For those who don't know, the JWST is the "next-generation" space telescope (that's even another name for it) which is supposed to become the "Hubble of its age" (well, according to Phil Plait, with whom I'm inclined to agree.) It has a whole bunch of features, including infrared optimization and its intended observing position far from Earth, giving us a different angle from which to view the universe. It is, in short, an amazing piece of equipment that could revolutionize astronomical observation.
Phil brings up cost overruns and mismanagement as reasons that he understands why people want to kill the project. I get that. It's a practical stance. But I am so tired of practical, when it comes to science. I am having a visceral, emotional reaction to this, and it's not just because the JWST might be dead before it ever gets off the ground. It's general, and I finally pinpointed it when I started running through all the things in my head that make the JWST something good and useful that we ought to give money to.
See, there's this thing that happens, with science. People want to know why we should justify spending billions and billions of dollars on research. Those same people (usually) don't question if we should spend billions and billions of dollars on health care, or defense, or buying random crap we don't need, or social programs, or what-have-you. Those things, you see, can all be identified as practical things. Things we need, to survive. They may disagree on what's practical to spend money on but pretty much everyone agrees there needs to be some sort of clear reward. "Why are we giving some guy money to go research frogs?" they ask, and laugh, like researching frogs is an utterly useless thing to do. The worst part? A lot, a lot of these people are scientists or science supporters themselves.
And those of us who want research to be funded come up with things like "without relativity you wouldn't have GPS!" and all of the benefits of the space program, and so on. It's a laundry list of all the reasons why science funding is practical, and has "real world" benefits, and so on. It winds up feeling like begging, and it's tiring, and right now, I'm done with it. I'm not saying that there doesn't need to be some feedback from research--that there don't eventually need to be results. Money is limited, I get that. But why is the money so terribly limited? Why isn't science more important to us, as a society? Why oh why is everything about the practicality?
So here is why I'm tired of it, why it makes me want to cry and gnash my teeth and all the rest. There is more to life than survival, and there is more to life than entertainment. Science is about exploration and discovery, and the need for both exploration and discovery are essential human traits.
Last summer, I wrote a research paper about SETI in which I asked the question of whether it was worth continuing the search, 50 years on. I ought to post the paper somewhere--I'm really very proud of it--but the gist of my argument was that humans have always been interested in the possibility of life beyond our own planet, and that the need for communication and connection is deeply and fundamentally human, and the drive to see if anyone else is out there is perhaps the most human endeavor I can think of. It is matched only, I will say now, by "why are we here?" which is what drives our desire to see as much as we can about the early universe. Which, by the way, the JWST is primed to explore: the formation of the first galaxies and even further back.
As a brief aside: when I say I think the need for communication and connection is fundamentally human, I absolutely apply that to all people, whatever their ability to communicate and connect in a "normal" fashion. Just because a person can't speak doesn't mean they don't want to, and just because a person doesn't care about connecting to random strangers doesn't mean they don't feel a deep connection to the people closest to them. Even wanting to connect to animals, plants or the world around one counts in this, to me. I am reminded of the video In My Language by Amanda Baggs of Ballastexistenz, which shows very clearly that language and interaction with one's environment is not always what most folk think it is.
At any rate, we need this. As a species, we need to look up, and out, and imagine what might be, and then go find out. For some people "finding out" involves what is within reach, and that makes their exploration no less wonderful than the exploration the JWST provides. I just say we shouldn't have to choose. I say we should stop staring at the ground, worrying about whether we'll trip, running through our lives afraid of everything. I say we stop, and look up, and remember what makes us great.
I will leave with a quote from Babylon 5, my oh-so-very-favorite TV show, that reminds me of how I feel the world is these days.
"Something my father said. He was old, very old at the time. I went into his room, and he was sitting alone in the dark, crying. So I asked him what was wrong, and he said, 'My shoes are too tight, but it doesn't matter, because I have forgotten how to dance.' I never understood what that meant until now. My shoes are too tight, and I have forgotten how to dance." (Londo Mollari, The War Prayer)I feel that way, lately. I think the whole world does. I want to see JWST funded, and in a way that lets all the other projects be funded too, but I don't think it's going to happen, because we have forgotten how to dance. It breaks my heart, and I wish I knew what to do.
If you want to help save the JWST go here and sign the petition: http://www.savejwst.com/ or like their Facebook page. Or, y'know, both.
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