• Question: have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you weren\'t into science at all? and would it be a good thing or a bad thing for you to live a life without science ?

    Asked by zuhra11 to Chris, Emily, Martin, Natalie, Tamsin on 18 Mar 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Natalie Stanford

      Natalie Stanford answered on 18 Mar 2010:

      I imagine if I didn’t like science very much I wouldn’t be bothered about not studying it because I would be pursuing something else that interested me, like perhaps art, or cooking. But I think I’d be a lot different as a person to my friends and family. I wouldn’t have the same personality, I think the main reason I like science (and alot of people I know do) is because I always ask lots of questions and then want to find out the answer. To not like science I think I’d have to not want to ask questions about everything.

      I think most people are interested in science, don’t forget that it includes the main sciences of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, but also socials sciences such as psychology and sociology. If you’re interested in life I guarantee you are interested in science to some degree.

    • Photo: Martin Coath

      Martin Coath answered on 18 Mar 2010:

      A thought provoking question!

      I think I would have been alright without science – I guess. I am a musician and maybe I would have had a fun life playing music for a living.

      But I would have HAD to be “into science” a BIT. I would still be concerned about the environment, about what food I eat, about health issues, about the way the country (and the world) is governed. If you want to understand any of this stuff you have to understand the scientific arguments.

      Would it be a good thing? Mostly NO 🙂

    • Photo: Emily Cook

      Emily Cook answered on 18 Mar 2010:

      I do sometimes wonder what life would have been like.

      I sometimes wish I studied architecture or sold out and gone into banking and made lots of money. Both of these professions have been really hard hit by the recession though so I think I made the right decision. Plus I have a friend who did a science degree then went into banking and her job sounds really dull – getting paid more wouldn’t compensate for having to be bored every day (and she works much longer hours than me).

    • Photo: Chris Cooper

      Chris Cooper answered on 18 Mar 2010:

      As you can see from my profile I worked with kids in summer camps. They were actually quite emotionally disturbed children and it was challenging but rewarding. So I had to choose between a more outwardly “caring” touchy-feely profession or science. In the end I decided that I could do social work-type activities by volunteering in my spare time, so I chose science as a full time job. I don’t regret this decision as science exercises my brain every day.

      I can’t imaging not having a scientific view of the world, but I can certainly imagine doing a non-science job. In fact many scientists change jobs and go into management later in life for a new challenge.

      So if I didn’t have an interest in science I would have led a different life that I hope would have been as rewarding. In fact I would be curious to see what would have happened. Could you arrange a bit of time travel for me to make it happen?

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