The Final Frontier

Science has been burning the deuterium at both ends this past century, with both fantastic and stagnate results. This past century alone has shown the discovery of atomic structure, the isolation of DNA, and the detection of galaxies billions of light years distant.

Despite the insomnia of so many scientists, centuries of investigation still await future generations. This is in part reasonable, research is a sequential process requiring baseline knowledge to develop into more advanced techniques. The next factor is one that not even science can control, funding.

Enjoy it or not, financing in the industry is subject to more than just merit. The forces of politics and profit have long dominated the division of cash and neither is unbiased. The ascendant motivation is always results, and with this constraint the investigations will always be limited. Merit or the perception of merit, politics, and the thirst for profit are the typical deciding factors. People only want to study the known, but it is the unknown possibilities where the next great discoveries await.

Science is a chaotic endeavor; with its long periods of inactivity followed by random unexpected discoveries. It has only been 9 years since astronomers observing distant Type 1a supernova stumbled on dark energy. Few guessed until early last century that it was conceivable for a star to collapse until its escape velocity exceeded that of light.

As with all sales pitches, beware of the fine print. Certain endeavors still don’t qualify as science. Remember Intelligent Design? The fanciful claim that an undefined deity manipulated dust until they were man and woman. It is a travesty that fails to obey the method even liberally, and really is only a religious argument thinly veiled as science. It is a deception and distraction from the real work that only intends to apply dogma to the unbelievers.