What Scientists and Grandmas Can Learn From Each Other

[Music]

this

is my grandma she’s one of the wisest

women i know

but it usually takes me some time to

fully understand her words of wisdom

growing up my brother and i were never

allowed to blow out the candles on her

birthday cakes

we were taught that light is a symbol of

life and

to blow it out was taboo

it wasn’t until years later until this

year in fact when covet hit

that i realized the meaning behind her

words

it turns out that when we blow out

candles on birthday cakes we’re

essentially spraying our spit

and germs all over this cake which we’re

then

feeding to friends and family that’s

pretty gross

well scientists at clemson university

came to the same conclusion a couple of

years ago

when they published a peer-reviewed

article that quantified the amount of

bacteria that accumulates

due to candle blowing how is it

that my grandma who was equipped solely

with her cultural traditions and her

sixth grade education

was able to arrive at the same

conclusion decades before these renowned

scientists

it’s because science and tradition are

really just two different sides of the

same coin

tradition tells us what to do and

science explains

why we should do it for example the

traditions laid out in the bhagavad-gita

tell us about the practice of meditation

when the great warrior arjuna was on the

kurukshetra battlefield

he was frozen into an action due to his

feelings of guilt

and attachment his friend and acting

charioteer lord krishna

helps to guide him back to a sense of

purpose using techniques

such as role transition and mindfulness

these techniques have since become

deeply embedded in the hindu tradition

science then goes on to explain why we

should meditate

it turns out that modern cognitive

behavioral therapy

or cbt uses these techniques of role

transition and mindfulness

to reduce amygdala activation and

cortisol levels

which means we’re reducing our fear and

stress response

science and tradition both work to

answer the same essential questions of

human nature

they just do so from different

perspectives

unfortunately science and tradition have

a long history of disagreement

from the heliogeocentric debate between

galileo and the catholic church

to the debate between ayurvedic

homeopathy and modern allopathic

medicine

we’ve seen far too many examples of what

happens when science and tradition butt

heads

no wonder we’ve come to regard the two

as worlds apart

even mutually exclusive

why did this storm between science and

tradition arise in the first place

to understand that we need to first

learn that tradition

was created with a certain intent a

certain purpose in mind

be it the morning ritual of drinking

turmeric and honey ginger tea

or the taboo against blowing out candles

on birthday cakes

tradition has withstood the test of time

to

carry the accumulated knowledge of our

ancestors across generations

but over time we grew blind to the

original intent the original purpose

behind these traditions

and we’ve corrupted them in the process

take menstrual practices in india as an

example

to perform chores back in the day women

had to walk

long distances to fetch water to boil

rice and vegetables

they had to wash clothes by hand by

beating them on a rock

they had to carry heavy loads on their

back and their hip

today’s scientific research shows us

what our ancestors already knew

that heavy lifting during menses puts

immense strain on the womb

to prevent potential harm to the woman

our ancestors ensured that the husband

would take over the household chores

during those few days

but over time we grew blind to the

intent behind those traditions

and now we tell women that they cannot

step foot into the kitchen

that they cannot touch the laundry that

they cannot perform puja to god

what began as a way to give relief to

women from these responsibilities during

these few days

turned into a taboo that saw women in

their periods as

filthy and impure see tradition is like

a mango on a tree in the beginning

the mango is raw and bitter and no one

really likes it

when that same mango ripens it becomes

sweet to the taste and everyone loves it

but once its window of time passes

the mango can become rotten if it’s not

picked off the tree

and preserved properly think about how

you make

mango preserves you take the mango you

mash it up you slice it up

it no longer looks like the mango that

you began with

but the original mango taste is the same

the same principle applies to preserving

our traditions

when we take the traditions of our past

to fit the needs of our present

they may not look the same any longer

but we have to ensure

that the original taste the original

intent

is preserved now

tradition isn’t the only one that’s

undergone corruption like this

science has gone through the same

corruption

see science at its core is a humble

curiosity of our world and of ourselves

but over time we’ve lost that humility

we sit atop our ivory towers of science

looking down at anyone who can’t

possibly understand us

we think them to be stupid or ignorant

or just

outright evil take the example of

controlling forest fires

an all too familiar problem here in

california

for thousands of years the indigenous

tribes of california including the yurok

and hupa

have practiced the tradition of

controlled burning

so by burning old brush they not only

prevented

larger and more dangerous wildfires from

occurring but they also regenerated food

resources and habitats for animals

unfortunately scientists and ecologists

of the national forest service

thought these traditions to be primitive

and destructive

and so they moved to outlaw these groups

from migrating

and from practicing their tradition of

controlled burning

it wasn’t until a hundred years later

that these laws were finally discovered

to be harmful and dangerous to the

environment

but so much of the forest has been lost

in that time

for so long the scientific community has

arrogantly brushed aside traditions

that have offered hope to people for so

many years

and in the same vein cultural leaders

have vehemently opposed scientific

advancement

out of fear that the rapid progress of

science would mean

the ruin of their age-old traditions

these mutual misunderstandings have

fueled this divide between science and

tradition

and we’ve since been forced to choose

sides

there is a way out of this storm however

if we can restore the original ideals

and core

values of both science and tradition we

can

bridge them back together in our search

for truth and understanding

firstly we must ensure that we harness

the traditional knowledge of our past

such that it is applicable to our world

today

for example yale professor jung chi

chang and his team

recently discovered a new drug that

promises to treat cancer with

minimal side effects pretty cool huh

but guess what his drug was inspired by

the traditional herbal medicines

described in ancient chinese texts from

thousands of years ago

by using tradition to inspire his search

professor chang has literally pioneered

a new path

in the field of pharmacology and cancer

research

that being said we must also remember

the original intent

and purpose behind our traditions we can

do so using the scientific method

which teaches us to question the

limitations of our existing body of

knowledge

and dares us to ask why

see the storm between science and

tradition is one that cannot go

unresolved if we want to make innovation

accessible to everyone

we have to reframe our scientific

knowledge

into frameworks of tradition that people

are familiar with

to do so traditional knowledge must go

hand in hand with modern science

we must both learn from the knowledge of

our past

and learn to question the limitations of

that knowledge

only then can we make progress available

to all

so instead of being forced to choose one

or the other

let’s learn to value both let’s revisit

our traditions

with the eye of a scientist and let’s

restore the humility of science

with inspiration from our grandma’s

traditions

thank you