| Tikalon Blog is now in archive mode.
An easily printed and saved version of this article, and a link
to a directory of all articles, can be found below: |
|
This article |
| Directory of all articles |
Christmas 2012
December 25, 2012
I published my first
blog article on
August 10,
2006. The month of
August, 2006, is most notable in
science for the demotion of
Pluto from
planet status. The
Tikalon blog, my present forum, has been active since
May, 2010.
The first Tikalon blog article,
Career Choice, recalled the reasons for my pursuit of
physics and not
biology. Biology has since elevated itself from its
stamp-collecting motif[1] of past ages to something that resembles its
physical science cousins more closely; so, I may have chosen differently if starting my career today.
I never thought that I would write so many articles about
energy and
global warming, but my search for interesting topics exposed me to information outside of a
scientist's usually narrow specialty. The more I read, the more I was convinced that
technology has created new problems in the course of its solving older ones.
The
IEEE Code of Ethics and the
APS Guidelines For Professional Conduct concern themselves only with ethics as they relate to the conduct of individuals in those professions, but scientists and
engineers should genuinely worry about what technology is doing to the the world itself.
I'm definitely not a
Luddite. My sentiments are more akin to those expressed in the
HG Wells novel,
The Shape of Things to Come, made into the memorable film,
Things to Come (1936,
William Cameron Menzies, Director).[2-3] Wells has
technologists saving a world that was nearly destroyed by
politicians.
Tikalon is taking a short
holiday break. The next article will be published on Wednesday, January 2, 2013.
The Three Kings, as depicted on the baptismal font of Master Sigraf (ca.1200) at the Grötlingbo church in Gotland.
Grötlingbo is also the name of 10812 Grötlingbo, a main belt asteroid discovered on March 21, 1993.
(Detail of a photo by Wolfgang Sauber, via Wikimedia Commons.)
References:
- "All science is either physics or stamp collecting" was one of the more memorable quotations of Ernest Rutherford, who was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for showing that radioactivity involved the transmutation of one chemical element to another.
- Things to Come (1936, William Cameron Menzies, Director), on the Internet Movie Database.
- Things To Come, free download at Archive.org.
Permanent Link to this article
Linked Keywords: Blog; August 10; 2006; August, 2006; science; Pluto; planet; Tikalon blog; May, 2010; Career Choice; physics; biology; stamp-collecting; physical science; renewable energy; energy; global warming; scientist; technology; IEEE Code of Ethics; APS Guidelines For Professional Conduct; engineer; Luddite; HG Wells; The Shape of Things to Come; Things to Come; William Cameron Menzies; technologist; politician; holiday; Biblical Magi; Three Kings; baptismal font; Grötlingbo; Gotland; 10812 Grötlingbo; asteroid belt; main belt; asteroid; Wikimedia Commons; Ernest Rutherford; "All science is either physics or stamp collecting"; Nobel Prize in Chemistry; Things to Come (1936, William Cameron Menzies, Director); Internet Movie Database; Archive.org.