ClassX Video Lessons Youtube Channel Science Time Neil deGrasse Tyson: What Drives Scientific Progress?
Imagine the countdown: three, two, one, ignition. The dream of sending humans to Mars is not just a fantasy; it’s a tangible goal. Mars represents a new frontier, a place where we might discover life or learn something groundbreaking. But embarking on such a journey is costly. How can we justify the expense? To answer this, we can look back at history to understand what has driven humanity to undertake expensive projects.
Throughout history, there have been three primary motivators that have driven nations to invest in large-scale projects. These projects, like the pyramids, the Great Wall of China, the Manhattan Project, and the Apollo missions, required immense resources and effort. What do these endeavors have in common? They were driven by one of three factors:
The most powerful motivator is the survival instinct, often manifested through war. When a nation feels threatened, resources are quickly allocated to minimize that threat. This is evident in projects like the Great Wall of China and the Manhattan Project, where the primary goal was defense and survival.
Another significant driver is the promise of economic return. Historical expeditions, such as Columbus’s voyages and the Lewis and Clark expedition, were undertaken with the hope of discovering new resources and opportunities for wealth. The desire to avoid poverty and achieve prosperity has fueled many explorations and innovations.
In the past, the desire to honor royalty or deities motivated grand projects like the construction of cathedrals in Europe and the pyramids in Egypt. While less common today, this motivator played a significant role in historical endeavors.
Scientific progress often requires significant investment, and without the presence of war or immediate economic gain, it can be challenging to secure funding. For instance, during the Cold War, the United States was a leader in particle physics. However, when peace emerged in Europe, funding for projects like the Superconducting Super Collider dwindled, shifting the frontier of particle physics to Europe with the construction of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.
Science is a global endeavor, and discoveries can happen anywhere. The discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN is a testament to this. If the U.S. had continued its investment, it might have made this discovery decades earlier.
Scientific and technological innovation has long been the engine of economic growth and national defense. The Industrial Revolution, fueled by advancements in understanding energy, transformed societies. Michael Faraday’s experiments with electricity in the 1800s laid the groundwork for modern electrical generation, even though it took decades for these ideas to revolutionize daily life.
Similarly, Albert Einstein’s work on stimulated emission of radiation eventually led to the development of lasers, which have countless applications today. These examples highlight that the practical applications of scientific discoveries are not always immediately apparent.
One of the most intriguing aspects of scientific exploration is its unpredictability. When scientists like Faraday and Einstein made their discoveries, they couldn’t foresee the full range of applications their work would inspire. This unpredictability is a fundamental part of scientific progress.
In conclusion, while the motivations for grand projects may vary, the pursuit of knowledge and innovation remains a constant driver of human progress. Whether driven by survival, economic gain, or the quest for understanding, scientific exploration continues to shape our world in ways we cannot always predict.
Engage in a structured debate with your classmates on the topic: “Should governments prioritize funding for scientific exploration over immediate economic concerns?” Use historical examples from the article to support your arguments and consider the long-term benefits versus short-term needs.
Choose one of the historical projects mentioned in the article, such as the Apollo missions or the Manhattan Project. Analyze the primary motivators behind the project and discuss its impact on society. Present your findings in a group presentation, highlighting how these motivators align with the concepts discussed by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Create a timeline that traces the development of a significant scientific discovery mentioned in the article, such as the laser or electricity. Include key milestones, the scientists involved, and the eventual applications of the discovery. Share your timeline with the class and discuss the unpredictable nature of scientific progress.
Participate in a role-playing exercise where you are part of a committee deciding on funding for a new scientific project. Consider the motivations discussed in the article, such as survival, economic gain, and the pursuit of knowledge. Debate the merits of different projects and come to a consensus on which to fund.
Write a research paper exploring how a specific scientific discovery has transformed society. Use examples from the article to illustrate the long-term impact of scientific progress and innovation. Discuss how the initial motivations for the discovery may have evolved over time.
Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Three, two, one, ignition. I want us as a species to go to Mars, and I thought to myself, well, that is a place—it’s not just an idea, but it’s a place. Plus, there might be life there; we might learn something there. There are new discoveries in new places. So I said, all right, what did people do in the past to engage in expensive projects? Because going to Mars is going to be expensive, and someone’s going to have to write the check. Is that even justifiable?
I’m going to look at all the things humans have done throughout time, find out what it cost as a fraction of the GDP of the day, and then ask how much it costs to go to Mars today. Then I’ll line that up in a chart and find out what motivated them to undertake those activities, and maybe we can replicate that in modern times. That’s how we would then engage in major funded projects.
I thought to myself, and here’s what I found: there were only three motivators in the history of human culture that drove nations and states to do great things—great as in large, unforgettable, magnificent investments of human and financial capital. We can make a list of what would be there: the pyramids, the Great Wall of China, the Manhattan Project, the Apollo project, the Columbus voyages. We’d all agree these are expensive endeavors undertaken by nations.
What did they have in common? Only one of three things. The greatest driver of them all is obvious: it’s the survival instinct—the war driver. That’s where you get the Great Wall of China and the Manhattan Project. Time and again, the conduct of our species has demonstrated that if you feel threatened, money flows like rivers to minimize that threat.
There’s another driver: the promise of economic return. That’s how you get the Columbus voyages and the Lewis and Clark expedition—investments where people say, “I don’t want to die poor.”
There’s a third driver, which is less common today than it was centuries ago, and that’s the praise of royalty or deity. That got you the cathedral building in Europe and the pyramids. There’s less of that today; you don’t see whole nations investing huge amounts of money in the service of God or their king.
So, if you want to do something expensive and it does not fulfill one of those two drivers, it’s not going to happen—period—unless you claim that you live in a very special community that differs in its outlook on the causes and effects of investment and human dreams. If you have to say that you are different from every civilization that has come before you, I don’t see evidence of that.
Physicists are experts in matter, motion, and energy, and war is about putting energy from one place to another. If there’s a target, you don’t want that target to exist anymore; you take the energy you created and direct it at the target. That is war, reduced to its most fundamental laws of physics.
I understand that you can build centers because you feel threatened. It was the Cold War, sure. I understand that. In 1989, peace broke out in Europe, and we almost had the largest accelerator in the world—the Superconducting Super Collider—started construction in Texas in the 1980s. It was the next frontier in physics. If you go into a place in energy that no one has been before, you’re going to discover something. It’s that simple because you’re stepping where no one has stepped before; that is exploration in the laboratory.
So here we are, riding a century of American leadership in particle physics. But when peace broke out, it became harder for people to justify, particularly those writing the checks, why you’d be spending this much money on physics anymore. The Soviet Union was gone, and the budget got cut to zero, which knocked out the frontier of particle physics in America.
The interesting thing about science is that it continues anywhere else in the world; you don’t have a monopoly on it. CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research, built the Large Hadron Collider, the most powerful particle accelerator in the world, and they discovered the Higgs boson—a particle whose field grants mass to other particles. We would have discovered that particle 20 years ago if our accelerator had been three times the power of that one.
Now, why do I mention this? Well, war isn’t the only driver; economics is too. It’s a huge driver, but it’s not immediately lucrative. Corporations can’t justify their R&D in this zone that can only be touched by government funding if the government cares about its future.
You have engineers working on new physics and new sciences, but you need the science as well. What are some examples of this? In the 1700s, we started to study the concept of heat energy. In the days of Isaac Newton, the concept of energy was not well understood. It would take another century before we got the steam engine and started figuring out how to convert energy from one form into another—mechanical energy, chemical energy, gravitational potential—and all these forms of energy can be converted into one another with the right machine. Thus was born the Industrial Revolution, and the nations that embraced it led the world in every metric that mattered in civilization.
So what happened next? In the mid-1800s, Michael Faraday was experimenting with electricity. He took a wire and moved it through a magnetic field, and a dial jumped that the wire was connected to. If you do this over here and something else happens over there, that’s really intriguing to a physicist. A member of Parliament once asked him what he was wasting government money on. He famously replied, “I don’t know of what use this will one day be, but I guarantee you, sir, one day you will tax it.”
Passing the wire through a magnetic field is how we generate electricity today. It is the foundation of all generators and turbines. We didn’t electrify cities until the early 1900s; it took 50 years for his tabletop experiments to transform the world and how we lived. Now, you just flick a switch on the wall, and all the lights turn on.
We’ve known since the Industrial Revolution and earlier that innovation in science and technology helps defend the nation, but when you’re not at war, innovation in science and technology is also the engine of tomorrow’s economy. When Einstein wrote down his equation for stimulated emission of radiation, which is the foundation of the laser, was he thinking to himself, “Barcodes”? This is innovation in science. The applications of his ideas into machines require clever engineers, creative investors, and dynamic CEOs to turn them into products.
Don’t ever ask me why you are studying this and how it’s helping you. You know, I don’t know how it’s going to help you. I have no idea. Neither did Faraday, neither did Einstein, nor did anyone who made great discoveries about our understanding and our relationship to nature.
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This version removes any informal language, filler words, and maintains a more formal tone while preserving the original message.
Science – The systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. – The development of quantum mechanics marked a significant advancement in the science of physics.
History – The study of past events, particularly in human affairs. – The history of the Industrial Revolution reveals the profound impact of technological advancements on society.
Innovation – The introduction of new ideas, methods, or devices. – The innovation of the steam engine was a pivotal moment in the history of transportation.
Exploration – The action of traveling in or through an unfamiliar area in order to learn about it. – The exploration of space has led to numerous technological advancements and a better understanding of our universe.
Survival – The state or fact of continuing to live or exist, typically in spite of an accident, ordeal, or difficult circumstances. – The survival of early human societies often depended on their ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions.
Economics – The branch of knowledge concerned with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth. – The economics of energy production is a crucial factor in the development of sustainable technologies.
Progress – Forward or onward movement towards a destination or goal. – The progress in renewable energy technologies is essential for reducing global carbon emissions.
Physics – The branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy. – Understanding the principles of physics is fundamental to the development of new engineering solutions.
Discovery – The action or process of discovering or being discovered. – The discovery of the Higgs boson particle was a milestone in particle physics.
Technology – The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry. – Advances in computer technology have revolutionized the way we conduct scientific research.
