Skip to main content

Fundamental Research

 

I believe Fundamental research i.e. research into fundamental fields WITHOUT a prior agenda (of solving a specific pre-determined problem) is one of the, if not the, most important field we as mankind should be investing in. It is only this kind of research that has the best chance to produce solutions for problems that we currently face, and more importantly for new problems we will face in the future. 

We currently face several existential threats- climate change being one of them. However, to think these will be the last existential threats or that we know of all possible future existential threats would be naïve. Our best defense against future unknown existential risks is again - fundamental research - which helps us understand the nature of reality and in the process come up with solutions for problems.

Iterative research or research with a specific goal in mind has its place and is essential too. It is required to take a particular solution ahead and better it e.g., once vaccines were invented, we needed iterative research into vaccines to make them more efficient. But to come up with new solutions or brand-new technologies we need fundamental research without a set practical goal. For the vaccine example, we also need fundamental research into the workings of viruses, genetics etc. and from there we can incorporate the appropriate findings into iterative vaccine research. E.g., how MRA vaccines were developed.

Since future problems are unpredictable, our best “defense” is to understand reality as much as possible so that the solutions for specific problems can be conjectured out of our understanding. Increasing our scientific (as well as moral, political, philosophical) knowledge leads to better understanding of reality and as a result, also leads to better tools to control reality – be it for progress or for solving problems.

A few examples of fundamental research leading to world changing solutions –

1.       Einstein’s general theory of relativity, amongst other things, led to satellites being possible (including GPS). Einstein had none of these in mind when he was working on incorporating gravity into special relativity. He was merely conducting fundamental research for the sake of curiosity.

2.    Fundamental research into the properties of uranium in the early 19th century led to nuclear power barely 4 decades later.

3.      Research into computation mathematics and theory of computation (Alan Turing) led to computers, the internet and changed the world and economy for the better.

These are just a few examples. Problems that we face as mankind are not going to stop. Some of there problems are created by us, while many of them will arise without any input from us. Current climate change is driven by us, but climate change happened in the planet’s history numerous times (sometimes a lot more severe) without any input by us. There can be other problems – asteroids approaching earth (which again happened at least once in the past leading to the extinction of numerous dinosaur species), and again our best bet is to invest in fundamental research. Which, as I have mentioned, invariably leads to tools and technologies which might solve these problems.

(Credit to David Deutsch for bringing this to light in his talks)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

True Essence

My yoga teacher, who knows a lot about me and my story, recently asked me "what do you like about yourself, what is your true essence?". I gave the usual answer that I have been giving myself for most of my life - that I am kind, generous, helpful etc. etc. That was not the answer he was looking for. He said those things are in relation to other people i.e. these traits are what I think other people perceive me as. But what is really MY true essence and what do I like about MYSELF. He gave me a week to think about it. That did get me thinking. I talked to some friends about it over the week. I realised how much of my self-perception is dictated by other people. And it has been like that all my life. What I think of myself is really what I think others think of me. Or what I want others to think of me. But if I take other people out of the equation, what am I? What is my true essence? The more I thought, the more I realised that my true essence is creativity. Looking back...

The limitation of language

Humans developed language as a means of communicating with other tribe members. Language is one of the most important, if not THE most important, reason humans are so successful as a species. It enables us not only to communicate immediate information (e.g. there is a lion in that direction, don't go there) but also form and communicate intricate ideas (e.g. myths, religions). Yuval Hariri in his massively interesting book "Sapiens" talks about how what he calls "fiction" (i.e. stories we humans tell each other) enabled homo sapiens to co-operate in massive numbers (much more than the Dunbar limit of 150) and made us such a successful species. Language was critical in all of that.  I believe the advent of language was what gave the biggest boost to cultural evolution in humans. Humans are the only species that significantly evolve culturally as well as naturally. Cultural evolution is exponentially faster than natural evolution - we homo sapiens effectively ...