Science and Society

Science and Society Is life fact or fiction? One could look at science and society in the same manner. Meaning that there is an ideal subject, one subject could be the truth and one could be deception. Science, in my opinion, is the truth. For example, science is based on facts and numbers and figures, these never deter from the truth if correctly applied in their own fields of study. The term for society states that it is a group of people who shape their lives in aggregated and patterned ways that distinguish their group from other groups.Society can take a number of shapes and forms and it is never the same in any place in the world, politics and economy differ yet society is unified as a whole in the larger spectrum. Lewis Thomas (â€Å"Alchemy†), George Orwell (â€Å"What Is Science? †), Carl Sagan (â€Å"Why We Need to Understand Science†), and Lawrence Krauss (â€Å"School Boards Want to ‘Teach to the Controversy. ’ What Controversy? † have different points of views in each of their understandings of science and society, yet one thing that sticks out in their essays as a related is that society in some way, shape, or form should be informed and open to more knowledge of the sciences.Carl Sagan’s’ (â€Å"Why We Need to Understand Science†) was one of my favorite pieces due to the fact that he did in his own opinions and views yet what stuck out in my mind is that he added data and facts into his piece. I believe his piece best describes science as his primary term because he is trying to get people to understand the importance of why society should look at science this way and why. People like numbers because they are either comforting or they make people realize something that was never really thought of before because it wasn’t as solid or tangible in their minds.He wrote his delved more into the root of the problem with society and science on both aspects. He also concluded with a sug gestion to the solution of the problem of our society’s lack of knowledge in science. Sagan preaches his point and is very to the point in all aspects of his writing although it wasn’t as logical as the other essays I think the emotion he put into his piece was what won me over because of the passion of wanted to get his point across to the readers is usually the same difference of what gets people interested in the knowledge of science.Lewis Thomas (â€Å"Alchemy†), primarily states in his essay that of the work of alchemists. He indicates that their seemingly todays silly work of trying to turn metal into gold or their secret society of alchemist did not go wasted. They actually set a lot of today’s sciences up for advancement and great lengths of achievement. Thomas made a clear and concise history of the Alchemists such as the origins being traced back to the ancient time of the Arabic, Latin, and Greek.He added the meaning of the work that Alchemists were trying to achieve such as there only being one particle in the universe that was the true meaning of existence in all shapes or forms. He also argued to downfalls of the Alchemist such as the time they spent on dead ends in their pursuit of science, all the writing and work they proposed that was written in secretive language, the bans of their work due to it being related to black magic.Yet, in many positive aspects the Alchemists did pave the way for other sciences to be studied successfully, such as physics or chemistry. This got people interested and helped to spur conversation, debate, and helped bring questions to one another to spur thought. On a very low level this work did get science in society started yet it was only amongst the scientist community. None of the work can be understood by people of normal or medial knowledge.Yet again on could argue that among certain interested parties for instance student, the subject of alchemy could be seen as an interesting subje ct, therefore the student would want to read about alchemist and then possibly see what the fuss is about and want to take a look at what works interested alchemist and would try to learn to study aspects of their work such as physics and chemistry in a broad sense. Thomas does make certain valid points yet the downfall is that this type of science would not be relatable to the masses it is above their heads.This type of science in society can almost always be only attainable to those in the field of science and only reel in a few of outsiders in society. George Orwell (â€Å"What Is Science? †), writes and essay of very profound aspects of science. For instance his piece he defines what science is and also argues the differences between sciences in my opinion for his readers to get both sides of what he is trying to describe so one can form an opinion of their own.This is the point he is trying to get across to his readers, to be able for one to form his own opinion about sc ience. Therefore they are learning and gain knowledge of the subject of science in some way shape or form. I agree with many facts of Orwell’s piece, for instance he states that anyone educated can describe to you what science may mean to them whether it’s a specific or broad term. Does the knowledge of science make one smarter than the next, not necessarily?Vice versa in the sense that someone who was less knowledgeable on science then became knowledgeable could have less intelligence about the subject than â€Å"an illiterate peasant†, or that this knowledge may do more harm than good. After this seemingly contradictory argument he contradicts himself more by stating that society should be educated in science to be able to grasp the concept of being able to possess a â€Å"rational, skeptical, experimental habit of mind. This to me means that one should have a firm grasp on the knowledge of science and be able to carry a conversation of facts data and look at science in broad and insightful aspects. I don’t think this work is as strong as Carl Sagan’s work because he is trying to please the masses and preach about two things at the same time which I feel is untruthful because he is trying to reel in a larger crowd so to speak, which I lost interest in. Lawrence Krauss (â€Å"School Boards Want to ‘Teach to the Controversy. What Controversy? †) describes how schools across the board should teach other methods of science in order for one to search for their own truth or the whole truth of their meaning of science. He relates his main subject on religion vs. science and how the church and science is constantly arguing about the fact of who is right and who is wrong about evolution, in depth the Big Bang theory or that every human is genetically related from the first organism.As interesting as Krauss’s point about science were I found his points to more centered only around the church and sciences point of view in the matter, I only dismissed it because it didn’t relate to the masses and it was a very limited piece to give readers much knowledge beyond what was stated and I could not personally gather anything out of it for my own purposes other than the ending quote which if he wrote around this subject I probably would have chosen it, To search thoroughly for the truth involves a searching of souls as well as of spectra. Then again souls are not an indefinite thing, science because it is based on facts and numbers, so in theory this does not make sense and is weaker than Carl Sagan’s piece in general because it does not really evoke thought to the reader. I think the most relatable thing between all the pieces was that amongst specific likeminded people there will always be debate and conclusions will be drawn based on their facts and that these certain societies can communicate efficiently with each other. On a larger scale society as a whole should learn more about science in order to attain basic understanding of knowledge of science.Personally I think that basic understanding of the knowledge of science is attainable and should be learned amongst society because education in America is lacking while others are racing ahead in almost every aspect of education, reading, writing, math, and science. Education should be important to everyone for the simple fact that science has gotten our society to the point it is today. Some aspects may be good and some bad for instance the good may include being able to function in an advanced society with buildings and cars, advancements in medicine allowing humans to live longer and healthier.Yet again with our advancement we also have made negative aspects for ourselves such as being able to genetically mass produce beef that goes into fast food restaurants all over the country that has made 70% of Americans obese, or the fact that because of our advancement in medicine which allow most humans to live longe r or cure them from most ailments, natural selection has come to a stop and has allowed the weaker of humans to spawn and created other like humans.I envision that I would prefer to live in a world with science rather than a primitive society, my answer is pure and simple there is nothing profound about it, this world with science is what I am used to and I wouldn’t want to change this.Perhaps in a positive light I would want to change science to further advancement science as we know it, for example finding a cure for cancer, or better yet finding out what in the brain or body creates mental illness or to add or subtract DNA from fetuses in order to create a â€Å"perfect† human one free from disease. I believe my ideas towards science would actually better society because it would benefits them in ways that would make them possibly more interest in science due to the controversy and debates it may cause.

Candidate Conundrum Summary Essay

The company personnel Robert (Manager) and Paul (Project leader) are interviewing two potential candidates Sonya and Jacqueline for a new position at the company. After interviewing both candidates Paul feels Sonya is the one they should hire while Robert believes they should hire Jacqueline. Paul’s reasoning is that he feels he’d work better with Sonya both being Caucasian while Robert thinks Paul may have personal feelings for his choice. Robert believes having Jacqueline hired will provide more diversity to the company, but Paul feels he is hiring her solely because of her race since it is stated that both candidates have the same qualifications. The issue is that both have valid reasons for wanting his choice for the job position. What did/didn’t the manager do well: Robert handled the situation relatively well. He listened to Paul’s reasoning for his choice, but was quite set with his decision to choose Jacqueline already. Due to his opinion he didn’t appear to consider Paul’s point of view. Robert shouldn’t have made up his mind on his decision prior to meeting with Paul at the end. This prevented him from having an open mind about Paul’s choice. What would you have done differently: If we were in Robert’s situation we would have tried to keep our minds open to consider Sonya as an option and take Paul’s reasoning into consideration. We probably would have still picked Jacqueline as well because we thought Robert’s reasons were completely valid. In the end Robert had a good case to not hire Sonya and choose Jacqueline for the position.

Theme Analysis ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ by Oscar Wilde

‘Nineteenth Century Short Stories' is a collection of tales from the nineteen hundreds. This essay will concentrate on just one of these stories. It will include a thorough analysis of the story including my views and opinions towards the language, imagery and setting that the author uses. The story I have chosen to analyse is ‘The Nightingale and the Rose', by Oscar Wilde. This is one of many children's stories that he wrote, as he is well known to have ‘used the form of fairy tale to reflect on modern life and to debate ideas'. ‘The Nightingale and the Rose' is a very poignant story following the theme of love.The theme is conveyed in this story through the actions of the Nightingale. It demonstrates how one life would sacrifice itself in order to make another happy. From the Nightingale's point of view, this is a tragically ironic story. For she thinks that the Student must be a ‘true lover' – she thinks that he would give anything for one nigh t with the Professor's daughter. ‘She said that she would dance with me if I brought her red roses†¦ yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched', the Nightingale hears him cry; and on this evidence alone she bases her opinion: ‘Here at last is a true lover.'When in fact the only feelings the Student has for the Professor's daughter are those of material love. He is only interested in her beauty. He says to himself ‘She has form – that cannot be denied to her' but then he says ‘She would not sacrifice herself for others', which is exactly what the Nightingale is about to do for him. She is willing to sacrifice her life for love; for the Student to be able to spend one night with the girl he supposedly admires. An interesting point to note is when the Student mentions that the Professor's daughter ‘has some beautiful notes in her voice.What a pity it is that they do not mean anything, or do any practical good. ‘ Now Nightingales are renowned for having beautiful voices, but the Student does not appreciate the wonderful art of music. A few paragraphs before these lines the Nightingale sings to the Student telling him of how she intends to sacrifice her life for him; ‘be happy; you shall have your red rose. I will build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it with my own heart's-blood. ‘ Although he cannot understand them, these words are, in fact, deeply meaningful to the Student.And as for music doing no ‘practical good', well, what would you call the outcome of the red rose? The Nightingale died and the rose was born. Music made that red rose. The Student does not realise how wrong his judgements are. We find out that the only ‘true lover' was in fact the Nightingale. She was the only one with sincere feelings, and she was prepared to sacrifice her life for those feelings, even though she knew she would not gain anything from it. The fact that she was doing it for love, and that she was making someone happy, was enough for her. She was really the only one who deserved love – the only one worthy of it.The Nightingale was love. She went to the greatest extremes to find a red rose for the Student to give to the Professor's daughter. She flew all around the garden trying to find a red rose. She flew to ‘the centre of the grass-plot', and 'round the old sun-dial', and finally ‘beneath the Students window', where she eventually found a red rose tree. But the tree was damaged, and would not bear a red rose. the only way the Nightingale could obtain a red rose from this tree, would be to ‘build it out of music by moonlight', and stain it with her ‘own heart's-blood'; and that is what she did.The story is set in a garden of fantasy – it is full of talking creatures and trees; not unlike the Garden of Eden in the Bible, which had a talking snake. Perhaps the author used a garden because in the Bible it is very symbolic, and its story has many lessons and meanings. Maybe that was what Oscar Wilde was trying to convey in his writing.

The War on drugs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

The War on drugs - Essay Example The article uses seven explanatory variables which include the Drug Enforcement Agency and suggests that the incarceration of drug offenders merely causes a crowding-out effect in prisons, releasing the non-drug offenders and thus, potentially increasing, rather than decreasing, crime. The author talks about many views representing the history and the principles of facts on this issue. He represents the view that he believes is unknown to many and should be presented to everyone. As this is one of the major misperceptions according to him as mentioned in the article. It is also discussed in the article that suggestions and recommendations should be made to stop the use of drugs and the spread of drug offenders in a wise and logical way. This article is for those who believe that incarcerating the drug offenders will reduce the crime. Thus the evidence is also being shown through statistics. Critique: The authors have supported the government view in this article as they talk about the economics and politics of the drug offenders. The authors cover some major issues regarding the war on drugs and the crime rates which were profoundly unknown. They have provided an unbiased research in which they analyze all the aspects related to the topic. They cover the previous research done on the topic regarding the battle of US government with the drug offenders since years, and how they focused on the criminalization of drugs rather just proposing anti-drug policies. The authors clearly gave examples regarding the definitions of imprisonment and incarcerating with the help of many examples, and related it to the negativity caused by the act. The authors have used reliable sources to support their arguments with information from all the sides and then supporting their view. With the use of previous research on imprisonment, incarcerating and the drug offenders, to the presentation of the models and the variables, the authors had made it very clear for the reader to understand their view. They have also presented authentic calculations and contrasted them to make their view authentic, and prove how crime rate has increased due to the incarcerating of drug offenders. There is enough evidence shown by the authors to describe and prove their viewpoint. The evidence is taken from reliable sources as they have proper calculations taken from the statistics published by the government and law department. Although the article has provided economical and political views as per the nature of the journal, I think it has still provided enough information to understand the desired objects. 2. Unmapping the Golden Triangle or the World on Drugs ? Title Unmapping the Golden Triangle or the World on Drugs Author Neilson Brett Date 2000 Source Passages: Interdisciplinary Journal of Global Studies Stakeholder Business Summary: This article focuses on the operation of the global drug economy and how fast it has been increasing. It also shows the mode of production of drugs in the Golden Triangle, the Southeast Asia. Furthermore, the article talks about the contradictory relations between the capitalist globalization and the underground drug economy. Also talks about the inconsistency on the spatial relations constituting the Golden Triangle, and the severe impact of globalization on the business of heroine trafficking. These aspects are covered in the article in the literary point

Moneyball. Sabermetric-Based Player Evaluation by Beane Term Paper

Moneyball. Sabermetric-Based Player Evaluation by Beane - Term Paper Example Some of the major baseball teams in the world include the Pirates, Red sox, Yankees that play in the Major League Baseball, the American League, or the National league. Subject to the publicity, stiff competition, and economies of money involved in this sport, team managers adopt various strategies to win most games. Moneyball by Michael Lewis is a book that seeks to divulge information on how baseball teams should conduct their businesses in order to remain effective. However, a review article â€Å"Who’s on First?† by Thaler & Sunstein (2003) draws some criticism on the book. This paper will hence examine and evaluate the review article â€Å"Who’s on First?† by Thaler & Sunstein (2003). Sabermetric-Based Player Evaluation The sabermetric-based player evaluation used by Beane was a great shocker to other executives in baseball. In his evaluation, Beane took interest on how much a player was likely to contribute to his team's chances using scientific anal ysis (Thaler & Sunstein, 2003). In doing this, he relied on objective evidence rather than subjective evidence used by other executives. With the limits of human rationality and inefficient labor markets, Beane chose to ignore baseball's conventional wisdom in evaluating the performance of players to the surprise of other baseball executives. Indeed, in a conflicting situation between Beane and DePodesta's statistical methods of evaluation and other evaluation strategies by other baseball experts, statistical methods proved efficient to conventional statistics that were inefficient and often misleading (Thaler & Sunstein, 2003). As a result, Beane produced an amazing performance despite working on lower payrolls compared to other baseball teams. Indeed, Beane’s team, the Athletics was ranked eleventh in payroll(out of fourteen teams) and fifth in wins in the American League in 1999 but jumped to twelfth in payroll and first in wins in 2002 to the shock of other baseball execu tives. Ideally, Beane evaluation on players proved that players drafted out of high school are much less likely to succeed than players drafted out of college. Hence, against the practice of other executives, Beane did not recruit any talent from high school. Nevertheless, the new recruits that other teams neglected became great performers and other teams ended up buying them from Athletics thus improving its payroll. His ability to evaluate and recruit first-rate talent without a lot of money and using statistical methods to replace the lost players was also a great shock to other executives. In addition, the way Beane evaluated the performance of players in the field was also intriguing to other executives. He notes that the use of errors to evaluate the fielding ability of a player is so crude (Thaler & Sunstein, 2003). To this, he argues that a player may accumulate errors due to luck and thus in appropriation in evaluating his ability based on this. In addition, he notes that t here might be luck in batting many runs subject to playing in good teams or having many opportunities. All this was a negation to the conventional beliefs adopted by other executives. Most shockingly, is the fact that Beane’s statistical evaluation of players led to his team’s greater success on the American League although Athletics had a low pay roll. Subsequently, major teams in the league like Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays are now hiring general managers who adopt Bean’s mode of evaluation (Thaler & Sunstein, 2003). Why Beane is Much More Effective in His Success Beane was much more effective in his success as compared to other baseball executives. This was subject to his statistical evaluation of players, disregard of the conventional wisdom in baseball, and

Strategic management paper III (Recommendations for OTD) Essay

Strategic management paper III (Recommendations for OTD) - Essay Example Employing such people would provide manifold advantages to the company. Firstly, it would enhance the image of the organization as a sociable organization which also takes care of the society. In addition to this aspect some other benefits of employing aged and disabled individuals would include the following factors, firstly it is generally believed that aged and disabled individuals are generally more loyal towards an organization and do not resort to changing jobs frequently. This assumes considerable advantage for organizations like One Touch Direct which operates in an industry segment which has considerably high attrition rates. Employing disabled and aged individuals would help in taking care of the problems of attrition. Secondly, employing this section of population would enhance the productivity of the organization. This is because aged and retired people have considerable experience in handling job responsibilities. Moreover it has been observed that due to age and experience these individuals have a better understanding of the business process and can deliver efficient results if they are provided with suitable guidance and training support from the organization. Thirdly, these individuals have a realistic growth aspirations, this is due to the reason that they have high levels of maturity which has been incorporated in their attitudes due to the years of experience of the retired individuals. Based on their real life experiences disabled and aged individuals have higher ability to manage crisis scenarios as compared to their counterparts and peers who are normal and lower aged. Fourthly it has been observed that consumers generally handle these kinds of employees with greater affection and respect as compared to the normal employees. This would enhance the customer experience as they would admire One Touch Direct’s strategy of employing such individuals. Finally legal and legislative advantages could

Undecided Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 10

Undecided - Essay Example EPA has a responsibility of enforcing the environmental laws that aim at protecting human health and the environment. The second issue was gross poisoning and environmental discomfort caused by the ill smelling of polluted water by the accused companies’ effluents. In May 1982, Jan Schlictmann’s law firm filed compensation case against the responsible companies for willful and carelessness in poisoning the town’s water supply. Grace and Beatrice Corporation, food-manufacturing companies claimed responsibility for the contamination, associated deaths and sufferings that the locals underwent (Tisdale 32: 50). However, a court process was necessary to determine the extent and guilt in the companies involved. The civil settlement is essential to the facilitation of the cleanup and corrective measures meant to restore the fit nature of the environment. The plaintiff presented a complaint to the court and served the accused corporations with a copy of the complaint. Prior to the case filing, the plaintiff secured substantial evidences from the site before any form of interference attempt by the accused. Substantial evidence helps in demonstrating and proving to a court the sufficient link between the corporations accused and the pollution and associated deaths. The plaintiff and their lawyers reported to the EPA, a state agency who enjoined to prove the credibility of the evidences after conducting their individual assessments prior. A clerk appeared and provided evidence of the W.R. Grace plant attempting to cover up the toxic dumping. The substantial evidence offered compelled the court to drop Beatrice from the case and directing Grace Plant to cover $ 8 million settling cost. The $8 million cost meant to facilitate the cleanup and corrective measures for the local community that filed the complaint. The settlement leads to cont ent and peaceful coexistence between the locals