At first glance, science is impressive. It presents a spectacular image of the galaxy. He claims to have photographed black holes, claims to know the origin of mass, and claims to have evidence that gravity is a wave. And with magic potions and wonderful medical procedures, it is now very difficult for the sick to die. They just add “quantum” to something and admit it has to be important. I can say anything about my heart as if I knew what I was talking about.

Despite all this brilliance, science has been disappointing. It is disappointing in its contribution to our quality of life, in the nature of physical reality, and in our understanding of consciousness.

This is not an easy discussion. When I say that science “disappoints”, what is it related to? Science is doing better than many other professions. journalism and literary fiction. both are deteriorating. They lost their fame and relevance. Middlebrow fiction has survived thanks to streaming, which is a technological evolution, not an artistic one. Sure, science in 2022 isn’t as exciting as he predicted science fiction, but science shouldn’t be held accountable for the writer’s fantasies. Either way, lighthearted science fantasy was more prophetic than political dystopian fiction like The Handmaid’s Tale or the works of George Orwell. Intellectuals mistake it for political analysis.

So what is science disappointing compared to? Science is disappointing compared to its own reputation.

Consider knee replacement surgery. The knee is a simple joint. As the bones wear down, like in the elderly, some parts are replaced with plastic or metal. Hospitals give the impression that people who have this surgery have gained a new knee. It is not the case that the elderly can start jogging immediately after “repositioning” their knees. Even healing a simple joint like the knee, the medical field is far from mimicking the natural strength of humans.

Modern medicine does not rejuvenate. It doesn’t extend life. It prolongs death. Science may appear to be helping people live longer. But in reality, people just die later. Most older people experience a diminished quality of life for decades before they are finally allowed to leave their homes. I don’t know about you, but this is not enough. Current science says he only has 30 years of running left on my knees. After that, I am expected to accept the poor quality of life of an old man and a generally meaningless existence. However, the science is very poor about actual rejuvenation and I am very concerned.

Also, science cannot answer many simple questions definitively. For example, is it good or bad to fast while undergoing viral injections? Science doesn’t know the answers to almost every reasonable question about fitness. , which requires traveling through camps and cartels, all of which claim different conclusions based on the “scientific process”.

Also, ever since the Copenhagen Interpretation formalized the ideas of quantum mechanics, our understanding of the nature of reality has been distorted by the billions of dollars invested in the Large Hadron Collider and the discovery of many particles. Despite this, not much has changed in the last 100 years. Many of the strangest things that science has told us are based more on speculation than people imagine. Our understanding of space, dimensions and time has not changed much over the decades. General science has a hint about this.

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is the same cute sexy science mentioned in Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, published in 1980, and Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, published in 1988. is talking about In the last 50 years I have not suggested it at all. But I would say the progress is rather modest. For example, the James Webb Telescope, which launched last year, captures a sharper image of the galaxy than Hubble, which launched in 1990. It’s not a machine that brings. Civilian air travel hasn’t gotten any faster in the last 60 years either. In fact, given the demise of the Concorde, air travel has slowed down for the rich.

It can be argued that Concorde’s failure suggests that we are not making scientific progress. That is, these breakthroughs have not yet made commercial sense. Also, there are products in the modern technology industry that cannot be brought to market for ethical reasons, such as genetic engineering. However, few innovative technologies have been put on hold for commercial or ethical reasons. In general, we don’t have some things because we don’t know how to make them.

Manu Joseph is a journalist, novelist and creator of the Netflix series ‘Decoupled’.

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