As you can see from my personal information to the right, I'm a sixth-form student living in the UK, with a keen interest in Science, Technology, Ethics, Philosophy, Politics and Sociology (S.T.E.P.P.S, if you hadn't worked it out yet). I study maths, biology, physics and chemistry for AS level, and hope to go into medicine after leaving school. So that no one reading this is under any illusions, I'm a humanist and a socialist (deal with it!) Now I'll give a introduction to the different topics covered by my blog:
Science: Science (from Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge") is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe (shameless Wikipedia copying and pasting, I know). But there's more to science than that. It is, as far as we know, the best tool for understanding everything in our universe, from the quark to the galaxies, and from the virus to that most wonderous of things; the human brain. Science is the basis of almost everything that we take for granted in our technical civilization, from light bulbs to the space shuttle. Without a doubt, science is the most important element of our humanity - the drive to discover, to explore and to better ourselves.
Technology: Technology, in short, is the application of science to design, construct and use tools (of widely varying complexity) to perform a specific function. When I talk about technology, I don't mean the gadgets that various companies churn out (ehem... ipods, iphones...) that add little to our lives (apart from fun of course!), but the technology that can help us to grow food, to travel around our planet in a matter hours, or to explore the universe. I'll look at the technology that really adds something to our society, and especially important emerging fields of technology, such as nanotechnology and the development of artificial intelligence.
Ethics: Ethics is a branch of philosophy that is used to decide what is considered 'moral' or accpetable to do. It's a wide-ranging topic, covering issues from justice and crime to animal rights and medical ethics.
Philosophy: Philosophy is, as I like to think it, the waiting room of science. It is the place for questions that we can not yet answer using our preferred method, science, but that must wait for perhaps hundred of years, or may never be fully answered. It's the place of the really big questions that make your head hurt if you think too long about them, like "What is the meaning of life?" (other than 42 [haha...]) or "Why are you you?" Philosophy has evolved considerably from its roots millenia ago, and has narrowed somewhat, as parts of it have moved out of its own realm, and into the realm of science. However, it still has many crucial, unanswered questions that are well worth considering.Politics: *Yawn!* Yes, politics can be boring, espeically in our two-party state, vote-every-four-years media circus, where all the parties are continually at eachothers throats about everything. Accordingly, I'll try not to look at every tiny decision that various governments make, but more at the interesting trends in politics, such as the sudden rise of the far right, or what the global economy might look like after (and if!) it begins to recover.
Sociology: This is the one that not as many people have heard of. Sociology is, in short, the scientific study of society. This makes it overlap significantly with the other five topics, making it of particular interest to me. It deals with issues such as war, nationalism, racism and why no one likes gingers (no offence). I'll explore events, such as the summer riots, as well as long term trends, such as the decline of religion, especially in developed countries.
Other: I'll probably end up sticking in the odd book, film or game review, anything interesting that happens in my life (there really isn't much, trust me) or whatever else I feel like writing about.
Well, that's an introduction. If you'd like any more information about the blog, would like to make any suggestions or would like to contribute an article, just comment (and please don't be too harsh on me - this is my first ever blog post...)
Also, apologies for the labels at the top being out of order. It won't let me arrange them as I want... If anyone knows how to sort them I'd be grateful for some advice.
- Daniel
Interesting post Daniel, and I applaud your ambitious agenda. I think I would probably rebut one or two assertions you have made, were I not typing on my iPad which fails as a typing "gadget" but succeeds in so many other areas that I wouldn't be quite so eager to dismiss it yet. Perhaps the subject missing, but implied, in your STEPPS cluster is history. I believe it was Deng Xioping who, when asked if he thought the French Revolution was a good or bad thing, replied "It is too early to tell." It certainly seems to early to tell which current technologies are "contributing" directly or indirectly, to society - I could make several good arguments for the efficacy of the iPod, the benefits of which are still unfolding, even though the underlying technology is not in itself groundbreaking.
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