The mission is to see that science takes its best - the beauty of the discovery, our love of understanding bits and pieces of the universe, creating new capabilities in the world - and elegantly outgrows its worst - the tournament model for success, arrogance, and our attraction to pedestals (and standing on them).
Why? Several reasons.
I have two sisters that have chronic illnesses. Chronic illness is on the rise in general, from what I see.
Indeed there seem to be several mysteries on the rise..... 'out of balances' that could use an elegant understanding of the whole system. And I suggest that many of these 'out of balances' come, unintentionally and inadvertently, from science and technology itself. Think plastics and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Who better to deal with the outcomes of science than scientists? We have terrific opportunities to jump in a make a difference, and I see our younger generation, and passionate 'elders' of science, doing so. But is it enough? Fast enough, big enough, visionary enough?
Science itself, as an industry, is experiencing fairly cataclysmic stressors. Some say we don't have enough scientists and engineers in this country, some say we have too many. And it's likely that your mind immediately jumped to funding and the mantra "Science needs more funding."
Ok, yes, maybe, more money is always a nice thing.
But the change I'm wishing to see and help along is in the realm of 'being.' How are we 'being' as scientists? And what sort of 'doing' is this prompting?
Because it's in the 'doing' of science that major change is being called forth. How do we work together? How do we interact with society? How do we raise our 'young' (the next generation of scientists)? How do we teach science? What do we study, and what do we fail to study? What is our reward system, and what does that promote? What do we reward? All of these are things we are 'doing.' And I see a huge opportunity for a major shift in the 'doing' of science. And I think we are ready.
So I'm out here, in a space that Michael Margolis, evangelist for narratives to get work done, describes as the heretic calling back to the tribe. I believe we, as a community have the ability to actively create how we want science to 'be.' By learning where we really are right now, by being present to the costs of the current way of doing things, and by calling out our best vision of what we want to be.
And really, as I do this, I'm not going Headfirst so much as I'm traveling Heartfirst. And I invite those of you ready to do so to join me in following our hearts. And hey, we can still use our heads. We're scientists, right?
