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