Chemical Information Bulletin, Volume 41, Number 1, Spring 1989 Page: 9
40 p. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
percentage points to an explosive growth of the
science data base. The expanding products of Chemical
Abstracts and of the Institute for Scientific Information
give visual evidence of that growth. The
house of science has become so vast that the architecture
of the whole house is not known to the working
scientist any more. Only that section of the house
which the scientist is working on, the one which represents
his sub-sub-discipline or her expertise, is
familiar. Oh yes, we all know what kind of bricks are
required to build our part of the house of science.
Does building up our part of the house unbalance the
rest of the house to make it lean or perhaps even topple?
Does the brick we design for our part of the
house spoil the balance of the whole house?
We have seen that there are different paradigms and
that it is difficult to move from the basic assumptions
of one paradigm to the basic assumptions of another
paradigm. Is the same thing possible in myth? Can
some different, previously unrecognized part of the
myth come to the fore, revitalizing the myth so that
once again it can carry people through a lifetime of
creativity and challenges? When that happens, it
might seem to the observer that the myth is changing.
A better way of describing that development is
that the myth is always present in its entirety, even
though the people who are living the myth are not
conscious of any of it or at best they are conscious
of only a small part of it. As consciousness increases,
the window through which one sees the myth increases
in size or at least changes its position. Thus,
the person who becomes aware of aspects of the
myth which are new to him/her is in the position of
the person who could only see visible light, and then
a larger window augments his/her vision to see ultraviolet
and infra-red light. A yet larger window enables
that person to see x-rays and microwaves, and so on.
What might be required to enlarge our window on the
myth of the bricks in the house of science so that it
once again carries scientists through their professional
lifetime? Given the vastness of the house of
science, are there means by which the individual
scientist can still assess its architecture?
A number of organizations are providing us with
databases covering much of science on a continuing
basis. We need to be grateful to them for their efforts.
Only our insistence on correlating this data in an algorithmic
fashion limits our use of this data. Only
being stuck in the Cartesian paradigm, and refusing
to acknowledge the existence of other paradigms,
makes this data unavailable for correlation acrossdisciplinary lines. Use of heuristic techniques such
as the one which I described earlier in this talk can do
much to permit exploration of relationships across
previously impermeable disciplinary barriers. With
such heuristic techniques, the architecture of thehouse of science can once again be designed with
the whole house in mind, rather than only one small
part.
What stands in the way of doing this? It is always difficult
to leave the familiar. Perhaps the progression
from the paradigm to a paradigm, the challenge of becoming
aware of a larger window on the myth, is just
as difficult as the progression from the people to a
people, from the planet to a planet, from the galaxy
to a galaxy. Joel Barker (9) has applied the phrase
"paradigm paralysis" to the kind of stasis which is
the opposite of this difficult progression. Paradigm
paralysis seems to describe the difference in American
and Japanese science paradigms with which I
began this talk.
What is even more scary for the individual is that
heuristic techniques are inherently irrational. For scientists
who pride themselves on the rationality of
their science, the irrationality of heuristic procedures
is a professional as well as a personal affront.
Referees' negative comments on papers employing
heuristic procedures frequently reflect this affront.
The force of this affront was also evident in two years
of pro and con discussion in Chemical and Engineering
News on whether or not Kekule's dream led to the
formulation of the benzene ring; a discussion which
became so heated that it was reported in the New
York Times (10).
The apparent dichotomy of using irrational methods
in the framework of a rational science requires a special
attitude of consciousness, a radical openness.
An additional difficulty is that the relationships derived
by heuristic procedures can appear to be
acausal. A discussion of acausality as a connecting
principle is beyond the scope of this paper. Suffice it
to say that acausality belongs to a different paradigm
than the one which we are used to.
Let us look back on the road which we have travelled
in this short talk. We began by considering the
fact that valid science can be done in different paradigms,
such as the ones practiced in the West and in
the Orient. We sketched a method for pushing forward
from one paradigm to another yet unknown paradigm,
using the data so plentifully available as
chemical information. We noticed a similar road in
mythology, where it is also possible and enlivening to
become aware of a larger window on the myth. Finally,
we examined the difficulties which inhibit such
work by individuals and groups, and the urgent need
which causes some of us to speak out despite thesedifficulties.
You invited me here today to honor me for initiating
the Computer Secretariat and for guiding it through
CHEMICAL INFORMATION BULLETIN 9
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
American Chemical Society. Division of Chemical Information. Chemical Information Bulletin, Volume 41, Number 1, Spring 1989, periodical, Spring 1989; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5660/m1/11/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .