Be aware of your personal blind spots

We are taught to be aware of the blind spot during driving lessons. In the normal course of driving, it's not easy to check what's there in the area of a blind spot, and depending on what it is, it can be really dangerous for the driver or the thing that is in the blind spot. Therefore, it is very important to make sure that we have some way to make sure that there is nothing in the blind spot area before we change our lanes or direction while driving. We try to use various techniques or different rearview mirrors to look for the vehicles and objects in the blind spot range to avoid accidents and to be safe. But we are not that careful to look for blind spots in our minds in our day-to-day lives which is equally important to avoid unnecessary clashes and terrible mistakes due to our ignorance and lack of knowledge.

Why do we need to be aware that there are blind spots when we drive our thought process? Very simple, because then only we will make some efforts to eliminate them. If we are not aware of our personal blind spots, we are not going to make any efforts to overcome this problem, and then the problem will become chronic. Ignorance or lack of knowledge can be cured by learning and acquiring knowledge. In today's era, we have so many resources available literally at our fingertips. Yes, I am talking about the world of the internet, which we can access from our phones or any stationary or mobile device connected to the internet connection. The internet has created a level field by allowing access to a variety of websites where you can learn about many things and gain useful information. One can access diverse resources to collect vast amounts of information to learn about almost anything. We can self-educate ourselves. Please spend some quality time learning about the issues that affect you, and about the things that you care about before getting into a debate with anyone. This will not only help you to get well-informed but also help the next person to have a very informative and constructive discussion. Being well-informed is also necessary for being a responsible citizen of any country. It helps to form a well-informed public opinion. So, take the first step and start by taking some positive steps in a direction to eliminate the personal blind spots of your thinking. All the very best.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

Communicating Science to the General Public

Many scientists are concerned about the lack of awareness in the general public about science, its discoveries, and its impact on human life. Many institutes, universities, scientific societies, and even scientists try their best to run various public outreach programs that can help in spreading awareness about science, its achievements, and its capabilities among the general population (who are not very well acquainted with science). All people associated with science want to do a better job of communicating science to the general public, but unfortunately, it is not an easy thing to do.

This problem of communication between scientists and the general public is very old; I think it started when scientific knowledge was labeled as complicated and limited to a few intellectuals. Scientists in the old days were considered rebels as they questioned most of the established beliefs and challenged many statements from holy books. This created an obvious rift between scientific knowledge and traditional knowledge, which resulted in this apparent disconnect. Today, many people believe that most scientists are atheists and don't believe in God or religion. Science or scientist don't force their opinion or theories on the general population; everything is open for debate and discussion in science. Asking a question is a basic requirement for the progress of science and knowledge, but this attitude is not welcomed in many other sections of life. This difference in attitude widened the gap between science and other fields. People are trying by various means to bridge this gap, but there are no easy solutions available for this. There are several other reasons for this disconnect between scientists and the general public. Some scientists put partial blame on the lay public because they think that many people have very little factual knowledge of science, whereas some scientists believe that blaming the public is not very useful, and scientists should think that the problem is with us, which is why we cannot communicate with them properly.

The problem is how to engage the nonscientific audience. Science is not very entertaining, and often people think its knowledge is not necessary for their survival. But this is not true, today's life is all about science, since we get up in the morning till we sleep at night, whatever we use, or experience, science plays some role in it. From our toothpaste to our sleeping bed, everything has some science involved in it. We are surrounded by scientific wonders and don't even realize it. A major problem in engaging and informing the public through education or various other activities is that people don't always pay attention, and if they listen, they often don't remember the things that scientists want them to remember. Science has helped us to solve many mysteries of life; there was no other way to understand them without scientific methods. I don't think people have given science its due. Divided public opinion about climate change, biased views about females and certain sections of society, racism, many religious superstitions, blind faith, sectarianism, etc., are some examples of a lack of proper scientific knowledge and understanding.

Science has helped humans to achieve many impossible things, and it has created a unique world around us. Our life is totally dependent on many inventions discovered by brilliant scientists. We don't realize it because they have become part of our day-to-day life. There is no field that is not benefited because of science and its achievements. I think if we want to name one reason for all the progress, comfort, and many positive changes in human life, credit goes to science. At the same time, many scientific discoveries are also responsible for some problems in the modern world, but the entire blame for this cannot be placed on science; but is mainly the result of human greed and misuse of technology for selfish purposes. The positive and negative effects of science are clearly visible, and critics of science only try to highlight the negative aspects of science. It's the need of today to clear many misconceptions about science and spread awareness among common people about the need for basic scientific knowledge and aptitude. Every person from any background can benefit from this, it's necessary for their and society's overall health and progress. It's the responsibility of both the scientific community and the general public to develop a scientific attitude that involves logical and rational thinking.

Thanks for reading, and please share your views.

References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)