Opinion: Science driven by curiosity is as essential as roads and bridges
When we think of infrastructure, we tend to think of the facilities and systems necessary for the functioning and prosperity of a country: roads, bridges, tunnels, airports and railroads, as President Donald Trump said in his address to Congress on February 28, 2017.
Bumps in the roads and crumbling buildings are undoubtedly a sign that there is a need for infrastructure renovation and renewal. But knowledge is also an essential infrastructure, and right now, attention to its condition is urgently required. Science and technology are the basis of the modern economy and the key to dealing with a long list of weighty environmental, social and security challenges. Basic research (pure research), driven by curiosity, freedom of thought and imagination, provides the basics for all The applied research and the technology. And just as we must break the endless cycle of "first aid" repairs of roads and railroads that are done as a substitute for a permanent solution, so we must ensure essential long-term investments in the advancement of knowledge.
Basic research driven by curiosity creates revolutionary changes in our lives. Suffice it to mention in this context the accelerated development of a field Computational intelligence or the discovery The genetic basis of life. Theory of relativity Albert Einstein conceived about a hundred years ago and is applied every day in our satellite positioning systems, GPS. It seems that the $4.5 million grant from the American National Science Foundation (NSF) which led to the development Google's search algorithm was the most successful US government investment ever: an investment that has paid for itself 100,000 times and more since then.
Basic research not only fundamentally changes the way we understand the world, but also paves the way for the development of tools and methods that over time serve society as a whole. for example, The World Wide Web, WWW, was originally developed to promote scientific collaboration between researchers in the field particle physics. Basic research poses extremely complex challenges to researchers, and its products, the fruit of thought and development by the best minds in the world, are widely used in industry and society as a whole. No one has exclusivity over them, the entire public enjoys them.
The way fromexploratory research Basic for practical applications is not one-way or linear: it is a complex and cyclical process. Technologies yielded by the process in turn enable additional basic discoveries. so, quantum mechanics led to the development of computer chips and other inventions and developments that have a significant share in the gross domestic product (TMG) of the USA.
To utilize the full potential of the human intellect and imagination, we must find a balance between our short-term expectations and our long-term investments. And just as a financial expert would never recommend to his clients to cash out the pension fund money and transfer it to their already padded bank account, so we must promote a considered policy and a balanced investment portfolio in both short-term and long-term scientific initiatives. However, in a reality where there has been a continuous decrease in the funding of scientific research, and against the background of economic uncertainty, political unrest in the world, and the ever-shortening timelines of scientific projects, there is a dangerous trend of investing in research focused on short-term goals that deal with contemporary problems, at the expense of basic research , which is to ensure scientific progress of great importance in the long term.
The decline in investments in basic research in recent decades, both in public investment and in private investment, in terms of percentages of GDP, is indeed a cause for concern. This trend is especially noticeable in light of the unprecedented increase in investments in science around the world in the decades after World War II, and among other things, the establishment of funds for the advancement of science, such as US National Science Foundation, and the massive investments in research infrastructures. But as mentioned, in recent years, there has been a significant cut in these investments. The diminishing public funding is not keeping pace and does not meet the needs, while science plays an increasingly significant role inA modern society based on knowledge. The US federal research and development budget, measured as a percentage of GDP, dropped from a record high of 1.92% in 1964, in the midst of The cold war וthe space race, less than 0.8% today. The budget of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is also in constant decline since 2003.
The government budget designated for funding scientific research has been directed in recent years mainly to deal with important social challenges when they are for themselves, such as the transition toSustainable clean energy, the struggle inClimate change and prevention of epidemics worldwide, but the funding framework remains constant or decreases. And as a result, basic research and its funding are marginalized.
But it is natural that when there is a budget crisis, the tendency will be to focus on the pressing needs. But investing in basic research, similar to saving for retirement, is a prerequisite and necessary for ensuring well-being, innovation andSocial progress. Long-term investments in basic research are a vital need. And more than that, they lead to the fulfillment of an even higher goal and the realization of the global benefits of adopting the scientific culture of accuracy, search for truth, critical inquiry and dialogue, healthy skepticism, respect for facts and uncertainties, and wonder at the richness of nature and the power of the human spirit.
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The need for electricity rises every year to new heights due to the increase in the world's population and the rise in the standard of living in the developing countries. The process of producing it from fossil fuels (fuel and coal) pollutes the atmosphere, increases the greenhouse effect and endangers everyone who lives here, on our planet.
The whole world is gradually moving to create 'clean' electricity, produced from wind and solar energy. Dozens of Israeli companies are building solar farms around the world to produce energy from the sun's rays, and are having impressive commercial successes there.
A campaign to encourage the production of solar energy by private entities was also recently started in Israel.
In this context it is worth noting that in the books of the ancients we find the message that in the not too distant future an impressive cosmic and ecological change is about to take place. In the Talmud it is written that "God is going to take heat out of its vagina", that is, that the barrier known as the 'crown of the sun' that protects us from solar radiation will be removed. With the removal of that partition, the solar radiation reaching the earth will increase approximately seven times.
Although this prediction sounds quite frightening, the sages of Kabbalah promise that all evil will not harm biological life on earth. On the contrary, these will use the unknown solar radiation to finally cure diseases that were considered incurable and will gain ultimate health and even eternal life.
Kabbalah theory explains that there will be a spiritual occurrence parallel to this physical occurrence, in the form of a huge spiritual revelation that will reach human awareness. This discovery will illuminate the human insight that has so far been dim when it comes to the inner essence of reality, that is, the spiritual power and the divine energy that fills all the worlds.
Kabbalah explains that the word 'world' is related to the word ha'alam - hide. The world by its very nature raises and hides the spiritual forces and Gods that abound in it. The essence of these powers is best explained by Kabbalah theory in a way that every student can understand.
However, Kabbalah teaches that the future revelations will cross the 'normal' state of consciousness, so that the new revelations will be at the level of 'evidence'. No longer content with artificial or cognitive insights, however high they may be, but the empowerment of consciousness to the level of sensory vision. We can simply see with our physical eyes the spiritual-divine energy that constitutes all reality.
Creating reality.
The basis of your conclusion is wrong, and probably, the conclusion as well.
The theory of relativity provides extremely accurate predictions for the results of experiments, with an accuracy of more than a trillion! True, these predictions are probabilistic, but that does not change their accuracy.
One's consciousness has no influence on the results of experiments. The effect is that of any macroscopic system. Volcanoes also erupt on distant planets, just as free neutrons decay in these places.
A person has free will, but so does a neutron. Interestingly, only the second one is empirically proven 🙂
Man has an effect on reality, but so does an earthquake. The impact of the earthquake is probably greater.
And now the difference between science and religion: science can predict what will happen in my time with high accuracy.
What can religion tell us about tomorrow? Nothing!!!! And the more distant future? Even less…
Quantum theory, which was developed to provide an explanation for what happens inside the atom, led physicists to understand that the reality we live in is not unambiguous. Not even in terms of the most elementary structures of the material. As it became clear in physical experiments, the consciousness of the person who observes and observes the phenomena has an important role in determining and defining reality, down to the most fundamental level: the nature and behavior of the most elementary components of matter.
These scientific ideas provide a fascinating perception of human life in general, and the power of the human consciousness in particular, and provide a new possible insight into the words of the great Tana and Kabbalah Rabbi Akiva in the Talmud in tractate Avot: 'Everything is predictable and permission is given' - our lives are no longer seen as a pre-dictated sequence on a fixed course . Every moment is actually a junction of possibilities. In our mind, our thought and our perception of reality, we actually choose and determine its color.
The quantum theory empirically proves the study in the theory of Kabbalah, that the free choice of man has a decisive effect on reality.
If things are true regarding the behavior of the most fundamental particles of matter, all the more so that by thinking and having the right opinion, we can create a desirable and correct reality also in real areas such as health, livelihood, interpersonal relationships and more. The study in the theory of Kabbalah about the power of positive thinking takes on a special and fascinating dimension in the perspective of the theories in modern physics.