The rate of scientific advancement has been on the decline for years now, in some instances. For example in 1950–1970, it reached an all-time high of 90% per year. By 1975–1985 it dropped to about 70% per year and by the late 1990s it was down to only 2%. What this means is that scientists are continually getting better in their abilities to discern data. As more data becomes available we’ll be able to identify patterns and predict future events more accurately and accurately.
The rate at which scientists get better is not constant, but it’s increasing every single day. So, there is a tendency to see what seems like the most frequent results as being truly groundbreaking or very strange. That said, I think it’s important to keep that aside for the moment, for a second, and just look at one thing that they have been doing for decades; The development of “pulse oximetry” has allowed us to uncover some fascinating insights into human nature. Because of its ability to measure blood flow and oxygen levels through arteries, pulse oximetry helps doctors monitor blood pressure effectively.
It can also help detect when someone is sick enough to need dialysis. In other words, “pulse oximetry” may be our best friend for diagnosing diseases based on subtle changes in blood pressure that we can pinpoint with some simple tests.
Although it’s still very early in life, most things are becoming much easier to do with these tools. But at the same time, the fact that medical professionals can now do surgery, watch the surgery, and make appointments on the phone — without ever leaving the doctor’s office — gives us all hope that medicine is slowly advancing. If the pace continues to pick up at this rate, it may become just too little too soon before we can see more advanced healthcare technologies than ever before. And that could mean many people will never be able to experience medicine in the way it used to, not only because machines become increasingly sophisticated, but because we have finally developed enough tools to allow us to understand ourselves.
Science always does something new and exciting. At some point in history, it will advance beyond reason — to reach irrationality. That kind of thinking should never go unchallenged and, frankly, this concept isn’t new at all. But while the advancement of technology certainly needs to progress at a certain speed, so far the pace has been slower than humans wanted.
When talking about times when science hasn’t progressed quite fast enough, it’s important to take a step back; Things like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, driverless cars, etc. don’t go fast enough (at least, of course, not everyone thinks them have). Yes, some things appear too advanced to even dream about yet they’re happening faster than we realize.
One of those things is self-driving car companies like Tesla and Waymo — both of which employ hundreds of thousands of people around the world to partake in collecting their own sets of roads, surveying towns, cities, counties, states, etc… to offer autonomous parking at intersections. Self-driving cars promise easy access to your ride home without having to worry about making a trip to a gas station or parking lot each night. This makes it much easier to work from home, save money on long-distance flights, and even travel anywhere around the country no matter where you live. Of course, there are some challenges that self-driving vehicles face, especially if you are not prepared, like finding a place to park a car or paying for a charging port.
However, the main issue is how unsafe we will be as a society if we continue to rely on oil-driven cars and public transportation, even if those things are safe enough. Even though we know it’s dangerous when we use public transport and we know that our children are falling victim to such dangers every day, people are scared to admit that they feel comfortable using self-driving and owning cars due to media and social pressure.
A recent study showed that in China, 80% of drivers feel uncomfortable sharing their road trips on public transport, even if the weather outside looks good. People in countries as well as parts of Europe are worried about how people would react if they realised that their self-driving drivers could crash into them at any time or even crash into people in parked cars. Imagine how many cars we could buy with self-driving tech that we could plug into. How many people can afford a car as easily or safely? Will it be possible to make people pay extra money for their car? I don’t think most people see this as a real issue until someone dies and then they think maybe they could have been a passenger. Not only are self-driving vehicles terrifying to use, but they’re scary to use around other passengers on crowded streets and streetsides.
Our brains should be capable of seeing such a system and recognizing different scenarios. They aren’t. We as a society have gotten so accustomed to relying on others for our safety and comfort, because that’s what we are used to. Why shouldn’t I get on my computer and use this app? Isn’t this convenient? These types of thoughts are extremely unpleasant and unhelpful. There are ways that self-driving software does exist, but these features are limited.
For instance, you can’t tell if your autonomous vehicle is helping you avoid collisions and accidents. Your car may detect a red light and alert your driver to stop the car, but can’t talk to your car’s control systems to help prevent anything. Similarly, when you are watching a film or playing a game, your brain knows that the screen is a distraction and that you need to concentrate on the movie or the game, and sometimes you don’t want to play or watch because you recognize the effects of your environment and then the feeling of dread when you see a car coming past you in the lane ahead. Those feelings come along with the fear of crashing, and that is why we are scared of them as well.
It’s only logical for an artificially intelligent machine to be made and designed to be friendly and smart, and we don’t want a robot trying to decide whether we are stupid or not, especially when we have to take some risks and it might be dangerous to do so. That makes sense to me, but I wouldn’t want it if someone could turn it off if it made the car drive too fast. My anxiety is why I don’t want to keep my eyes and ears open to other passengers and not allow them to get out of the car completely, And this applies to anyone who has a smartphone.
Technology’s ability to connect and learn from user feedback is amazing, but it will only hold us back from reaching our full potential if we make excuses over it “I have to pay for Uber or Lyft for this or that, but my car is pretty cool.” No, we should have the option to choose a car that is safer and more comfortable and, unfortunately, that rarely happens now. I see myself living alone and relying solely on autonomous cars. That’d be great! Unfortunately, that’d mean giving up a whole host of freedoms humans have been enjoying and accepting for centuries. Would we miss out on wonderful things like riding the train to visit family, going out to eat food, and not having to worry about what someone else wants and needs? Maybe not. Maybe that’s an acceptable tradeoff in exchange for security? Maybe. This article came up in response to this question. Does that answer your question?
So what exactly is bad science?
The term “bad science” in itself doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Science is hard and often requires lots of skill, but we often confuse bad science for good science. Bad science is simply less than perfect science.
What’s good science?
I’m not sure. I think it’s fair to say that good science is anything that is done with some sort of goal or end in mind and can be tested. Good science is also used for solving problems and observing phenomena without being able to explain them and explain what happened and why it happened the way it did. The same goes for bad science. You can test it, but you can’t explain why, why the test happened the way it did and why it can happen the way that it does. You can’t predict what will happen next, but nothing is stopping you from hypothesizing and testing the opposite.
There is such a wide range of things that can be studied and tested, so a scientist’s career options are endless, I would say that good, bad, and ugly science are all valid terms. Science works best when we try to understand the world in some form and find out what is going on, when we think and wonder, and when we ask questions and solve problems. All kinds of science. Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading! Have fun and happy holidays!
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