– Innovation and progress is hindered by scientific regulation –
Another interesting statement proposed in the lecture this week, I am going to try and unpack this as best as I can.
I think that it is more like Innovation and progress is hindered by regulation. Because in reality, scientists are always trying to push the boundaries of what can be achieved, however, there are many factors that can contribute to the limitations that may be experienced during innovation and progress. One of the most notable set backs in scientific progress, as well as the push for human innovation, is religion. I have no intention of trying to be rude or negative towards religion, instead, I use it as an example, in order to unpack this topic further. Throughout history, there has been a large conflict between science and religion. When religion and science overlap on certain topics, such as human evolution, tension is caused, often resulting in science being condemned due to religions vast power. I must note, that I am talking about very early examples of when religion played a much larger role in society than it does today, although religion still plays a great role in the lives of many people, today there is a much better acceptance of different beliefs that science and religion share. However, in the 17th century, science was rarely accepted when it challenged the beliefs of religion, namely Catholic. For example, in the 1600’s, Galileo Galilei famously challenged the Roman Catholic church over the movements of the solar system. Originally the catholic church interpreted the Bible as teaching the geocentric system in which the Earth is at the centre of the universe. The Sun, Moon, other planets and stars revolve around the Earth. However, Galileo Galilei questioned this, saying that our world actually operated in a heliocentric system in which the Sun is the centre of the solar system. Despite the church punishing Galileo for this discovery, it wasn’t until 350 years later when John Paul II addressed the conflict between Galileo and the church without admitting the church was wrong. This is just one small event in the large amount of controversy that has sparked between the church and science, however, it is important to recognise that it is not necessarily science that regulates innovation, I believe that majority of time, even today, scientists are very restricted to innovate due to externally bodies. Other notably feuds between the Church and Science:
- Creation and evolution
- Beliefs concerning the LGBT community
In the current day of science, there are many aspects that hold progress back. I think that there are three main and perhaps only reasons that hold the development of our species back that does not necessarily have anything to do with scientific regulation.
- Governments
- Corporate Companies
- Society’s morals and beliefs
These are three aspects that contribute to the restraints of innovation and progress. All the points relate to each other and contribute to the overall restriction of human development. First governments will always try to maintain ‘power’ over it’s people. If things begin to progress to0 fast, how is the government going to control the society in a stable manner, as a consequence the government would restrict the release of information or new technology that science has found, believing that people are simply not ready for what is going to come or concerned that it could cause major issues to the stability of the government. The more likely reason that ties in with governments is Corporate Companies, whose main objective is the pursuit of money. Capitalist views often restrict new ideas to come to the forefront of society. If a new discovery is made, often it has no chance of reaching the public eye without the help of major funds. Although social media, plays a role in enabling ideas to be spread easier, often, without sufficient funds, it is difficult to turn these ideas into a reality. Therefore companies, will attempt to buy out ideas, once these ideas are taken from an individual they will be manipulated so that only small bits are released to the public every so often, allowing profit to rise. It’s all about greed! The final reason, is the morals and beliefs of society. One of the hardest things to change is the beliefs and culture of an individual or community. It may take years for an idea to be successfully integrated into the community. Each new technology is met with caution, sometimes with more caution then others, stagnating progression and preventing growth in society. Sometimes people are simply not ready to accept change, change can be very hard to deal with, especially when you have fallen into a routine and that routine is disrupted by some major innovation.
Overall, I think the point I am trying to get at, is that there are many factors that prevent society from progressing and innovating. I believe that scientists want to continue to push ideas further in order unpack and understand our complex world. I doubt that scientific regulation is the main reason for humanities stunted progress in both technology and understanding the world in general. I expect that it is likely that many other factors, such as the ones I have listed above come into greater play when regulating both science and innovation.
