Also with great interest, I read and hear about this star, that black hole, those exoplanets, water on Mars? And so forth. Not a week goes by that news aggregators do not host a story on an astronomy-related topic. Yesterday it was how a comet smelled like rotten eggs (probably). Now how the hell do they know that? And how would even that technology that tells astro-scientists this have any practical value? like does it have something to do with the world of work, other than for astronomers and news aggregators? Unfortunately, the news aggregator does not help make that connection, if there is any, but we still love this stuff. So let's examine that connection from an expert.
The work that most astronomers do is more properly referred to as astrophysics, the study of physical conditions in faraway locations in the universe. I would maintain that this research does not have much direct, practical benefit to people's lives. From Dave Rothstein (http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=417).I venture the connection is because we are interested and curious and like to wonder and try to answer big questions like, are we alone in the universe. And don't arts and humanities have the same utility? The same utilitarian value?
Hmm. So why aren't those business-type educators and their like-minded com-patriots cutting the funding for astronomy, or at least railing against its impractical value?
The big bang is an outlier some say. We like this subject and praise its theorists and publicists because we like to fit God into the picture. And god particle? What is that and does it answer my most fundamental quandaries: How is it possible I am here and why?
Pope Francis, it turns out today, doesn't have a radically new view and acceptance of evolution in the Catholic cosmos of beliefs. Oh boy, let's get into that one. A good fight, er, discussion with my Christian friends is always, er, entertaining, although disagreements often lead to excommunication from their circles of interaction, or worse.
See what is happening? Of course the touchy-feely and squishy stuff has value along with the practical and oh-so-serious stuff about what is real, what we can see and touch. In a word, material stuff. We are obsessed with this other stuff, though. It is not the economics of questions like abortion but the values and beliefs involved. And how can you talk about matters like women's healthcare options without getting some background in how to think and talk about things social and human and political, etc.? Intelligent decisions come from education in and practice with stuff such as we find in the arts and humanities.
In legitimate "hard" science such as astronomy we like bite-sized news bits. Takes little effort to get the info and say, "Wow!" Now reading a book or taking the time to understand what a great painter did and how s/he did it, that takes a bit more. Is it worth it? Guess. And don't just try to nail me on the visual arts. Pick on anthropology or drama or all the rest of the world's perspectives--except the narrowest of disciplines, business.
Music. Should that be part of the curriculum and should we have experts who can perform and/or communicate intelligently about it? You can't be civilized or serious if you answer in the negative.
An MBA will lead you down precarious paths if it is these guys and girls and only these people who address themselves to health and healthcare. Ask a business-type about bedside manner and why they don't teach or train people in this important area, especially when the business-type is the patient. Ask that question right back and whether s/he has even sampled the universe of non-business points of view extant presently and in the past. And ask the follow-up. What have you done to ensure that there are people who know how to give compassionate care--to you and everyone else?
Silence.
Crack a book. Enroll in some course. You can still find one. Teach yourself through practical experience instead of that all-inclusive holiday. Include expanding mental and emotional horizons instead of your gut.
If you would like a rant, and I am sorry this has become a small tempest--truly I'm sorry--take a look at the increase in the number of for-profit business schools that have sprung up all around the world in the last twenty years. Look also at how some practicality-bent meme has nudged if not shoved more and more humanities-oriented courses out of the college catalogs and the public consciousness. Then ask, is this really a good thing? What's important that is slipping through the cracks? How can we reclaim our humanity?
Okay. That was a bigger bite than intended, and almost out of control. Thank god for self discipline which I learned how to manage. Now where was that where I learned t manage these personal things? In business or business school? Don't recall that exactly . . .
