What is the True Purpose behind Scientific Discovery?
“One might be forgiven for believing that this amazing effusion of technological change truly was the product of ‘the free play of free intellects, working on subjects of their own choice, in the manner dictated by their curiosity for explanation of the unknown.’ But one would be mostly wrong.”
— Daniel Sarewitz
Early on in Daniel Sarewitz work, “Saving Science” he brings up that many people believe that scientific discovery is based around what scientists are interested in and what they want to research. Sarewitz claims that this is a beautiful lie that is told to people to align with the political and cultural power of science.
Sarewitz, by claiming that individual scientists are not the ones that choose freely what to research and discover is a lie, begs the question of, what is the true purpose behind scientific discovery? Some may still want to believe that each individual will research what they want, and as the opening quote states, “one would be mostly wrong”. If a scientist is not the one that decides what to research, who is the deciding factor of scientific discovery?
In World War II, an M.I.T engineer by the name of Vannevar Bush was the architect of the nation’s research enterprise, which brought forth the atomic bomb, production of antibiotics and microwave radar. These findings were crucial to the Allies victory in 1945. At the time the discovery and advancement of this research may have seemed like a group of engineers getting together to help for the common good; the underlying driving factor was the United States government. This is where the lie about scientific research comes into play. The everyday citizen during that time would see these discoveries as a way to help end the war and the engineers would be praised for this and they would accept this to keep the public eye on them and not on the fact that they were driven by the government to complete their research.
Whatever group that funds the research dictates the purpose of the discovery. Today, the federal government funds “basic research”, colleges and universities, and “applied research” across the country. The United States government, being the funding entity, will decide the purpose behind each researching source. In some places, like colleges and universities, the research purpose might just be to increase the knowledge and experience of future researchers. Whereas the applied and basic research funding will be set aside towards a direct goal. In the 1940’s the purpose of the research was to help solidify an Allied victory in Europe.
Research all around the world is set to achieve different purposes. The actual purpose is not completely known. Does each individual scientist choose the purpose, or does the purpose of the research depend on the funding authority?
