Evolution of Science in the internet era
What is Science?
Science, as define by Wikitonary is “the fact of knowing something; knowledge or understanding of a truth” in the broad sense. More specifically, science is the “knowledge gained through study or practice; mastery of a particular discipline or area.” It is difficult to imagine a world without science. There would be no medicine to cure our diseases, no electricity to light and warm our houses, no cars to transport us around, no computers and internet. We would be struggling with life. Our interests would only involve trying to survive each day, not understanding and learning about the world around us. Darkness is what mostly comes to mind.
How it all began?
The seeking of knowledge has always been a part of human nature. We are naturally curious beings, blessed with an intelligence deeming us capable of comprehending the world surrounding us.
In the early ages, knowledge was passed orally, from person to person, generation to generation. This posed a problem, as the main tool this method is dependent on is the human memory, which is for the most part not reliable at all. People tend to forget or mix up crucial points, thus corrupting the knowledge. In addition, the death of a wise man/woman would mean that all the knowledge he/she gained would disappear as well.
Another more reliable tool had to be used in the passing and storing of knowledge. The earliest of such is symbols. Symbols represent an idea or a concept. The earliest example of these is:
* Cave paintings
* Petro glyphs
* Pictograms
* Ideograms
With the birth of the alphabet and writing, the storage as well as communication of knowledge improved greatly. Natural Philosophers, the earliest scientists, came into existence, questioning the world surrounding them, noting down their ideas, observations and breakthroughs in the form of a scroll, and later on in the form of a book. With the introduction of mass printing, new ideas and scientific discoveries were allowed to propagate faster, becoming more widely available for other knowledge seekers.
Natural Philosophy began to separate from philosophy, and became what is known today as science. Discovery after discovery were made in the name of science, a vast set of laws were associated with it, from Galileo’s laws to Newton’s law of motions. Science branched out into distinct communities:
* Natural Science, which deals with natural phenomena, with disciples such as biology and physics.
* Social Science, which deals with human behavior and societies, with disciples such as anthropology and political science.
Fast forwarding a bit to just before the birth of the internet, we see science become what we know it as today, where the role of being a scientist is a profession that you can become by earning a degree from a university. Science is taught to young children in a broad sense from an early age as they attend school, and narrows down into disciplines during intermediate and high school. The storage of the scientific knowledge is still being done in books. However, all of this is available only to communities with the resources needed, such as a university, schools and even books. This caused a serious gap in the world, as countries with resources developed faster than countries with none, creating stark differences financially as well as intellectually.
What is the internet?
The internet, as defined by Wikipedia is a “global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels.” People with a computer, a modem and web browser program were able to access the World Wide Web (WWW) or more commonly abbreviated as the Web, via the internet.
The Web consisted of a very large set of interlinked hypertext documents ranging in all topics. It started off slow, being very expensive to use and only available to educational institutions and the people whom can afford it. Fast forwarding here as well, we see the Web develop and morph into what we know it as today: an indispensable tool for information and part of our daily interactions. We use it to seek knowledge, to communicate, to shop, to watch movies, to listen to music.
Science and the internet
An information revolution is in the works.
The internet, and the Web along with it, changed the face of how knowledge can be stored and sought after. It opened a whole world of information available throughout all corners of the globe. All one needs is a device with internet access, such as a computer, and a browser.
Scientists are able to communicate with others that share similar interests, but live in another part of the world. They are able to share thoughts and ideas rapidly, which leads to more questions being answered and more breakthroughs accomplished. Scientific journals as well as news from the scientific community are propagated into the world at a pace never dreamed of before. Scientific knowledge is no longer contained with Educational institutions such as universities and libraries. It is readily available to all those who seek it via the internet.
An individual could learn about science, read online scientific journals, and keep track of all the latest research and breakthroughs from the scientific community. Having scientific knowledge is becoming “cool” with the newest generation, where you can find hundreds of blogs dealing with the different areas of science, such as biology or astronomy, written by teenagers or young adults. A quick search on YouTube will yield video upon video of scientific experiments conducted by curious individuals.
The book is slowly becoming redundant, as more people turn to the web, rather than the libraries to gain knowledge. The storage of knowledge first started as simple symbols, evolved into books, and is now starting to be stored electronically on internet servers. It is highly likely that in the future, the book will become completely redundant and all knowledge will be stored in internet servers and the Web.
The downside to all this
Due to the Web being an open library that anyone can edit, it has led to many false scientific information being published on to it. This may lead the naïve reader to believing this false information as being true. In order to not fall in such a trap, many different websites should be used as sources when looking for information or only the most reliable of scientific websites is to be consulted, such as Britannica or the Encylopedia of Life.
There is certain etiquette when it comes to searching for information through the internet. One must only consult the most reliable of websites. If unable to find the information being sought after, a certain degree of skepticism should be kept in mind while browsing websites until completely sure of the integrity of the knowledge. Search engines, such as Google, return the most popular hits first, which may not always turn out to be reliable. The web is ever expanding, with more websites coming up day by day. There is still no way to index and keep track of all of this growth, meaning there is no guarantee that everything one reads on the Web is true.
Brightness is what mostly comes to mind
We are living in an age of enlightenment such as the world has never seen before. The pace at which science as well as intelligence is evolving at is rapid, the standard of living improving in a couple of years rather than decades.
The future of science looks a lot brighter than before the birth of the internet.
Science, as define by Wikitonary is “the fact of knowing something; knowledge or understanding of a truth” in the broad sense. More specifically, science is the “knowledge gained through study or practice; mastery of a particular discipline or area.” It is difficult to imagine a world without science. There would be no medicine to cure our diseases, no electricity to light and warm our houses, no cars to transport us around, no computers and internet. We would be struggling with life. Our interests would only involve trying to survive each day, not understanding and learning about the world around us. Darkness is what mostly comes to mind.
How it all began?
The seeking of knowledge has always been a part of human nature. We are naturally curious beings, blessed with an intelligence deeming us capable of comprehending the world surrounding us.
In the early ages, knowledge was passed orally, from person to person, generation to generation. This posed a problem, as the main tool this method is dependent on is the human memory, which is for the most part not reliable at all. People tend to forget or mix up crucial points, thus corrupting the knowledge. In addition, the death of a wise man/woman would mean that all the knowledge he/she gained would disappear as well.
Another more reliable tool had to be used in the passing and storing of knowledge. The earliest of such is symbols. Symbols represent an idea or a concept. The earliest example of these is:
* Cave paintings
* Petro glyphs
* Pictograms
* Ideograms
With the birth of the alphabet and writing, the storage as well as communication of knowledge improved greatly. Natural Philosophers, the earliest scientists, came into existence, questioning the world surrounding them, noting down their ideas, observations and breakthroughs in the form of a scroll, and later on in the form of a book. With the introduction of mass printing, new ideas and scientific discoveries were allowed to propagate faster, becoming more widely available for other knowledge seekers.
Natural Philosophy began to separate from philosophy, and became what is known today as science. Discovery after discovery were made in the name of science, a vast set of laws were associated with it, from Galileo’s laws to Newton’s law of motions. Science branched out into distinct communities:
* Natural Science, which deals with natural phenomena, with disciples such as biology and physics.
* Social Science, which deals with human behavior and societies, with disciples such as anthropology and political science.
Fast forwarding a bit to just before the birth of the internet, we see science become what we know it as today, where the role of being a scientist is a profession that you can become by earning a degree from a university. Science is taught to young children in a broad sense from an early age as they attend school, and narrows down into disciplines during intermediate and high school. The storage of the scientific knowledge is still being done in books. However, all of this is available only to communities with the resources needed, such as a university, schools and even books. This caused a serious gap in the world, as countries with resources developed faster than countries with none, creating stark differences financially as well as intellectually.
What is the internet?
The internet, as defined by Wikipedia is a “global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels.” People with a computer, a modem and web browser program were able to access the World Wide Web (WWW) or more commonly abbreviated as the Web, via the internet.
The Web consisted of a very large set of interlinked hypertext documents ranging in all topics. It started off slow, being very expensive to use and only available to educational institutions and the people whom can afford it. Fast forwarding here as well, we see the Web develop and morph into what we know it as today: an indispensable tool for information and part of our daily interactions. We use it to seek knowledge, to communicate, to shop, to watch movies, to listen to music.
Science and the internet
An information revolution is in the works.
The internet, and the Web along with it, changed the face of how knowledge can be stored and sought after. It opened a whole world of information available throughout all corners of the globe. All one needs is a device with internet access, such as a computer, and a browser.
Scientists are able to communicate with others that share similar interests, but live in another part of the world. They are able to share thoughts and ideas rapidly, which leads to more questions being answered and more breakthroughs accomplished. Scientific journals as well as news from the scientific community are propagated into the world at a pace never dreamed of before. Scientific knowledge is no longer contained with Educational institutions such as universities and libraries. It is readily available to all those who seek it via the internet.
An individual could learn about science, read online scientific journals, and keep track of all the latest research and breakthroughs from the scientific community. Having scientific knowledge is becoming “cool” with the newest generation, where you can find hundreds of blogs dealing with the different areas of science, such as biology or astronomy, written by teenagers or young adults. A quick search on YouTube will yield video upon video of scientific experiments conducted by curious individuals.
The book is slowly becoming redundant, as more people turn to the web, rather than the libraries to gain knowledge. The storage of knowledge first started as simple symbols, evolved into books, and is now starting to be stored electronically on internet servers. It is highly likely that in the future, the book will become completely redundant and all knowledge will be stored in internet servers and the Web.
The downside to all this
Due to the Web being an open library that anyone can edit, it has led to many false scientific information being published on to it. This may lead the naïve reader to believing this false information as being true. In order to not fall in such a trap, many different websites should be used as sources when looking for information or only the most reliable of scientific websites is to be consulted, such as Britannica or the Encylopedia of Life.
There is certain etiquette when it comes to searching for information through the internet. One must only consult the most reliable of websites. If unable to find the information being sought after, a certain degree of skepticism should be kept in mind while browsing websites until completely sure of the integrity of the knowledge. Search engines, such as Google, return the most popular hits first, which may not always turn out to be reliable. The web is ever expanding, with more websites coming up day by day. There is still no way to index and keep track of all of this growth, meaning there is no guarantee that everything one reads on the Web is true.
Brightness is what mostly comes to mind
We are living in an age of enlightenment such as the world has never seen before. The pace at which science as well as intelligence is evolving at is rapid, the standard of living improving in a couple of years rather than decades.
The future of science looks a lot brighter than before the birth of the internet.
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