What is Science to me?
From a practical point of view, Science enables me to do, anything that I want to do in my life - better. It is a methodology for seeking truth, one that has time and again demsonstrated its power by enabling human civiliazation to progress.Personal Journey
I have had an interest in Science from as early as I can remember. A book that fascinated me from that time was one called "A 1001 Question and Answers", which had a lot of illustrations and scientific questions. It had all sorts of things like space travel and dinosaurs etc. Another thing that I remember is that I used to love arguing with my brothers about what was morally right or wrong and on whose side was justice, when we would have fights.
In school, I remember that Physics was one of my favourite subjects. An event that had a considerable impact on me was attending the INSPIRE Summer Camp in my 9th standard in the University of Kerala campus. Apart from meeting the eminent scientist Dr. Thanu Padmanabhan, I got to meet this interesting fellow who claimed to be an atheist, his name was Bharath Chand. At the time, being a Christian, I tried to defend my faith and also attack his non-belief. After having left from there, I badly wanted to understand more so that I could claim that Evolution was not a scientific theory. After deciding to take Physics as undergraduate degree, I never looked back.
Another milestone event which I remember, was meeting with this guy called Toms who was a student in CUSAT when I was staying nearby in the same hostel. I came to know more about this person called C. Ravichandran, a rationalist thinker from Kerala. I started by hearing his talks on scientific issues like vaccination, alternative medicine, organic farming and the like. From Ravichandran, I learnt about western thinkers like Chrisopher Hitchens and Sam Harris. I also heard more about Richard Dawkins through him.
Questions that Science Can Answer
- Is there a God? Is it Jehova?
- Is Evolution a scientific theory?
- Is there free will? Do humans have free will in all their actions?
- Where does morality come from?
- What kind of economic system is better Captialim or Socialism or Communism?
- Does modern medicine work for all kinds of problems and if not, what is the role of complimentary ones like Ayurveda and Homeopathy?
- Is organic farming what we should all practice?
- How should we manage our personal wealth?
- What are things we should be aware regarding nutrition?
- What are mental illnesses? Is Psychiatry actually a scientific branch?
- What is homosexuality and why does it exist? What is difference between gender and sex?
- What are logical fallacies?
- Is reservation good or bad for the society?
- Why do we have so many terrorist activities that stem from religion?
- What is the best way to give back to the Society?
- Do we know if the Earth if flat or not?
- What is poison?
- What is Cancer?
- How can we be more productive in our life?
Challenges for Science
- How do we define cause and effect?
- What are paradigm shifts in Science?
- Why are social sciences termed soft sciences?
- How do we interpret Quantum Mechanics?