Science drives industry and public health, both vital foundations of a growing economy.
Today I read about a mining survey company that has industrialized muon detection, allowing a detailed scan of millions of cubic meters of rock in one go. This capability came from esoteric particle physics for which no economic prognostication could be made at the time.
Huge advances in medicine and agriculture have come from the ability to amplify and study genes… a capability that derived from an enzyme found in extremophile bacteria at Yellowstone. Again, that was esoteric research with no economic promise at all.
GPS came from Relativity. Semiconductors came from the space race. Semiconductor technology gave rise to thyristors, which regulate huge electric systems… and so on.
But economic results are not even the deepest reason to keep reaching beyond what we know. Science is not a compendium of facts; it is a way of interrogating the universe, and overcoming our biases and errors.
Science is culture; it is a human art. In 1969, Dr. Robert Wilson, a physicist, testified to congress. He was asked if his research would have applications in national defense:
SENATOR PASTORE. “Is there anything here that projects us in a position of being competitive with the Russians, with regard to this race?”
DR. WILSON. “Only from a long-range point of view, of a developing technology. Otherwise, it has to do with: Are we good painters, good sculptors, great poets? I mean all the things that we really venerate and honor in our country and are patriotic about.”
“In that sense, this new knowledge has all to do with honor and country but it has nothing to do directly with defending our country except to help make it worth defending.”
georgewiman 