
“The longer a four year old child is able to wait before taking a sweet, the better their chances of doing well in their chosen career.”
a better student. The academic system is based on our ability to defer gratification through the process of studying. Realistically, no one wants to spend hours on their own, committing facts to memory or writing a thesis, but we know that the more work we put in through study, the better our results. The old saying, “if you fail to prepare, prepare to fail” ultimately rests on the assumption that you have an ability to defer gratification. It means being able to say “no” to yourself so that you can do something else worthwhile.
Academics and teachers aren’t the only ones who refer to the benefits of self-control; business gurus cite the marshmallow experiment encourages Christians to follow when telling chief executives to the way of goodness, justice resist short term strategies that and righteousness even if that boost the share price but risk long means forgoing the gratification term problems. Perhaps, there is available from taking an easier, some truth in the notion that if we or more readily available route. wait for something, we appreciate it much more. So the next time But the practice of deferred you give up sweets for Lent, stick gratification doesn’t just make with it, because it might actually you more holy, it also makes you make you more successful!
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Under the Microscope: Animal Behaviour
Jenny Whilde muses on what we can learn from animal research.
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tudies of animal behaviour have long helped humans, both formally and informally, to understand, manipulate and interact with the species with which we share this world. The study of animal behaviour is an area that can be useful in understanding many other aspects of zoology, such as animal physiology and evolution, and indeed has applications in other fields from pharmacy to psychology, and neuroscience to ethics. Although much attention is paid in popular science to studies of charismatic animals such as chimpanzees, elephants and dolphins, the diversity of species studied is enormous, and includes anything from tiny parasites to insects and reptiles. Behavioural studies can focus on the proximate causes of behaviour, which relate to the most immediate events that bring about a particular behaviour. These may include a change in hormone levels, or the stimulation of certain neurons. Alternatively, the study of ultimate causes of
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behaviour focuses on longerterm reasons for behaviour, such as why an animal has evolved to behave in a certain way. So, for example, the proximate cause of a lion hunting a zebra is because the internal signals from its body indicate that it is hungry. The ultimate cause of a lion hunting a zebra is that it has evolved as a carnivore and is particularly suited to hunt animals such as zebra. Aside from telling us more about animals, which is fascinating in itself, studying animal behaviour has a range of useful and interesting applications. A somewhat abstract area of research is into the behaviour of several related species, or indeed several unrelated species with similar behaviours. Investigation of these common behaviours can help to clarify how and why they evolved. It can be applied to the “nature or nurture� debate, as we can examine whether behaviours have evolved in several species because they have adapted to similar environments over generations (nature),
or whether certain animals have learned a behaviour as a mechanism for dealing with the conditions in their current environment (nurture). Much research into the behaviour of other apes (chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans), for example, has been used to explain how human behaviour has evolved, and has taught us about a wide range of human characteristics, from walking upright, to the development of language. Behaviour of animals in their natural habitat helps us understand how livestock, zoo animals and pets should be managed. By understanding their natural requirements and behavioural repertoires we can work towards creating an optimum environment for them. Many animals have adapted to very different environments to humans and they give us insights into novel ways of coping with environmental stresses such as extreme temperatures, and psychological stresses such as competition for dominance in a group hierarchy.
Under the Microscope: Animal Behaviour
Many animals can be observed to self-medicate by eating plants or mineral sources that act either as a preventative measure or act as a cure. Observations of this type of behaviour are useful starting points in further investigations of the medicinal uses of natural compounds.
observing animals in the wild is not considered to be particularly harmful, the study of behaviour in a laboratory context is often called into question. This is a complex issue, and is given a huge amount of thought by those carrying out such studies. The debate may never reach a conclusion, as our
minimise stress and enhance the welfare and natural behaviour of captive and laboratory animals would have been considered eccentric back then. Studying animal behaviour gives us greater understanding of so much more than an animal’s day-
The behavioural responses of animals to stress, drugs or medical procedures are all helpful in determining the effects these have on other animals as well as on humans. It is often not enough to look only at physiological effects. The behavioural effects must also be considered, as physiological systems are so complex that it can be difficult to predict the knock-on effect that a slight change in the system might have. A subtle change in hormone levels, for example, may have a distinct effect on behaviour and this change in behaviour directs researchers to areas where further investigation is needed.
“As our understanding of animals has increased through studying their behaviour, so too has our empathy and concern for their welfare.”
Can we learn something about ourselves by learning about animals?
knowledge and understanding is constantly changing, but one thing is certain – as our understanding of animals has increased through studying their behaviour, so too has our empathy and concern for their welfare. Practices that were considered Some methods of studying animal acceptable two hundred years behaviour have been subject ago are now thought barbaric and to fierce ethical debate. While measures which are now taken to
to-day life. The applications are endless, and myriad questions can be answered by investigation of both proximate and ultimate causes of behaviour. It gives us deeper insight and awareness of other species as well as of our own, brings important ethical and moral issues to the foreground, and reminds us that we still have a lot to learn.
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Under the Microscope: Nuclear Fission
Nuclear Fission: Y/N? Ciarán Cleary guides us through the debate on nuclear fission as a possible solution to our energy needs.
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ooner or later, the world’s addiction to fossil fuels has to be confronted. A couple of ideas have been bandied around such as solar, wind and geothermal power. Another option is nuclear fusion, which is currently being tackled with renewed vigour at research facilities like JET in the UK, ITER in France, NIF in the USA and Textor in Germany, among other places. While fusion may turn out to be a white knight, it is worthwhile remembering a slightly more controversial avenue, namely nuclear fission. The basic concepts behind fission reactions are fairly straightforward. In fission reactors, heavy atomic nuclei are struck by neutrons. This creates havoc within the nuclei, which quickly divide roughly in half. Together with the chunks of the original nuclei that fly off in opposite directions, two or more neutrons are emitted. These neutrons are free to go on to cause other fission events i.e. a chain reaction occurs. In practice though,
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things
get
a
little
trickier. into the environment and vulnerability to terrorist attack. For a start, only a limited selection of nuclei is amenable to fission. On the positive side, it offers When slow neutrons are used, two isotopes of uranium (235U “The world’s 233 and U) and two of plutonium addiction to fossil (239Pu and 241Pu) can be fissioned. Fast neutrons can be used to fuels has to be 240 238 cause U, Pu and an isotope confronted.” of thorium (232Th) to fission. Apart from the shortage of potential fuels, other serious problems plague conventional nuclear p o w e r such as t h e
high capital costs needed to construct and decommission plants, the difficulties in disposing of high-level waste, accidental release of radioactive materials
several noteworthy benefits including fuel supply stability, reasonable electricity prices, the fact that the reactor itself doesn’t release CO2, and the centralized nature of the electricity grid. Maybe it would be a valuable exercise to explore the origins of nuclear fission, its present form and the future direction it will take. In doing so, hopefully the reader might realise that it isn’t necessarily the big bad wolf of the energy industry that it appears to be at first sight. Development of Gen I (1st Generation) reactors for electricity began shortly after World War II. Up to that stage, most research conducted into fission was focused on the manufacture of weapons. For the most part, Gen I reactors
Under the Microscope: Nuclear Fission
This is how they do it. Looks fairly simple to me.
used natural uranium for the fuel rods, which is mostly 238U but also contains 0.72% 235U. A moderator, usually graphite, was employed to slow down the neutrons to a well-defined range of speeds, tailored to ensure their maximum absorption by 235U. Pressurised CO2 gas circulated throughout the reactor and into a primary coolant circuit to transfer the energy liberated by the fission reactions to a secondary coolant system used to create steam for spinning electrical generators. One typical example of a Gen I plant was the Calder Hall set of 4 Magnox reactors built in 1956 on the Sellafield site in the UK. Following the initial phase of nuclear power, the next generation of reactors, Gen II was developed. Today, most commercial nuclear plants employ Gen II reactors. They
are modified versions of reactors originally designed for naval vessel propulsion, especially submarines and aircraft carriers. Gen II reactors can be divided into five general groups: LWR’s, AGR’s, CANDU’s, and the second generations of VVER’s and RBMK’s. The majority of these use fuel pins containing uranium that has had its 235U content enriched to somewhere between 3.5 and 5.0%, with the exception of CANDU’s. CANDU (CANadian Deuterium Uranium) reactors use natural uranium in the fuel rods but use heavy water as a moderator. LWR’s (Light Water Reactors) use ordinary water as both a moderator and coolant. LWR’s themselves can be subdivided into two groups: PWR’s (Pressurized Water Reactors) and BWR’s (Boiling Water Reactors), with the former
being more common. Sizewell B in Suffolk in Britain is an example of a PWR. AGR’s (Advanced Gas Reactors) are similar to Magnox reactors in terms of the moderator and coolant, but AGR’s operate at higher temperatures. As for VVER’s and RBMK’s, these are found in old USSR states. The abbreviations are derived from English transliterations of their Russian names. They are upgraded and safer reincarnations of their Gen I counterparts of the same name. The reactor that exploded at Chernobyl, USSR in 1986 was a Gen I RBMK. At the moment, there is a drive to build Gen III power plants. These are almost identical to Gen II reactors in their fuel requirements, coolants and moderators. On the other hand, they differ considerably when it comes to safety features and fuel utilisation.
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Under the Microscope: Nuclear Fission Gen III plants will rely on more passive mechanisms within the heat transfer systems, which should lead to safer operation. The reactor hulls will also be resistant to terrorist threats.
radioactive waste tops the list and involve building dedicated deserves detailed examination. subcritical reactors that would Low-level and medium-level waste get rid of toxic isotopes in spent can usually be disposed of safely either immediately into landfill or “Nuclear fission is encasing in concrete before final a complicated field disposal in landfill. High-level waste is not so easy to deal with of science and needs and this is what causes all the fuss.
When spent fuel is removed from a reactor, it contains a diverse collection of radionuclides along with the original 238U and 235U. The most notable of these are the minor actinides and, for anyone who’s eager to know, the nuclei in question are isotopes of americium (241Am), neptunium (237Np) and curium (244Cm). In addition, isotopes of plutonium show up in Nuclear power - a more natural solution spent fuel, all of which are toxic. than we think? The presence of these substances On top of this, Gen III plants will means that high-level waste be more fuel-efficient, particularly remains dangerously radioactive when it comes to MOX fuel pins. for tens of thousands of years. MOX (Mixed OXides of uranium and plutonium) fuel is made So, high-level waste is not from mixing natural or depleted something to be carelessly uranium with plutonium from brushed aside. One route is burial decommissioned nuclear weapons. in geologically-stable repositories As a matter of interest, the first and this is being researched at Gen III projects are already sites such as Yucca Mountain, underway, including a Gen III USA and Mol, Belgium. However, there are alternative “High-level waste solutions to high-level waste remains dangerously and this is where Gen IV comes in. Gen IV reactors will address radioactive for tens of two main challenges: full actinide thousands of years.” management and cogeneration of heat with electricity. RBMK at Kursk-5, Russia and EPR’s (European Pressurized Reactors) at Flammanville, France and Olkiluoto, Finland.
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This is all very well, but Gen III plants still have serious shortcomings. The issue of
Homogeneous actinide management means that undesirable actinides will be transmuted into isotopes with shorter lifetimes as they arise in the reactor. By definition, this will eliminate the production of high-level waste. Heterogeneous actinide management would
to be analysed in a level-headed, rational fashion.”
fuel. With regard to cogeneration, Gen IV reactors should be in a position to supply electricity and large quantities of heat suitable for a variety of industrial processes, for instance sulfuric acid production and desalination. There are six general designs for Gen IV. Some of them involve innovative coolants like supercritical water or liquid lead. The other designs utilise conventional coolants but in all six cases, fast neutrons and high temperatures (500 to 1000°C) will be exploited. Interestingly, this leads to a certain level of overlap between Gen IV and fusion reactors with reference to the search for materials capable of withstanding extreme conditions. Examples of these include the advanced steels Eurofer and T-91. Nuclear fission is a complicated field of science and needs to be analysed in a level-headed, rational fashion. It’s not perfect and has many faults but it does represent a reliable, long-term source of energy that doesn’t plough buckets of CO2 into the atmosphere. Exciting opportunities lie ahead in fission and it is up to our generation to seize them.
Under the Microscope: Psychology
The misconceptions of Psychology Mark Anthony Barbour defends psychology as a science.
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he term psychology comes from two Greek words. The first word is “psyche”, which translates into “the essence of life” or “the Soul”. The second word is “Logos” meaning “Knowledge” or “Science”. Thus, the word psychology can be translated as “The Knowledge of the Soul”. As humans, we are always learning; we are all amateur psychologists. The problem is subjectivity. People best explain other people’s behaviour based on experiences in their own lives. A professional psychologist must be objective. Of course, this is not to say they ignore what is going on in
peoples’ lives; two important finding new evidence conflicting aspects of psychology are with what was thought to be observance and empathy. true. Scientists, therefore, never say proved just as psychologists In order for psychological never say proved. Instead, it’s experiments to be considered stated that evidence supports scientific they must be reliable the theory. The difference and valid. They must be able between psychologists and other to be duplicated with the results scientists is that a psychologist obtained being similar to the cannot do some experiments original experiment. The most because they are bound by strict important rule in science is that a ethical guidelines. The most theory can only be disproved, it important of these guidelines can never be proved. This means is: do no harm. This is because there is no such thing as scientific psychologists study humans fact; there is never enough who are living beings in contrast sufficient evidence and there is to natural scientists who study always the possibility of someone cells, chemicals, or molecules.
The Greek letter Psi (pronounced “sigh”), has long been used to represent the field of Psychology.
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Under the Microscope: Psychology
“Plato compared human beings as people living in a cave, watching shadows on a wall but unable to see the objects causing the shadows. In just the same way, he argued, observing the physical world will never put us in contact with reality, but will doom us to a lifetime of wrestling with shadows. Only by the “eye of the mind” can we break free from illusion and arrive at the truth.” -The Sciences
Psychology is a broad subject and it encompasses biology, anthropology, sociology, computer science, and medicine. However, in Trinity College, psychology is categorised in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, along with philosophy, sociology, theology, and political science. It is a mistake to have psychology linked with these subjects as it is a real scientific subject that uses real experiments.. It is this labelling that results in the misconceptions people have about psychology’s status, and it surprises many students when beginning the psychology degree to see how scientific the subject is. Psychology did originate from philosophy, but so did all sciences. Was Galileo not a philosopher as well as a scientist? The fact remains that some scientists work with theory and some work with the practical.
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it’s abnormal or normal. Clinical and counselling psychology is only one branch of psychology. Practitioners don’t treat their clients with medication (except in New Mexico where it was recently passed through law) but use various behaviour therapies such as cognitive behaviour therapy. People often link Freud to psychology, but Freud is rarely used in psychology. By profession he was a psychiatrist who later
“Psychology did originate from philosophy, but so did all sciences.” developed psychoanalysis. Freud never presented any evidence from his studies, except for his most famous case of Anna O, which he only published after he had retired from practising psychiatry. This meant it was difficult for psychologists to duplicate his studies. In short it was unscientific and against modern day psychological practice.
Another misconception people have is that psychology is the same as psychiatry. Psychiatrists are medical doctors that study abnormal behaviour or mental disorders. They treat these mental disorders with medication. Psychologists, on the other hand, Many pseudosciences have study all human behaviour whether damaged psychology in the past.
People believe psychologists can read a person’s mind and when hypnosis is being performed, a psychologist can make them do something they don’t want to do. These assertions are both untrue; a psychologist can’t read a person’s mind or make them do something they don’t want to do - but a psychologist does predict human behaviour just as a meteorologist predicts the weather. To conclude, humans are complex creatures. Psychologists try to find out how people attain their cognitive schema, and which cognitive schema people possess. It is no different to physicians trying to discover the ordered universe or geologists studying the earth’s functions. It’s true that psychology for years functioned by theory, but, with the technology available in today’s world, psychology has grown and moved to become a more scientific subject that explores all parts of human endeavour. In Trinity College psychology is being taught as a science. There is no Freud, no Dualism, no Creationism just experimental science and it would be respectful to the subject if it was given its rightful place amongst the sciences.
Under the Microscope: Innovation
Creativity and Innovation in the Knowledge-Based Economy
Andrew P. Allen examines the science of innovation, and its importance for economic growth.
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efore I mention innovation, it is worth referring to another word that gets policymakers excited: competitiveness. New EU members (not to mention nations like India and China) are upping the ante on the global labour market. For some countries, like Ireland, with a relatively high wage rate, having a knowledge-based economy is a way of attracting further foreign direct investment and employment opportunities by giving potential employers/investors value for money. Perhaps innovation is so important to any company working in knowledge-based services because knowledge-based services can be changed so easily. New agricultural or industrial equipment takes a long time to bring into service, but consultancy methods can be changed with a meeting, and computers become dated every year. Failure to innovate quickly can leave one trailing behind the competition.
Amar Bhidé of Columbia Business School has pointed out that some innovations can cross borders quite easily; it is the application of an innovation that gives one company/nation an advantage over another. The implication is that MBAs may do more for this cause than PhDs. Much psychological research has focused on individual differences (which people are creative?)
“Divergent thinking is a key ingredient in creativity.” rather than cognitive processes (how are people creative?). The psychometric tests coming from the former tradition are useful for screening potential employees to see who’s highly creative and who’s an “intellectual conservative”. However, if we want to know how to make existing employees
more innovative, we need to look at the latter tradition. But is there a general way of being creative that cognitive psychology can discover? Yes and no. The American psychologist J.P. Guilford long argued that divergent thinking is a key ingredient in creativity. Thinking is divergent if it avoids standard ways of imagining possibilities and working out problems. However, if one wants to innovate in one’s professional field, thinking outside the box is not enough. It is necessary to have authoritative knowledge on the industry in question in order to avoid doing what’s already been done (or currently being done). It may be possible to assign some employees to a more creative role and others to the role of judging the appropriateness of the creative ones’ output, but we should remember that teams have their own “distributed knowledge”.
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Under the Microscope: Innovation True creativity is about finding problems as well as solving them. Problem finding is the lifeblood of new industry formation. It is doubtful that many early mobile phone owners complained about the lack of downloadable pop tunes to use as ringtones. So an entrepreneur didn’t address a problem, but rather found it. How should firms go about rewarding innovation? Statistical analysis by the economists HonigHaftel & Martin has indicated that non-monetary awards are ineffective in increasing patent output in small technology firms, but do work in the large ones. It would seem that in some cases giving tips on innovation is not enough: one still needs to spend money in order to make it happen. What about techniques for fostering innovation? Classic research by social psychologists Diehl & Stroebe indicated that brainstorming is less effective than simply coming up with your ideas as individuals and meeting afterwards to discuss them.
Proposed reasons for this include the temptation to “free-ride” on the efforts of other brainstormers and fear of negative evaluation by the group. However, brainstorming is still popular throughout the business world; perhaps the scientific evidence is not reaching the audience who need it most.
“True creativity is about finding problems as well as solving them.” Although the usefulness of innovation is no fad, the behaviour of some organisations might lead one to believe that innovation is nothing more than the latest craze. Innovation initiatives can be overgeneralised (if a chauffer’s job involves driving from A to B every day, how much point is there in demanding an “innovation report”?) as well as undergeneralised (“innovation is for Google consultants, not electricians!”). The quest for the Holy Grail of innovation may push some to find an innovative
reativi C r u o y Te s t
solution for a problem that is already solved. Others may focus too heavily on the originality aspect of creative thinking, ignoring the fact that creative thought should be useful as well, and thus generate novel drivel. The science of creativity has typically focused on the individual in isolation (the neuropsychology of creativity is going to be a growth industry), but it’s time to start looking at innovation at a more social, economic and situationspecific level. This article has implicitly been concerned with profit-making organisations, but schools and NGOs have much to gain as well, and their activity feeds the economy as well as philanthropic needs. In a future of seminars and training weekends for employees of all sectors of the economy, the application of scientific methods to the study of innovation will become increasingly important in sorting evidence-based methods from snake oil. After all, innovation gurus have to compete as well.
ty!
(Answers at the back of magazine)
1. Take three minutes to write down as many uses as you can for Vaseline. Quantity, not quality, wins. 2. Count the number of squares you see in this graphic. Now, try again.
3. Can you make this equation correct by moving only one digit and not moving or adding signs? (62 - 63 = -1 is not a correct solution). 14
26 - 63 = 1
College Magnified: Trinity Greens Chairperson of the Young Greens in Trinity, Barra Roantree, examines the present and future of the debate on energy consumption.
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008 ended with talks on a new global agreement to tackle climate change in Poznan and the election of a new American President, who has committed the world’s largest per capita greenhouse gas consumer to cuts of 80% by 2050. The year also saw social justice movements such as Oxfam International begin to highlight the detrimental and disproportionate impact that climate change will have on the developing world. According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global cuts of at least 80-90% on preindustrial levels are needed by 2050 in order to prevent devastating run away climate change. Keeping in mind that the Kyoto protocol set a target of a 5.2% reduction in industrialised countries’ emissions by 2012, and that the EU has agreed to a netEuropean cut of 20% by 2020, the road ahead seems daunting. It is increasingly becoming acknowledged that what is required is akin to a green revolution utilising 21st century science and technology. However, the green revolution will not necessitate that the capitalists find themselves with their backs against the wall. Instead, they’ll probably find themselves very much as key players. There simply isn’t time to waste waiting for the overthrow of the system. Our energy system must move
from reliance on outdated fossil fuels to clean, green, renewable sources. The all-Ireland energy grid study, published this year by Green Party Minister Eamon Ryan, shows that it is possible for Ireland to generate 42% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. A pan-European energy grid would enable the exploitation of similar renewable potential on a mass scale. The proposed AfricanEuropean interconnector would simultaneously raise standards of living for some of the poorest of the poor in a way which would avoid relying on the dirty and dangerous extraction of natural resources, whilst providing Europe with secure clean energy. Back at home, electrifying our transport system would not only give the economy the Keynesian boost that it is crying out for but would significantly increase our quality of life. The realisation of the green dream of getting people out of cars and onto public transport – or, even better,
bikes – finally seems possible. Though the scale of the problem and the systemic changes that are necessary may seem overwhelming, there is huge potential for every individual to make a difference - be it in their home, university or workplace. Remember the Green slogan: “think global – act local.” If you are interested in political responses to achieve change, why not join the Young Greens or the Green Party? It has yet to be fully realised that climate change is a social justice issue, so if you prefer to remain non-party political whilst raising awareness amongst your social circles, why not get involved with Oxfam or Trocaire’s climate change justice campaigns? If you find yourself continuously frustrated by the lack of proper recycling facilities or eternally-on computers here in Trinity, join the Trinity Greens and do something about it. There is no excuse for inaction.
The Provost seems convinced of the benefits of healthy, sustainable living.
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College Magnified: Miscellany Survey
Miscellany Student Survey 2009 The T.C.D. Miscellany team look closer at student attitudes and activities on campus. Introduction The Miscellany Student Survey aimed to canvass the views of a small but representative sample of undergraduate students on various issues, as well as gain an insight into student life in 2009. 147 students were surveyed between Tuesday 6th and Friday 9th January at various points around the College. The breakdown between male and female was roughly fifty-fifty (75 males and 72 females). The proportion of overseas students surveyed was, at 13.5% of the total, close to the overall figure for Trinity (16% in 2006/07). 80 of the respondents were from the Arts and Humanities or Social Sciences, while 67 were from the Hamilton.
Do you have a minute to fill in this survey please?
To ease them in, respondents were asked to express a preference A Who’s Who of Politics for those perennial Pavilion Bar favourites, Druids or Bavaria. (and perhaps a who cares?) While a few misguided souls refused to choose either, 44% of those surveyed claimed to be Druids fans, while 38% prefered a cool can of Bavaria. Weirdly, Arts students were twice as likely to go for the cider option (52.5% compared with 23% of scientists). Turning to weightier matters, respondents were asked whether they thought that the dreaded recession would have a “major impact” on them in their carefree student existence. There was no consensus on the issue; in the end slightly more (53%) said that it would not impact on them. Possibly the cheaper cost of coffee today outweighs the
Landslide victory: 73% recognise Cathal Reilly, President of the SU.
Which facility is most lacking in college? 1%
48%
46%
5% Second bar Extended library hours
More bike parking Increased security
chance of unemployment tomorrow. There was something of a crosscampus divide on this as well; Hamilton students came across as a more positive bunch, with only a third saying that they felt the recession was impacting upon them, while Arts students – the futility of that degree in Film Studies in the era of the credit crunch perhaps weighing on their minds – said that they were affected in over 50% of cases.
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Electoral Meltdown: 25% of students recognise Batt O’Keefe, Minister for Education and Science. Although, in fairness, he does bare a striking resemblance to Naked Gun star, Lesley Nielson.
Out of office: 5% recognise Shane Kelly, President of the USI.
College Magnified: Miscellany Survey Happily, most Trinity students appear satisfied that the education they receive here will equip them for the wider world, mired in recession though it may be; 71% responded “Yes” to the question of whether they were broadly satisfied with the standard of tuition, given Trinity’s standing in the league tables. Good news for the college authorities, but certainly not something to get complacent about. Given the choice between a second bar, better bike facilities, longer library hours or more campus security, students split between the bar and library – a good reflection on the state of both academic and social activity among students. Although, we rather liked the one lone voice calling for “more pianos”. Asked to rate the administrative staff of the College on a scale of “helpful”, “OK” and “unhelpful”, most plumped for the neutral option of OK (50%), while 20% found them to be unhelpful and a slightly smaller proportion helpful.
TS A E SB LE D I T T U BA DR N I IA R NS A A V C A B HE T F O
Work of the SU No such middle ground was allowed in our question regarding the Students’ Union; here students were asked whether they considered its work to be “important” or “irrelevant”, or to declare that they didn’t care either way. 53% thought the body to be important, with the remainder split between “irrelevant” and “don’t care”. Hardly a ringing show of support for the institution, given its recent high profile over the fees issue, but surely a decent percentage given the historically low turnout at sabbatical elections (last year’s voting level was the highest for many years). Science students
Who’s that guy?
The Politicians
0
Shane Batt
20
40
60
80
5
25
Cathal 73
% Recognition were more likely to consider the SU important – 62% compared with 47% of Arts students. There was commendable consistency shown when answering the next question about whether or not the respondent attended SU events such as protests, nights out or Student Council meetings. Once again, just over 53% of students said that they participated in these, with the remainder saying that they did not.
Let’s talk politics As regards those troublesome fees, students delivered a resounding verdict against their reintroduction. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the renowned reluctance of turkeys to vote for Christmas, 78% of students thought that fees were a bad idea, with 22% in support. They were less confident, however, when asked to identify some of the key players in the fees controversy. While the overseas students can be excused for not recognising Minister for Education and Science Batt O’Keeffe, they surely didn’t skew the statistics as much as a recognition rate of just 25% would, at first glance, seem to suggest. TCD Students’ Union president Cathal Reilly was known to a healthier 73% of respondents. In both cases, Arts students were more likely to identify the two men correctly. Shane Kelly,
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College Magnified: Miscellany Survey
What do you think of the work of the SU? 22%
24%
Important
54%
Irrelevent
Don’t Care
the head of the Union of Students in Ireland, was identified by a mere 5% of students, again despite the recent headliner fees battle. While the likelihood of being able to identify the trio was about the same across faculties, Mr. Reilly may be pleased to know that drinking appeared to increase the chances of a student recognising him; those who refused to cite a preference for either Druids or Bavaria were less likely to be able to name their beloved president. So drinking appears not to affect memory loss - who knew?
Work hard, play hard Asked about their extra-curricular activites, students painted a mixed picture of their involvement. 59% said that they were actively involved in a Trinity society of some kind. On the other hand, only 29% were active members of a sports club in the College. The brawny boffins of the Hamilton students were more likely than their counterparts to play sport in Trinity, but less likely to have society involvement. The Pav also generated a mixed reaction. Just over half the students surveyed said that it would be their first choice of a Friday evening, while 47% rejected that notion. Similar fault lines were discovered in relation to the perception of Trinity students as arrogant; the student body was split practically fifty-fifty on whether or not this was a true reflection – this refusal to allow partisan sentiment to get in the way of self-analysis is a good sign that the skills of critical awareness and objectivity that is surely an essential part of higher education have taken root.
TS N E D TU S S T AR E MOR IVE T C A ATTR
Only 21% of total students were able to explain who Sir William Rowan Hamilton was, despite the fact that the 200th aniversary of his birth was celebrated with great fanfare only three years ago in 2005. Not to be stopped by their own ignorance, here are some of the things our inventive and brave respondents came up with as answers: The man himself.
“Inventor of the nerd.” “Majority shareholder in the Hamilton.” “A great lad.” “Genius. Wanker.”
That bridge.
For those interested, Sir William Rowan Hamilton was born in Dublin on the stroke of midnight between the 3rd and 4th of August, 1805. He was primarily raised by his uncle, the Reverend James Hamilton, who was able to give the young Hamilton a decent grasp of Latin, Greek and Hebrew by the age of five. After mastering half a dozen more ancient languages – and several modern ones on the side - by his midteens, mathematics entered the equation as he prepared to enter Trinity, which had recently embraced and modernised its teaching of the subject.
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His outstanding academic career can best be summarised by the staggering achievement of first place in every exam he ever took. As a result, he was offered the post of Professor of Astronomy before he had even graduated, and took up residence at the university Observatory at Dunsink. During this time, he revolutionised geometry by inventing the concept of quaternions, an algrebraic model best left to experts to describe, and for which he is best remembered today. Hamilton was struck by the inspiration for this discovery while walking down the towpath at Broom Bridge on the Royal Canal; a plaque on the bridge still commemerates the spot where he is supposed to have carved the famous formula i² = j² = k² = ijk = -1 into the stone.
College Magnified: Miscellany Survey
Periodic responses
ge Percenta
On basic knowledge, however, students didn’t do so well. In keeping with this issue’s theme of Science, respondents were asked to identify the chemical elements hydrogen, silver and nitrogen by their symbols (H, Ag and N respectively). The proportions of those answering correctly were 80%, 39% and 76%, with Hamilton students doing noticeably (and reassuringly) better. It is surely somewhat worrying, though, that less than half of those stuck at the dodgy end of campus knew that Ag stands for silver. More dispiriting still, for those with an Science s t interest in the history of this institution, that little over a fifth r A 90 of students had a decent idea of who Rowan Willam Hamilton was. Even those students based in the building that bears the 60 name of that renouned mathematician, physicist, astronomer and classicist were only clued in beyond the level of “scientist” 30 or “guy the Hamilton’s named after” in 25% of cases. 85 0
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Respondents were also asked whether they had used any drugs (apart from alcohol) in their time at Trinity. s e c i o h Some 44% said that they had used some sort of illegal The C : s e c drug during their college days so far, with 56% denying referen P ’ s t n e s use. This compares with a national average of 31% d Arts Stu e on the couche among young Irish people (15-34) and a general figure l d d u c for the East Coast of 36%. A USI survey of 500 Let’s students across the whole island, carried out back in 2002, showed that just over half (51%) had used an A r ts illegal drug, so Trinity may be lagging behind in this respect.
All you need is love
Scien ce 50.0
Perc enta ge
The most pressing issue, of course, and one with far 44 more implications for College and national policy was 37.5 49 the question of who’s more attractive: Arts or Science 25.0 students? Students confirmed the anecdotal evidence 12.5 that all the talent is Arts block-based, with two-thirds Th saying that they found Arts students more attractive. H e Ch 0 oices a m The Hamiltonians, denied a victory in this, can at i I thi lton Stud least take solace in the patrotism of their brethren; nk w e’ve ents’ Pre a slender majority (49% of those who responded got c f to the question) of Science students plumped for their hem erences: istr y peers in the battle of the beautiful. Only 14% of Arts students, by contrast, said that the grass was greener on the other side of campus.
The end of the affair So there you have it, a snopshot of Trinity students in early 2009. Perhaps older generations would be shocked at our drug use and political indifference; perhaps the next generation will think our antipathy to fees misguided or quaint. For now, the picture painted, whether confirming or confounding your suspicions, is an interesting one to relfect upon. Do you think the results are accurate? Do you think they would stay pretty similar over time? If you found yourself tut-tutting at the results, or nodding your head in agreement, let us know at tcdmiscellany@gmail. com. Readers’ responses will be published in the next issue.
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College Magnified: The Science Gallery
Aim: to visit the Science Gallery Apparatus: Arts student, umbrella
Method: 1) Traipse down toward the Hamilton end, as if you were getting the Dart home or something. 2) Instead of walking out the Pearse Street entrance, turn to your left. 3) Wait for the revolving doors to open, thinking impatiently that they’re really slow today. 4) Notice the little green button you’re supposed to press, and then sheepishly walk into the Science Gallery. 5) Stand uncertainly in the entrance for a moment, then follow other people into the bit you can see from the street. 6) Let it become apparent that there isn’t actually an exhibition on, and that the people you see putting up signs on the wall are not actually part of the show. 7) Commit the quote on the wall to memory: “Dare to reach your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light”, by Norman B. Rice. Wonder if he’s related to Damien. 8) Wander around the cafe and have a gawk at the stuff they sell in the gift-shop. 9) Consider buying the robot pencil-parer, but remember there’s a recession on and €6 is extravagant. 10) Get distracted by the hot water dispenser - it’s cone-shaped, that’s deadly! 11) Decide to head on, seeing as people are looking at you funny now. 12) Stroll back up campus, pondering the wonder of science.
Results: 1) No new scientific knowledge was learned. 2) The price of a cup of coffee is €2.50, compared to €2.05 in Aras an Phiarsigh and €1.90 in the Arts Block 3) The people seemed nice.
Conclusions: Seems like a really cool place. Must pop back when the Lightwaves exhibition is actually on. Plus, the website www.sciencegallery.ie isn’t half bad. 20
College Magnified: Honorary Doctorates
Two giants of the scientific world bestrode the Trinity campus just before Christmas, when Sir David Attenborough and Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell were awarded honorary doctorates during Winter commencements. The acclaimed broadcaster received a Doctorate in Letters (Litt. D.) while Irish astrophysicist Burnell was conferred with a Sc. D. Both were required to sing for their supper, of course; Sir David unveiled the shiny new Centre for Biodiversity and Sustainable Development over at the Hamilton end before being shown around the Museum Building (see page 3). Among the marvels on show to the naturalist (although not yet to lowly students) were the remains of a prehistoric reptile known as Attenborosaurus conybeari, named after the man himself back in 1993. The specimen – a plaster cast of an original skeleton destroyed in Britain during WWII – was damaged while being taken out of the Museum Building in 1950; this feat of gross negligence was compounded by the skeleton being left to moulder in a basement until last year, when some thoughtful curator dug it out and began the process of restoration. Dame Burnell, the Belfast-born Visiting Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford, is a noted astronomer who discovered radio pulsars in 1968 while a postgraduate student at Cambridge. Her thesis supervisor subsequently won the Nobel Prize in Physics in recognition of the importance of this work. Having failed the dreaded 11-plus as a schoolgirl, Burnell was sent to a private boarding school in England, where she contracted her love of physics. She may find it difficult to find any space on her wall for her Trinity doctorate; she has won numerous awards in both Britain and the United States, including the Oppenheimer Memorial Prize, the Priestly Award and the Herschel Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, of which she is a former president. Before getting her hands on this latest gong, however, Dame Burnell presided over the opening of the School of Physics’ new toy. The W.H.S. Monck Observatory, a new, shiny and presumably ludicrously expensive teaching post located on the roof of the Fitzgerald Building is named after a Trinity student who became the first person to electrically measure starlight in 1892. It has been in use since October, but why let that spoil a good opening ceremony? Dr Ian Elliott, formerly of the Dunsink Observatory built by Trinity in the 18th century, gave a speech on Monck’s work at the event. Also awarded honorary doctorates at the ceremony on December 18th were Dame Ann Dowling and David P. Farrington, both distinguished scientists at the University of Cambridge, as well as the writer, Terry Pratchett.
owling gton, D arts, in r r a F p om left) counter io of (fr mous literary r t c ifi t : scien more fa ith envy ide their w s n g e n e r lo a G , Curtain Burnell call for b hett. roa and Bell ugh and Pratc ( Photogr o r apher: K dcaster David A o b Atten ate South ttenboro ugh. all)
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Through the Telescope: Scientific reasoning
Trust the theory or debunk the dictums? Luke Maishman questions our belief in scientific reasoning.
T
he pretensions of Science are wide and far reaching: in modern society it has been all but enthroned as the only infallible source of knowledge. Scientists are treated as experts and we believe without thinking in a huge number of scientific proclamations: we are closely related to chimpanzees! Africa and South America used to be joined together! The universe is expanding! Unlikely claims abound, but such is our unwavering faith in Science that we rarely question these “facts”, and those that do are viewed as breaking with the norm and often with distain or contempt. But on what grounds are we basing this enshrinement of Science? Why, of course, the answer is Scientific Reasoning.
“Science can never tell us the absolute truth.” Every scientific fact is arrived at by a watertight process of logical reasoning from observed
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results of experiments and other Premise 1: The first five established facts to a conclusion eggs in the box were rotten. which must therefore be true. Or so we would like to think … Premise 2: All the eggs have the same best-before date stamped on them. Logicians make an important distinction between deductive Conclusion: Therefore, the and inductive reasoning. The sixth egg will be rotten too. following is an example of deductive reasoning: Although this looks pretty sensible, it is not deductive Premise 1: All Englishmen like reasoning. Even given that both Earl Grey Tea. premises are true, the conclusion does not have to be – it is perfectly Premise 2: George is an possible that the sixth egg is the Englishman. one good egg in a bad batch. This is known as inductive reasoning, Conclusion: Therefore, George which moves from premises about likes Earl Grey Tea. objects that have been examined to conclusions about objects Deductive reasoning has the that have not been examined. property that where the premises are true, the conclusion must Inductive reasoning is not nearly also be true. That is, if truly all as logically sound as deductive Englishmen liked Earl Grey reasoning. Indeed it is perfectly Tea then George, being an possible for true premises to Englishman, must like Earl Grey lead us to false conclusions; for Tea. This is a very strong type of example, if a visitor met only reasoning. When used correctly five men on their short stay in it deduces truth from truth in an Ireland, all of whom had entirely logically sound manner. red hair, and returned to But not all reasoning is deductive. America to announce that Consider the following example: all Irishmen have red hair.
Through the Telescope: Scientific reasoning
Scientific Reasoning is by and large inductive. This is because it is impossible to examine every single existing sample before proposing a theory. For example, Newton’s principal of universal gravitation states that every body in the universe exerts a gravitational attraction on every other body. Obviously Newton did not examine every body in the universe; rather, he saw that the principal held true for the planets and the sun and a number of bodies on the Earth’s surface (including the infamous apple) and inferred that it held true for all bodies. This dependence of science on inductive inference underlines an important truth about Science and Scientific Reasoning. As it is not possible to study every sample before proposing a theory, scientific theories are almost always based on inductive reasoning: that is why they are called theories.
Scientists themselves will talk about the importance of large samples and repeated tests, but because they can never test every
of previous well-established theories into their premises that if such an established theory as Newton’s principal of universal gravitation were disproved then a huge number of other “It is perfectly scientific theories, which were possible for true reasoned assuming that Newton’s premises to lead us to theory was true, would also disproved. The foundation false conclusions.” be stone removed, a huge tower of theories, each built on the object that the theory applies last, would crash to the ground. to the reasoning will always be inductive. Hence these theories So, are we to conclude that all can never be proved absolutely. of Science is a lie? Far from it. Scientific Reasoning offers us a However, scientific theories best estimate of the truth of the can be disproved by deductive natural world, which we can use reasoning. For example, if ever until either the theory is disproved a comet or star was found that or a better estimate is developed did not behave according to But it is important to remember Newton’s principal of universal that Science can never tell us the gravitation, the whole theory absolute truth: theories can never would be disproved. Indeed, be proven beyond doubt and will so many scientific theories always remain at best a good incorporate the conclusions estimate of the world around us.
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Through the Telescope: Scientism
When Science becomes Presupposition Michael Wynne takes a look at the divide between Science and Scientism, and how both ignore our humanity.
I
n his 1954 book Nature and the Greeks, Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger confessed that he was amazed by the way “the scientific picture of the real world…gives a lot of factual information, puts all our experience in a magnificently consistent order, but…is ghastly silent about all…that is really near to our heart, that really matters to us.” From this he immediately went on to elaborate on those very things about which he claimed science is so reticent – all of which, as might be expected, boil down to the kind of subjective experience disregarded by the stricter branches of the natural sciences: our sense of the beautiful and ugly, of good and bad, feelings of sorrow and delight. In other words, “the full gamut of phenomena that gives richness to human life,” as evolutionary biologist and controversial scientistic atheist Richard Dawkins has admitted. However, Dawkins refuses to allow the recognized existence of such phenomena (which he believes
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makes no “evolutionary sense”) to lead him to revise, or even modify, his physicalist view that human beings are fundamentally “robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve [our] genes.”
process has been, and is, perceived as completing, to a significant degree, the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin as presented in The Origin of Species (1859), which appeared long before the genetic mechanism had This latter quote comes from begun to be properly grasped Dawkins’s The Selfish Gene or understood – before, indeed, (1976), the central thesis of DNA was even discovered. which is the as-if “ruthlessly” (his Where all three designated men of science – Schrodinger, Dawkins, and Darwin – would more or “subjective less concur, if we can imagine them being equally aware of experiences the history of science has disregarded by the how developed to the present day, stricter branches of is in acknowledging that their field has failed to establish the natural sciences: chosen an ultimate ontological ground upon which it may base itself. our sense of the
beautiful and ugly, of good and bad, feelings of sorrow and delight.”
Where, conversely, Dawkins parts company with these others is in his outright rejection of the view that, upon this latter consideration involving ontology (the study of the nature of existence), there is foolishly unrevised word) self- any need for science to free itself of interested replication of the gene any presuppositional implications, in the natural selection process. and in his confident disparagement Dawkins’ treatment of this of what Einstein (whom
Through the Telescope: Scientism
Dawkins erroneously laws of physics, those very laws considers an atheist) termed a that it is the task of mathematics “transcendental outlook of life”. and scientific experimentation to, as it were, extract and In other words, Dawkins, in uncover from the natural book after book, insists that phenomena which they underlie. there is no reason to think that, given sufficient time and data, scientific exploration w i l l ultimately fail to throw up the answers to all the significant questions regarding the natural world and its laws. His, therefore, is a classically scientistic approach to the eternal enigma of the origin of the universe and its vast, systematic, ordered complexity. T h e In adhering to so problem we are dealing with absolutist a position, h e may be illustrated more starkly thus inevitably leads himself by considering the origin-of-life into the kind of unquestionably hypothesis of abiogenesis – the metaphysical, or philosophical, study of how life arose from domain that is reserved for just inanimate matter (as distinct such fundamental explanations from evolution, the study of how and hypotheses regarding organisms change over time). the world’s being as the kind What abiogeneticists consistently Dawkins assertively offers. refuse to account for, or even attend to, is, as philosopher It is the metaphysical pretensions David Conway puts it, how there of scientism which encourage some occurred “the very first emergence to equate it broadly with religion, of living matter from non-living and it is reasonable enough to matter.” [Writer’s italics.] The take it that such a worldview multi-layered question from carries that precise association - which there really is no escaping, certainly when we reflect on the for scientist and philosopher alike, way in which its adherents, such is how and why mindless matter as the most atheistic scientists (like gave rise to intrinsically purposeDawkins), take on faith the logical driven organisms, organisms necessity of the existence of the with self-replicating capabilities
and the coded chemistry of their DNA. More and more profound scientific knowledge of this both adds to the testament and deepens the mystery of the miraculous-seeming complexity of the arrangements necessary for the production of life. In the meantime, what we have to contend with is the likes of Dawkins’ s o m e t i m e metaphorical, sometime-literal (though it appears he is never quite clear which) presentation of the gene as if it is a conscious, competitive individual – a presentation that answers no serious questions, and which is best disregarded as so much confused and downright silly pseudo-theorizing. What must be taken seriously, rather, is the nature of the laws that support the physical world, living and non-living alike - that overruling, teleological nature that annuls, or, at the very least confounds, the scientistic notion (itself contradictory) that what Schrodinger described as the “magnificently consistent order” which science finds manifested by the universe is ultimately reasonless. For unless and until we do, we are in danger of coming close to accepting that we are, in Dawkins’ phrase, “robot vehicles”, and that all that matters to us (love, altruism, spontaneous generosity) makes no sense, evolutionary or otherwise.
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Through the Telescope: Science and Ideology
Steven Lydon questions the uses and abuses inherent in the ideological and practical nature of Science.
T
his is the age of the second industrial revolution: we are the inhabitants of a truly scientific era. Most of us see the effects science has had on our lives in an overwhelmingly positive light. This is understandable, as it has brought us great material benefits in terms of health and standard of living. However, it has also had some rather more intangible effects. For the majority, scientific fact has replaced religious faith
“Science does not exist unto itself: it is a tool of economic and political power which must be scrutinised in intense detail.”
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becomes ever more specialised, it understandably becomes more difficult to keep track of its developments, and sometimes even to appreciate its workings on the most basic level. It would not be unusual for even the most advanced physics scholar to possess only a rudimentary knowledge of the chemical make-up of his food. Einstein was notoriously bad at finding his way home. Anecdotal evidence such as this is amplified immeasurably for the population at large.
For the majority, science is a mystery, taking place in a laboratory hidden somewhere over the horizon. The gaps in our knowledge are filled in by a vague appeal to a body of knowledge produced elsewhere. Is there really that great a difference as the guiding principle of between believing in a God whose their lives. Scientific progress existence we cannot prove, and a is now the truth of reality, Science of which we are ignorant? and the betterment of society. The Irish student of today is a But there is a practical limit secular breed. With a copy of as to how far science can Richard Dawkins in one hand, explain the world. As science he professes the achievements
of science with a cultivated nonchalance found only in the most highly miseducated. With the other hand, he numbers the errors of religion with a disdain hardly masked by condescension. This cavalier attitude becomes more dangerous when it is accepted on a larger, political scale.
“Knowledge is seen by those in power as little more than a product.” Most people recognise the term Eugenics in connection with the Holocaust. Among the constituent parts of the concept “master race” is social Darwinism, along with a dose of old-fashioned nationalism. Eugenics is dismissed by many as the ideologically misguided attempt at scientific justification for a motive that already exists. It is, but what we fail to recognise is that this kind of pseudo-science is proliferating within our society every single day, albeit on a smaller, more insidious scale.
Through the Telescope: Science and Ideology
For all of its claims to truth, science is abused on a daily basis by the advertising industry. Most people are familiar with Danone’s “Actimel”, one of the first “health yoghurts” on the market. It possessed an added special ingredient: “Lactobacillus casei” which had some health promoting qualities. This was subsequently shown up as being rather unsatisfactorily verified, and it can no longer be advertised as such thanks to restrictions from the European Court in 2007.
side with the huge level of most funding comes from dissent he faces from traditional private interest groups who members of college staff. But want to see monetary results. John Hegarty’s preference for the scientific subjects does not “John Hegarty... stem merely from his personal preference. He simply knows knows where the where the money is, and is money is.” tapping the vein at all costs. Science is well funded today In
As religion is never free from political and economic factors, so too must we recognise that Science does not exist unto itself. There has never been a situation in history where science has been allowed to carry out research strictly on its own terms. The University as we know it today no longer functions as a place of pure learning. Knowledge is seen by those in power as little more than a product: the role of the university is to produce Science: where the money is. a middle class workforce, who possess certain marketable skills. because it produces profit. Money is pumped into areas where a The Provost knows this, and return is guaranteed. Most science has thus implemented the most graduates will go on to work in radical changes in the structure of corporate labs. Most “academic” the institution ever undertaken. research is directed by the flow A recent article in The Irish Times of cash. Of course this is the case noted his achievements side by in all disciplines, but in science
our
society, scientific progress is often indistinguishable from economic progress i.e. industrial expansion, greater product yield, and more competitive labour markets. One system often works to justify the other. When our standard of life improves, we see it as caused by scientific advancement, not by the workings of the economic system, which is the real basis of our comfort. Western society is sustained not by scientific achievement, but by global economic inequality.
We look to science to solve problems that science itself has caused, like environmental catastrophes, the atomic bomb, the overfertilisation of crops. In the face of this abuse of science, we have never once thought to reconsider our attitude of naive faith in scientific research in its pure form: a form that does not exist.
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Through the Telescope: Science and Ideology The rhetoric of progress ensures that the mistakes of science in the past are relegated into “false knowledge”, which has subsequently been improved upon. This can no longer be tolerated. We need to question our
as democratic: to be against science is to be either a religious zealot, or a Stalinist. This attitude is perpetuated by those such as Richard Dawkins, who denounce the beliefs of others on the basis of a scientific worldview which itself lingers on the borders of fascism.
terms. The progress of science is not always the progress of society. Science does not exist unto itself: it is a tool of economic and political power, which must be scrutinised, in intense detail. It is money and power, not individu als, that create scientific truth. In this sense we cannot afford “To be against science simply to place our faith in is to be either a If science really constitutes a scientific progress as such. religious zealot, or a democratic openness to reality, or takes a stance of humble Science degrees currently lack Stalinist.” provisionality with regard any significant courses on the dogmatic and unwavering faith to the truth of experience, olitical and economic basis of in scientific progress and look then those such as Dawkins science in society, and their to root causes of the problems of should be roundly condemned methods are overly practical. society - problems that have roots for perpetuating spirals of The pragmatic attitude towards in economics, in politics, and in unnecessary disdain and hatred, education we are facing today fundamental global inequalities. and furthermore for obscuring results not in educated citizens, the real problems of society. but in useful idiots. We need to re-evaluate the corruption of our Nowadays, any mention of dissent disciplines by the marketplace, with regard to technological advancement is seen as heretical We need to learn to think of and condemn those who are by those who counts themselves science in slightly more ambiguous complicit in this process.
answers! e h t y t i v i t a e Te s t y o u r C r
1. Well, I got thirty-seven. But I guess the answer is infinity really. 2. Most people see the 16 individual squares first. Then the big outside one (4x4 square). Then nine more squares (2x2 squares). Finally four more squares (3x3 squares). For a total of thirty squares. 3. Remember exponentials? Yeah, we went there. The answer is: 26 - 63 = 1
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T.C.D. Miscellany Many Back Cover
minds. Different details.
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EUSSI ECNEICS EHT
“The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he’s one who asks the right questions.” ~ Claude Lévi-Strauss
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