So, it's break time in Astronomy, and this is the first thought I have...
This is all pretty worthless. Don't get me wrong. All this is interesting sure, I'm enjoying the class. Last night I was stargazing and listening to classical music, and I can say that it was a good time. My gripe with this is that there is no real benefit for it. My professor and book have both admitted that you study astronomy simply for it's own sake. Engineering, physics, biology, chemistry, they all provide some kind of benefit to human kind, but astronomy? Not so much.
Did you know NASA is going to be shut down? The government is putting less money into space exploration. What do astronomers have to aspire to now? Sitting in their living room with a telescope? Doesn't sound so hot. I think that if we ever do get serious about using space for our benefit, then astronomy will be worthwhile. I would volunteer to be on of the first people to join a Mars colony if I could. I'd trust that our astronomers knew how to keep life sustained there.
I want to study something that will benefit me. Astronomy and the science behind it aren't really key to my life. If I want to writer about the stars, I'll look at their Greek history, rather than what their magnitude and distance are. And honestly, I don't care about light waves and radiation. I'm a fiction writer, if I can't explain something in a book, I chalk it up to magic and move on. George Lucas did the same thing with Star Wars and the Force, so why can't I?
Just something to chew on.
Use the force.
ReplyDeleteI think you underestimate the amount of science in science fiction. And in fact in some other works of fiction as well. Even the totally made up "science" like faster than light travel has to have some kernels of real science in them. Frankly the use of magic can be too easily used as a tool for lazy writers and in the long run be bad for the story.
ReplyDeleteThe night sky summary: science that is worthless. Content that is meaningful. True enough. I would argue about the total worth of the other sciences. After all, there were generations upon generations before them. That, of itself, indicates something fruitful and sustaining about the way of life we don't have contact with anymore, because of the sciences.
ReplyDelete