Open Mindedness As a Mean To All Ends
We as both individuals and as an entire community need to learn to broaden our horizons and accept new ideas. And this needs to happen not only in the scientific community, but also in our daily lives. Human beings are stubborn and often believe that their way is the only right way. However, living in a world where there is so much conflict revolving around decision making, how could this be true? Every human being in the world has a different experience since the moment they are born, that means we have billions of people walking on this planet, each with a different perspective on life, and most likely, different ideas on how to best do things. How could it hurt us, as a society, to learn more about the world we live in and how we could improve on it and make it better?
In March of 2011, there was a conference held called “Art as a Way of Knowing,” where the benefits of using art as a means to learn other things were discussed. They talked about how art can help us to expand our ideas of science even further through increased insight and understanding of the topics. Art and creativity uses a different side of the brain than the scientific side, using both of these sides together to learn a new topic will help form more connections in the brain to bring up new ideas and questions that you hadn’t thought of before. Incorporating art into our sciences and other studies can help us broaden our understanding and move to a more productive scientific community.
Another issue in the scientific community is that scientists seem to think that if their studies are proven through their tests, that their hypothesis becomes a fact. There are many other perspectives within science and theories that were once considered true, that are now disproven. In David Cayley’s podcast “How To Think About Science- Part 10,” he discusses with Brian Wynne about this idea that every theory has an anomaly in science, and just because we can or can’t find that anomaly, doesn’t completely prove or disprove the theory. There are other perspectives and more unknowns in the universe for us to be able to understand everything.
Another thing that not only scientists, but all individuals need to be more cognizant about is acknowledging that every person in the world is different and will have different ideas and different perspectives. As Dr. Halpern writes in her article, “Feminist Standpoint Theory and Science Communication,” minority groups that have been oppressed are often the people who best understand the societal breakdowns and have ideas to fix these issues. However, these are typically not the individuals that are in power to make the changes. We, a human beings need to be better about listening and accepting others’ perspectives, regardless of our own ideas. In the scientific community in particular, there is a large racial bias in giving credit to minorities for their work. According to the Scientific American article titled “Silence is Never Neutral; Neither is Science,” by 500 women scientist leadership, 70% of all scientists are white, greatly limiting the opportunities for minority groups to excel in the scientific community. There needs to be more opportunities for minorities in science in order to better understand their different perspectives and make more advancements.
In Tema Okun’s article, “White Supremacy Culture,” she gives a list of all the habits that have formed across all organizations that are unknowingly supporting white supremacy culture. These examples show how many people within organizations are participating in characterizations that are hurting the minorities that work for these companies. For example, the characteristic of perfectionism can be taxing on an individual when they turn in a project and are criticized for their work not being perfect. These criticisms are often taken personally and can make that individual feel small. Another example is organizations being defense and afraid of change. Many people get comfortable with the way things are, however, our world is ever changing and our businesses need to be able to keep up with these changes. It is so important for individuals to be more accepting of new ideas to broaden their knowledge to make a better world.
The scientific community along with all individuals on this Earth could be better at trying to expand their minds, their perspectives, and their ideas to become more knowledgeable and productive beings on this planet. We all need to do a better job at being more inclusive to minorities, finding better ways to do things, and accepting that sometimes, things that were previously known to be truths, may not always be true. If we can expand our horizons and make our minds more fluid and understanding, we will have a much more advanced scientific community as well as a more productive society around the world.
