How Should We Address Science’s Selective Memory?

At Slate , Ben Lillie muse onthe ongoing battlebetween those who would construct a colossal , $ 1.5 - billion telescope atop Hawaii ’s Mauna Kea and the native Hawaiians who regard the sleeping volcano as a hallowed place . The conflict , says Lillie , is emblematic of a large , and largely unspoken , truth about scientific discipline : that many of its milestone hinge on barbarity and abuse committed in the name of find .

scientist , Lillie observes , are quick to acknowledge and lionize scientific advances that have saved lives , or redefine our understanding of the universe of discourse — but they are less inclined to claim responsibility for the dark part of science ’s history . Science ’s selective retentiveness , say Lillie , is a problem worth address ; and he has some ideas on where to get down :

Perhaps I am naive , but I think we are adequate to of dandy feats of feeling as well as engineering , and I want us to attempt them . I want us to be as great in our generosity as we are in our ambition . I think I know how to plant the seeds from which new giant dreams might originate .

Dji Drone

We have created ritual of celebration and analysis and communicating , and we are very safe at them . What we , as scientists , have n’t done is to create the ritual of darkness . We have no rituals of reflection , of repentance , of satisfaction .

So here is my persuasion . What if we took a few days each yr to chew over on the dark parts of our history , on the terrible thing that were done , and are still done , that benefit our skill ? What if we direct this time to read and talk with the people who cognize of these thing ? ( They are many . ) What if we took this time to require what damage we have done , what we can do to even up it , and what we can do to verify it never happens again ? We constantly mull on and attempt to belittle the errors in our data ; we should do the same in ourselves .

Read Lillie ’s full essay at Slate .

Ms 0527 Jessica Jones Daredevil Born Again