The Realities of 'Reality' - Part II: Making Sense of Why Modern Science Advances (Volume 2 of 2)

Book excerpt: The difference between Part I and Part II – Volumes 1 & 2 – of this series, is that in Part I the author showed how what we call reality starts with the inner self whereas Part II describes what, in fact, impacts and modifies the environment or reality and what are the factors behind that dynamics. What impacts and modifies the environment is science. This Volume 2 starts by showing how technology plays an important role in scientific progress. Although the relationship between the two is symbiotic, science can exist without technology but technology desperately needs science. Military technology is an example of how technology can help science advance. Some military inventions end up having civilian use. Science being at the center of society, the book makes the case for the direct impact of such social sciences as politics and economics on the advancement of science. Politics, says the author, influences science because of uncertainty in science, and economics does it thanks to the availability of money to scholars and scientists for their research. On the other hand, government also influences scientific progress through regulations. The book gives cyberspace regulation as an example. Furthermore, by showing how art influences science, the author really argues for the polyfactorial aspect of scientific progress. In that line of thought, he goes on to also prove that factors such as skepticism, curiosity, and the quest for knowledge greatly influence the advancement of science. That, says the author, “is a ninety-degree turn … By ending Part two that way, I wanted to, somehow, link it to Part I, which argues that reality starts from within.”