Why I marched for science (and I why I write this column)?
As in many cities across the country and the world, Atlanta too witnessed a March for Science on Earth Day, April 22, 2017. The march was well organized and well attended — perhaps as many as 12,000–15,000 people may have participated in the event. Yet, unlike most cities in the country and the world where a March for Science was held, the local media in Atlanta has paid little attention to it. More than 24 hours later, Atlanta Journal Constitution, metro Atlanta’s main newspaper, is yet to carry a single story about the event. So today I sent the following op-ed to AJC, though I have little hope that it will be published there.
Why I marched for science (and I why I write this column)?
Ashok Goel
As I walked with my friend during the March of Science near Candler Park in Atlanta on Earth Day, April 22, 2017, he and I talked about how strange it seemed to march for science. My friend is a M.D. working for a government organization in metro Atlanta, and I am a Ph.D. in computer science and a professor at Georgia Tech. Many years back he and I independently came to the US to study science. Back then, the US was the place to go if you were academically smart, interested in science, and aspired to make a difference. In the early nineties, soon after we both moved to Atlanta having completed our studies elsewhere in the country, our respective families became friends. And now some twenty-five years later, here we were marching for science.
I marched for science not in support of or opposition to any political party or person. Although the march took place on Earth Day and I am concerned about the future of our planet, this too was not the major reason for my marching. While funding for science is very important in practical terms, I certainly did not march because I want more funding for science, let alone for my own research. Instead, I marched in defense of facts, evidence, reason, and truth. For this is what science is at its core: it seeks the truth based on facts, evidence and reason. It doesn’t care for what demographic group you or I come from. It doesn’t even care what you or I or anyone else believes. It holds only that there is in an objective reality and that we can potentially learn more about the reality if we are disciplined in our methods. As one sign at the march said: “I can’t believe I am marching for facts.”
I write this op-ed for a similar reason. Although the March of Science in Atlanta was well attended, the local media paid it little attention. Over the weekend, the Atlanta Journal Constitution published hundreds of stories including an article about the Prince as well as multiple articles about UGA football, but nothing about the Atlanta march of science. As much as I like Prince’s music and support UGA football — my younger son is a student there — I wonder why metro Atlanta’s main newspaper did not cover the march of science in Atlanta? I wonder also about the message this sends about social priorities to the readers of the newspaper. I would have thought that journalism and science have much in common because good journalism, like good science, relies on facts, evidence and reason in search of the truth.
From home to work, from education to medicine, science has served humanity very well. There is hardly any area of modern life that is not touched by science. The Age of Enlightenment over the last few hundred years is strongly coupled with scientific progress. Over the last seventy-five years America has led the world in many respects in no small part because of its leadership in science. The future of the society, the world, and yes, the planet as a whole, depends on science. This is why I marched for science on Earth Day 2017.
Author: Ashok Goel is a Professor of Computer Science at Georgia Institute of Technology. His research develops artificial intelligence for aiding human creativity in engineering invention and scientific discovery. Atlanta Journal Constitution has published several articles on his research on artificial intelligence over the years, most recently under education on January 31st, 2017.
