Motivation for Scientists

This week I want to write some content for those pursuing or planning to pursue a scientific field. Understanding the purpose of science may serve as some motivation to get over initial hurdles that are often found in STEM-related fields.

There exists quite a debate on the discovery of science. Some people argue that science started during the Renaissance when the scientific method was developed. The scientific method gave became the baseline of building findings within the field since it provided a way of verifying findings. The consensus seems to be that science came from the ancient Greeks, great thinkers of the time: Hippocrates and Aristotle, about 460 - 322 BC. Greek philosophers asked essential questions related to how things worked, questions of how we came to be, or how the land could float on water. These thinkers sought non-supernatural explanations for natural phenomena.

Medicine became a field that was studied by Hippocrates and his followers, who were set on describing the human body,  diseases, and medical conditions. In Egypt, Euclid laid foundations in mathematical foundations, introducing the concept of definitions, axioms, theorems, and proofs. Linguistics gave way to generative grammar. Astronomy let us understand the world around us. Science all around the globe became anything from a religion to a way of thinking to an everyday tool to be used by people. It may also be how to earn a living. I think no matter what we do or how we think of science, it does not change its goal of understanding the natural world around us. 

Scientists seek information to expand our knowledge and help us live better lives. I think that is a great thing to be able to contribute to the understanding of the world (it can be through products, papers, research, etc.), and although it may be difficult or tiring: knowledge sought is knowledge gained.

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Driving at your own pace

Can you remember a time you felt pressured to do something... to make a choice, a comment, or an action? I like comparing it to the feeling of driving. When times are hard, and we try to step back, it can feel difficult, like driving downhill with your foot off the breaks.

Other times we drive on, seeing new sights, traveling farther away from places we were, becoming more. We quickly forget we drove through wonderful times or even difficult times. In many ways, still, we keep driving along. 

Never Forgetting

In many ways, I believe anyone has a memory, a place, a skill, a trait, an item, or a person that they would never abandon. It becomes the grooves on the steering wheel or the shape of the air conditioning vents or how we display time on the dash. Whatever we hold valuable is what drives us through easy or hard times. 

Choice is Freedom

Ever heard of the paradox of choice? " The  more options we're given, the less satisfied we become with whatever we choose because we're aware of all the other options we're potentially forfeiting." Like forks in the road, we must live with the choices we make and the burden of the freedom to make choices. Holding onto what we should never forget grounds us in these choices and makes us more confident in how we make our choices. 

Learning Still

While we drive towards our goals by choice or by the world, we learn much about what we genuinely care for. Maybe it was a pit stop that we took with someone, a promise that was made. Or perhaps it was the solo trip that we took one day just to find ourselves in a new place. 

In many ways, still, we keep driving along. 

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