Pinning on new flanges:a proposed experiment -- now OTOTOTOT

[Sarah Fox]

Hi Ric,

Yes, we are absolutely still friends!!  ;-)  But I will still be direct with
my words...

Don't be so hard on scientists and the sciences!  We've made a lot more
technological advancement than you piano folks over the past few centuries.
Don't even START to deny that!  ;-)  Sure, we've taken a few falls in our
ongoing marathon, but at least we're not toodling around the track with
walkers.  We've taken a couple dozen laps for every one y'all have knocked
out.

It is a misconception with many that we scientists know much more than we do
(Hollywood style) and that we know little or nothing (popular media style).
The truth lies somewhere inbetween, and to understand this, unfortunately,
it is necessary to immerse yourself somewhat in the sciences.  These
misconceptions will persist as long as they can be exploited by the media
for their entertainment value.

The best analogy I can draw for you, to explain what we do and don't know,
is to ask you if you know how your computer works.  I mean, do you REALLY,
REALLY know how a computer works?  Do you understand every aspect of
electron flow through semiconductor media, the organization of integrated
circuits, the incorporation of those circuits into larger circuits, the
hiearchy of control over those circuits, blah, blah, blah, right on up to
the graphic user interface?  I think I'm safe in saying that nobody on this
planet knows *all* of this stuff.  Indeed, the reason our more complicated
operating systems don't work is that no single person has an adequate
breadth of understanding of the OS environment to understand it from bottom
to top.  (Forget the hardware!)  So am I safe in saying that you know
nothing about computers and that indeed nobody else does?  Is it safe to say
that computers are a mystery -- that we turn them on, and they work somehow?
End of story?

Neurobiologists understand bits and pieces and even large chunks of the
nervous system and are understanding more and more everyday.  There are
certain things that we know very well.  There are other things that we have
very good clues about.  Still other matters are somewhat mysterious.  And
sometimes we are wrong about what we think we know, but over time, we learn
better and move forward.  We don't claim to be right about everything.
Indeed, we know we are wrong about a lot of things.  The trick is figuring
out where we're wrong.  But the search continues, daily, for where we have
screwed up...  because we constantly strive to get it right -- and we do.
So you can sit in your armchair and chortle everytime we discover where
we've been wrong.  It's easy to laugh at others.  Meanwhile, the scientists
celebrate another advancement, the product of a lot of hard, honest work,
having corrected for a misdirection and having paved the way to move forward
more fruitfully.

Now to fully appreciate what I've just said, think about the Wright brothers
and Langley and Lilienthal -- the brilliant scientists who figured out how
to fly -- the folks who the smug townsfolk would laugh at for their follies.
After you've thought about this, please reread the previous paragraph to put
it into proper context.  (Go ahead!  There's time.)

To expand this metaphor, we are still, to this day, figuring out how to fly,
and we have a lot of crash landings behind us.  Each crash teaches us
something, and we move forward.  Within my lifetime, we'll have cures for
Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, MS, schizophrenia, spinal cord injury, brain
injury, etc.  A large number of folks will then marvel at the "miracle" of
modern science, which is nothing more than a lot of hard, thankless grunt
work, done in the face of public ridicule.  Lives are dedicated to this
pursuit, and some lives are even lost.  But will they pause to thank the
pioneers of these technologies?  No, they'll be too busy laughing at the
next generation of scientists.

Just food for thought...

Peace,
Sarah