Forum 42 was delighted to welcome back ‘Three Humans on a Sofa’ on Thursday 4th November, with the panel of three consisting of Mr Loughlin (providing a history point of view), Miss Burston (providing a politics point of view) and Miss Constantine (providing a science point of view).
The question being discussed was ‘Does Science Ever Take Place Outside the Context of Politics or Economics?’. UC4 (Year 10) student Lucia gives her account of the discussion:
The aim of this event was to dissect the boundaries between science and politics, with an economic input. I had never previously thought about the difficulty in funding research grants based on political beliefs, scientific manipulation by politicians or the struggles that scientists have with how to be objective, but create an impact personally. Politics was stated as being about conflict and resolution at the beginning of the talk, but this argument became less believable as we looked at who the outcomes affect. In terms of political approach to science, I now understand how politics can influence the belief toward the outcome of science, but its limits do not extend to change the outcome – only to those who believe the results.
The talk about objectivity was fascinating in relation to how every experience we each have is personal and unique. The ethical dilemmas presented such as ‘is discovering objective?’ and ‘how can we observe without interfering?’ made me realise and hold more meaning to my existence and what I bring to the table.
We then moved onto the idea of government funding and who it benefits. Historically, we see implications as to who can provide scientific findings due to socioeconomic differences, such as race, gender, or availability to money. Due to government funding, more of the general public are able to have access to funding. This in turn means a larger amount of important scientific discoveries will be made that will benefit most people, that perhaps if scientific experiments were only carried out by an upper class/male citizens, the problem might not have been addressed and solved.
Essentially, science and politics work in a harmonious balance together which sometimes may feel restrictive but due to the nature of humanity, and our untrustworthiness, it is often necessary. I was honoured to be a part of this experience as it really made me think about new ideas.
Lucia, UC4 (Year 10)
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