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"It is because science grows out of the preoccupations and pressures of everyday life
that its discoveries have, in the end, to be accessible to all of us."
Lisa Jardine, 1999. Ingenious Pursuits:
Building the Scientific Revolution p.8
Is knowing enough?
Video: Keith Armstrong questions Lisa Roberts about the limits of knowledge in the face of climate change.
Image: William Gladstone researches changes in distribution and abundance of marine life.
Keith Armstrongasks, 'Is knowing enough?' The question comes from Keith's research, Over Many Horizons (O-M-H)that aims to further inspire sustainable action in a world of diminishing resources. This recording is a glimpse into an exchange of shared passions and concerns, contributing also to Track Changesresearch into changes in understanding that can happen when scientists and other artists interact over time.
Keith and I had just returned from the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS) where we had been swimming with scientists William Gladstoneand Anthony Larkum.
Keith's question raises another question: Is knowing about changes in understanding enough, without evidence of changes in behaviour? In this context I say no; we need to describe and to share evidence of changing behaviours, so we can inspire more. My research so far leads me to believe that interactions with people who think and behave very differently from ourselves are more likely to change our understandings and behaviours much more than if we interact primarily with people more like us. Changes in behaviour that come from scientific knowledge have potential to inspire more people to do likewise. This is long-term research to track changes in gestures (in myself as well as in research participants), as evidence of connection between new experience, understanding and changing action.
