is science constructive ?

Southpark Fan · Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 12:13 pm Post subject:

This is very cool technology:

Ramesh Raskar presents femto-photography, a new type of imaging so fast it visualizes the world one trillion frames per second, so detailed it shows light itself in motion. This technology may someday be used to build cameras that can look “around” corners or see inside the body without X-rays.

Photography is about creating images by recording light. At the MIT media lab, professor Ramesh Raskar and his team members have invented a camera that can photograph light itself as it moves at, well, the speed of light.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ramesh_raskar_a_camera_that_takes_one_trillion_frames_per_second.html

Southpark Fan · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 12:11 pm Post subject:

Scientific breakthroughs are many and cover such a vast spectrum of topics - but I thought this is pretty cool...

World’s first bionic eye approved by the US FDA
February | Ecofriend

'The Second Sight Argus II is a brand new addition to the growing field of bionics and promises to restore partial sight to the blind. The Argus II bionic eye is the brainchild of developers at Second Sight Medical Products and is the first of its kind in the world. Just recently, the bionic eye was officially approved by the US FDA which means that it would now be offered as an option to patients in the country and around the world.'

Photo: Second Sight
Credit: Second Sight/Copyrighted

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Southpark Fan · Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:15 am Post subject:

Printing On The Frontlines — Army Deploying $2.8M Mobile Fabrication Labs
David J. Hill | 02/28/13 | Singularity Hub

'The ability to rapidly evolve solutions from conception to implementation has become a reality with the Expeditionary Lab Mobile (ELM). The 20-foot container comes equipped with 3D printers, computer-assisted milling machines, and laser, plasma, and water cutters, along with common tools like saws and welding gear. Parts can be made of plastic, steel, and aluminum.

With a generator, heating and cooling systems, and satellite communications all manned by two specially trained engineers, the 10-ton ELM is effectively a digital fabrication workshop in a box.

When an ELM is on site, soldiers can dialogue with engineers about solutions to a particular problem and discuss potential designs. Through this collaborative process, the engineers can fabricate the parts so that soldiers can immediately test the designs and provide valuable feedback.

One example of how the ELM proved useful involved a flashlight with a raised power button that could accidentally be turned on, which could give away a position or just cause the batteries to wear down. The problem was fixed by fabricating a clip-on guard over the end of the flashlight, avoiding what would have been a lengthy procedure to decommission and replace the flashlight.
...'

Photo: Expeditionary Lab Mobile
Credit: Singularity Hub

Related: 4D printed self-assembling objects by MIT + stratasys

noplacebo · Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 155

southpark fan these ideas that you are pointing out are not science as such but technologies, a product need or upgrade fleshed out by technicians, this is nothing new, there is no shining light here to a new process of understanding, these technologies may be constructive to the army looking for better ways to go about their buisness,but not to understanding the nature of things.

Southpark Fan · Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 9:00 am Post subject:

Science is built on the idea of validity. A given experiment is assessed in terms of its ability to produce valid results. Because it relies on measurement, it is vitally important that a given experiment is actually measuring what it is intending to measure. This is often easier said than done. How do we measure social class or self-esteem or a thousand other qualities and conditions that we take nearly for granted in everyday speech? Precise and valid measurement is one of the greatest challenges of science. This is why replication is so important. One of the great burdens of science is to convince highly trained professionals that the methods of a given experiment are, themselves, valid. It places a great burden on scientists to use valid means of measurement that can be replicated by other scientists.

Another great strength of science is its fundamentally iterative nature. The field builds on itself. Its laws and theories are always open to further exploration and investigation. No truth is absolutely permanent no matter how well established it appears to be. Everything it builds and asserts is available to its own destruction. This is in stark contrast with the nature of religion that often demands that its tenets be unquestioned. Where religion stresses the primacy of authority and obedience, science emphasizes questioning, exploration, and precision.

Yet, at its core, science has a fatal flaw. It is a flaw so vast that it compels us question the whole structure that it brings into being. Based on scientific materialism, its values and process must inevitably create a society and culture that contains the seeds of its own destruction. Anytime a life or even a culture is built on a lie, it must suffer in proportion of the vigor and force of the lie.

I am not big on debating philosophical points. I will let others attend to that. But while they are busy listening to themselves; I feel the need to make note of some of the scientific 'breakthroughs' that will act as a crutch as we clumsily stagger down the path to our demise.

noplacebo · Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 155

southpark fan, i get you are saying scientists can be innovative, one of the technological triumphs being monsanto's suicide gene, but is science constructive?, yes, but only in the areas which funding has been released for, which means science is focused upon tightening and maintaining control for the elite few. the 1% would say science is constructive.
i like what you say in that, "no truth is absolutely permanent no matter how well established it appears to be" when applied to science. why do you think this is so?