Analysis :: Science Writing Papers

Analysis "We scientists can no longer leave the problem to others. Indeed, it has been ours to solve, and all of society is now paying for our neglect." "Resistance to science is born of fear. Fear, in turn, is bred by ignorance. And it is ignorance that is our deepest malady." These were some of the strong statements made in Michael J. Bishop's "Enemies of Promise, " that lead me to think and analyze his piece of work. Michael Bishop, a professor of microbiology at University of California, San Francisco, begins his article by stating that even though science has solved many of the problems people have or had, there are still many who do not believe in science. In addition, there are people who study science and think that science is just "politics by other means." Thus, declaring that science and its "truths" are just "socially constructed fictions." Bishop believes that science offers more to us than we think and that it is "the best way to learn how the world works." Garcia 2 Bishop is alarmed about postmodernists, who believe science is just another "politics by other means." He thinks they are being ignorant and feels uneasy that postmodernists are being joined by other voices that are against science. Various scientists are also becoming critical of science and they believe that science is not diminishing the societies problems. Others have complained that science is "no longer contributing to health improvement." Some people are not happy with what science has accomplished. "The source of these dissatisfactions appears to be an exaggerated view of what science can do," claims Bishop. What seems to be the case is that, scientists have declared the problems of the society and have told the society what to do about some of the issues, but it is the society that is not tackling the problems. The other dilemma that faces the science is that, sometimes scientists have no control over their research and they have to let research take it's own course and time. Much of the health problems that have not been solved are being blamed on research systems like NIH (National Institutes of Health) that supposedly "demands compromise, rewards mediocrity and actually punishes initiative and originality." Bishop believes that NIH, a research system he has been in support of, is being put down and what is said about NIH, he believes it to be wrong.