Science Forward

Today was the last day of class in Medieval History. The lecture was a debate over its relevance. Medieval history has been only recently deemed worthwhile to study. For a very long time, the Middle Ages have been written off as barbaric and uncivilised, or completely alien and fantastical. People today consider it the same, as what we mainly know about it (if we’re not studying it) is King Arthur, men in tights, some Crusades, a plague, and Game of Thrones.

I could go into a multitude of reasons why medieval history is relevant to today. But as we don’t have a vast written record off which to work or much statistical data on the events that occurred in the Middle Ages, like we do with other, more recent eras, there are some that consider medieval history a waste of study. It’s not quantifiable. It’s not documented. We can’t pinpoint, exactly, what happened and why and put things into numbers and boxes and wrap it up all neat and tidy.

It is, in every way, the complete antithesis of everything lauded about scientific study. And it raised a question for me. If this field’s worth to study is hotly debated due to its unscientific nature, what makes science worthwhile to study? Why is science relevant and important?

Science is progress. Humans like progress. We don’t like to be reminded of where we’ve come from, especially if the past is less than flattering. But science is about looking forward, about bettering ourselves. It takes concepts from the past and endeavours to deepen our understanding of them, or reinvent how we view the world. And that view is that of objectivity and quantification. It’s a very appealing process of study, science: do something, get results. It’s humbling in that the results you receive might not be the ones you expect, but there is a gratification in having gains for your work. That these gains are deeply relevant to the modern world and clarify mysteries about how nature operates make them even better. In science, we learn to see the world as it is, not as we want it to be. Science cares little for how we think or feel something should be. Opinions don’t matter. What is just is.

It’s remarkably similar to history, in that both teach us about the way the world works. But where history concerns itself with interpersonal relations, science discusses our relationship with nature. The breadth of discovered information is so great, and so much remains to be discovered.