100,000 Stars of Appreciation

Science began as a risk: trying to find out the unknown. Seeking the unknown has lead to devastation as well as appreciation. Chet Raymo, in his piece, A Measure of Restraint, focuses on the negative effects of "the human quest for scientific discovery." However perilous this journey must seem, it is a necessary evil. Chet Raymo illustrates "the risks that are sometimes imposed by knowledge," and various examples that add to his pathos. Although he does not necessarily condemn the human search, he expresses his attitude of "self-restraint," and how scientists lack these skills, especially with his characterization of the seemingly useless glowing tobacco plant.

Yet, throughout his piece Raymo makes remarks about the "luminous" qualities of these scientific discoveries. He sheds a harsh light on these grandiose experiments, yet I can not help but feel he is in slight awe of these discoveries: "hardly know[ing] how to react." These discoveries "of cold brilliance" still have an effect on him in a slightly positive way.

Last year I tried to write a research paper on nuclear power. At first I was under the impression that nuclear power was extremely bad as it could be used for destructive means. This sort of one-sided thinking goes along with the message Raymo is trying to convey: caution and restraint over science. Not once does Raymo think of the good deeds of science that are often gone unappreciated.

Science has saved the rain forest. Science has given life to the animals. Science has taken us to the stars. Science has taken away the grit and dirt in our eyes and enlightened our world.

I am often reminded of the power of science through this: 100,000 Stars (link to a Google chrome website-best used with chrome). The power of simple graphics and imaging gave me passage to a higher knowledge at my fingertips. I can roam the stars and gain information. There is no risk here. No devastation. Not to me at least. I appreciate it instead.

Raymo talks about the fine line between risk and science. I think both are intertwined: without one or the other neither would happen. Without risk the first caveman would not have created a rock with a circle and called it a wheel, nor would we have the distance of the stars to contemplate.