A passionate scientist is one who works with diligence and puts everything they have¬¬¬ into the work they are doing. A passionate scientist may not be the smartest, but they manage to intertwine emotional intensity and logic in an intricate way to work towards a goal that will make the world a better place. In Forty Signs of Rain, Frank Vanderwal adopts all these characteristics through a personal paradigm shift, one that parallels the paradigm shift he claims is a necessity for science if it was to continue to work for the good of humanity.
Initially, Frank felt he had the perfect combination of characteristics to be the perfect scientist: “dispassionate; sensible; calm; reasonable” (271). In other words, he was being all those things in
order to be the best scientist he could be. If being a cold, heartless machine was what it took to be a great scientist, then that was what Frank would do. He felt strongly that mixing emotions with work was a slippery slope that would introduce bias and errors. This is a reason he felt so uncomfortable around Anna. Not only was she a top-notch statistician, but she did her work with such intensity and fervor that it reminded him of a part of himself that he would rather not think of. He was afraid that feeling so deeply was dangerous. It can cloud the brain and prevent one from making well-informed decisions just because they felt a certain way. Passion, like many things, when consumed or experienced in excess, can be very dangerous. Moderation is key. Frank seemed to take this to mean that he should not show any feeling at all, leading to his “excess of reason” (268).
Frederic is very much alienated from the science of his day. He finds it obscure and frightening, involved in inhuman and ritualistic experiments, and motivated by goals that are fully detached from the needs of ordinary people. His dread and loathing of the coldness and ruthlessness of the aloof scientist come from the Gothic horror of writers like Edgar Allen Poe and Mary Shelley.
Crouch mentions various aspects that accompany the vast majority of all scientists. They are in wonder, delighted, humble, frustrated, collaborative, competitive, risk-takers, and isolated. The job of a scientist is unlike any other profession. They are competitive yet still work collaboratively with other scientists. They are fascinated and in awe of what science reveals to them, yet they get frustrated
The relationship you have with others often has a direct effect on the basis of your very own personal identity. In the essay "On The Rainy River," the author Tim O'Brien tells about his experiences and how his relationship with a single person had effected his life so dramatically. It is hard for anyone to rely fully on their own personal experiences when there are so many other people out there with different experiences of their own. Sometimes it take the experiences and knowledge of others to help you learn and build from them to help form your own personal identity. In the essay, O'Brien speaks about his experiences with a man by the name of Elroy Berdahl, the owner of the fishing lodge that O'Brien stays at while on how journey to find himself. The experiences O'Brien has while there helps him to open his mind and realize what his true personal identity was. It gives you a sense than our own personal identities are built on the relationships we have with others. There are many influence out there such as our family and friends. Sometimes even groups of people such as others of our nationality and religion have a space in building our personal identities.
Deadly and helpful, science is a dual-edged sword. Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the first to emphasize this through his literary works. “Rappaccini's Daughter” and “The Birthmark” are two of his works where he teaches this lesson through the trials of his characters. Focusing on the motif of the “mad scientist”, Hawthorne brings to light the points that people struggle with humanity, learning to love themselves and others, and that science can be more harmful then helpful.
Both in fiction and in real life a certain breed of scientists has decided to ignore the scientific method and chase dreams of fame. With that fame, they hope to dig deep into our pockets and reap the benefits of their poor workmanship. It is most evident from the examples given that these scientists, who have seemingly reversed scientific evolution, no longer care for true science and the scientific method, but rather are interested in personal glory.
Dr. Michael Shermer is a Professor, Founder of skeptic magazine, and a distinguished and brilliant American science writer to say the least. In His book The Moral Arc: How Science Makes Us Better People he sets out to embark on the daunting task of convincing and informing the reader on sciences’ ability to drives the expansion of humanity and the growth of the moral sphere. Although such a broad and general topic could be hard to explain, Shermer does so in a way that is concise, easy to understand, and refreshing for the reader. This novel is riddled with scientific facts, data, and pictures to back up shermers claims about the history of science, humanity and how the two interact with one another.
Along with prompting mass hysteria amongst people, the flu epidemic of 1918 also revealed the arduous aspects of scientific research. In order to efficaciously perform their jobs, scientists are required to possess specific attributes. In a passage from The Great Influenza, John M. Barry uses vivid imagery, figurative language and exemplification to depict the challenges and uncertainty a scientist must overcome, along with the traits they must bear in order to succeed in forming a “path” for future growth.
“All over the world there are enormous numbers of smart, even gifted, people who harbor a passion for science. But that passion is unrequited. Surveys suggest that some 95 percent of Americans are “scientifically illiterate.”
Love has the power to do anything. Love can heal and love can hurt. Love is something that is indescribable and difficult to understand. Love is a feeling that cannot be accurately expressed by a word. In the poem “The Rain” by Robert Creeley, the experience of love is painted and explored through a metaphor. The speaker in the poem compares love to rain and he explains how he wants love to be like rain. Love is a beautiful concept and through the abstract comparison to rain a person is assisted in developing a concrete understanding of what love is. True beauty is illuminated by true love and vice versa. In other words, the beauty of love and all that it entails is something true.
Kirsch, Adam. “What’s Romantic about Science?” Slate. Slate, 20 July 2009. Web. 21 Jan. 2014
So far I’ve proven two way in which science helps the main character’s reflections, and one way it does not….ergo….love and science share a fluidity, a seeking for precision, but at times lack thereof (the higgs boson is said to exist only because of the observed
Scientists, the most devout followers of humanity's modern religion, believe that they are saving the world with their knowledge, when in fact they are merely speeding up the time for Earth's demise. Dr. Breed explains that science's primary mantra is to find "new knowledge" so that "we have more truth to work with" (36). This truth that scientists seek is the purpose of life,
It was 1960 in Sudan, Africa and Alice Mead is an author that decided to write a book about a civil war in Sudan called Year of No Rain. She wrote this book to teach this lesson: The world is not always what it seems. She wanted everyone to hear the magnificent story of three brave boys that suffered during the cold war. Death,starvation,and suffering where all of the experiences happening during the war.
You might think of rain as nothing other than rain. Rain is much more important than little raindrops falling out of the sky. In some countries that only get a few inches of rain a year, rain is worshiped like a god. I know from experience that people aren’t big fans of the rain, but for me the rain is very important. Also, the rain is something that you should enjoy and be thankful for, and it is definitely something that you shouldn’t hate. If you’re in a place like California where it doesn’t rain a lot, I instantly feel this small surge of joy or happiness. And when it does rain I feel that we should be thankful for it. I also feel like the rain is sort of the beginning or the start of a lot of things. If there was just this one little farm that supplied a small city of people with meat and vegetables, the farm would probably rely on a tank filled with rain water used to provide the crops with water to grow. If this wasn’t possible, then there wouldn’t be any water for crops, and there wouldn’t be any crops to feed the small city and then there wouldn’t be a lot of healthy people because people would need to rely on processed foods.
Each of us lives with a modern paradox; how can we continue to enjoy the benefits of science and avoid the threat of its misuse or abuse to endanger life and nature? Responses to this paradox have been many, but seldom anything but emotional and impotent in making any useful changes. Among the strongest feelings brought forth by our increasing awareness of the negative side effects of technology has been the feeling of alienation that we in society have little or no control over the impacts of science and technology on those of us who are supposed to be their beneficiaries. We owe much to science. In fact, modern life would be unthinkable without it.