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Scientific Objectivity
Scientific Objectivity
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Institution Affiliation
Scientific Objectivity
It is so hard to prove that scientific theories are not influenced by social, economical or political events, as well as individualistic bias. There are many theories that in one way or the other they have been influenced by one the above named factors. There is always an interest in solving a given problem or a factor happening at the given moment that would interest a scientist to have a look at. For instance, Darwin drew his inspiration for developing the theory of evolution in species by reading Thomas Malthus essay on the principle of population (1798). The background idea behind Malthus’ essay was the struggle of human existence. Some of the factors that influence the human existence are social and economic factors, such as diseases and food. Darwin was influenced by the diversity he witnessed. This shows that in some way Darwin’s theory of evolution was influenced by social factors, though indirectly.
Another great example of how science lacks objectivity is during the WW1. The war itself was a political event and each country that participated in it used all the resources they had to ensure that they make a statement at the big stage. Scientific knowledge was incorporated in the war to reduce casualties and to save on time used to attack enemies’ territories. Chemical warfare was the most vital item that was used at the time. Fritz Harber, a German scientist (chemist) played a huge role in helping his country overcome their enemies. He developed the chlorine gas, whose effect can be related to teargas canisters currently being used in police and military services. He also developed the chemical reaction of forming ammonia. If the scientists such as Fritz Harber were not being influenced by political events at the time, they would not have assisted their countries to fight the war. Many soldiers and living organisms were killed by the gas attacks. Its effect on the environment was massive to the extent that nothing was alive. Which begs me to ask the question, were science and scientists above politics?
Cybernetics functions are considered to be broad but the primary reason behind its development was to control machine and the society. They were developed for antiaircraft guns during the Second World War. In order to work on the idea, mathematicians, scientists, anthropologists, and biologists were brought together by the Macy foundation to perfect the idea. Information is an essential tool required when one is fighting an enemy. Decoding of information helps the military to fight the enemy without next move being predicted. Developments of ideas such as cybernetics are used in decoding and encoding of information by the military. After the Second World War, Shannon at the Bell worked on the information theory and published the “Mathematical Theory on Information.”
Despite most of the scientific knowledge being influenced by social, political, and economic factors, there are other scientist’s works whose only influence is their quest for knowledge. For instance, Albert Einstein’s developed most of his works while at the university.
Scientific Objectivity (2)
Scientific Objectivity
Name
Institution Affiliation
Scientific Objectivity
It is so hard to prove that scientific theories are not influenced by social, economical or political events, as well as individualistic bias. There are many theories that in one way or the other they have been influenced by one the above named factors. There is always an interest in solving a given problem or a factor happening at the given moment that would interest a scientist to have a look at. For instance, Darwin drew his inspiration for developing the theory of evolution in species by reading Thomas Malthus essay on the principle of population (1798)..The background idea behind Malthus’ essay was the struggle of human existence. Some of the factors that influence the existence are social and economic factors such as diseases and food. Darwin was influenced by This shows that in some way that Darwin’s theory of evolution is influenced by other factors, though indirectly.
Another great example of how science lacks objectivity is during the WW1. The war itself was a political event and each country that participated in the used all the resources they had to ensure that they make a statement at the big stage. Scientific knowledge was incorporated in the war to reduce casualties and to save on time used to attack various territories. Chemical warfare was the most vital item that was used at the time. Fritz Harber, a German scientist (chemist) played a huge role in helping his country overcome their enemies. He developed the chlorine gas, whose effect can be related to teargas canisters currently being used in police and military services. He also developed the chemical reaction of forming ammonia. If the scientists such as Fritz Harber were not being influenced by political events at the time, they would not have assisted their countries to fight the war. Many soldiers and living organisms were killed by the gas attacks. Its effect on the environment was massive to the extent that nothing was alive. Which begs me to ask the question, were science and scientists above politics?
Cybernetics functions are considered to be broad but the primary reason behind its development was to control machine and the society. They were developed for antiaircraft guns during the Second World War. In order to work on the idea mathematicians, scientists, anthropologists and biologists were brought together to by Macy foundation to perfect the idea. Information is an essential tool when fighting an enemy. Decoding of information helps the military to fight the enemy without next move being predicted. Developments of ideas such as cybernetics are used in decoding and encoding of information by the military. After the Second World War, Shannon at the Bell worked on the information theory and published the “Mathematical Theory on Information.”
Dynamics in the Statistics of Homelessness
Dynamics in the Statistics of Homelessness
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Institution
Introduction
The entire globe has been struggling with problems of varied types for a long time. These range from manmade problems and natural calamities and include wars, famines, plagues and others. Needless to say, there are variations in the magnitude with which different countries are affected by these problems. While there are numerous manmade problems affecting the United States, none seems to be more deeply embedded in the country than Homelessness. There is relative difficult in determining the number of homeless individuals in the globe thanks to the varied legal definitions for the term. In fact, most studies count only individuals residing on the streets and shelters thanks to financial and methodical constraints (Layton & Shapcott, 2008). This technique, despite providing useful information pertaining to individuals using services such as soup kitchens, or individuals who are considerably easy to locate, may result in significant underestimation of the number of homeless individuals.
Research, however, shows that the entire globe is composed of about 100 million homeless people. Of course, there are variations in the statistics of different countries. It is worth noting that the demographics are always changing with time. Studies on the state of homelessness in 2000 placed the number at between 546, 356 to 1.2 million. This figure, however, has continued rising every year to the current figures of between 743, 788 and 1.35 million. Of course, there exist variations between the figures presented by studies depending on the research techniques and the definition.
However, there has been extremely little or no change in the homeless demographics with regard to gender, youth, marital status and age. In December 2000, a report showed that homeless single men made up 44% of homeless individuals while single women made up 13% of the same (Todd, 2005). There were also variations in individual races, with African Americans making 50% of the homeless people, whites 35%, 1% Asian, Hispanic 12% and Native Americans 2%. These figures have remained virtually unchanged throughout the years (Layton & Shapcott, 2008). Nevertheless, the number of homeless people has been on the rise since 2000. Currently, the number of homeless individuals is estimated at between 743, 500 and 1.23 million Americans.
Varied factors have contributed to variations in the increase in the number of homeless individuals in the United States. However, scholars note that homelessness fundamentally results from the inability of individuals to pay for their housing, in which case it is affected by income, as well as the affordability of the housing available (Todd, 2005). Studies done from 2009 to 2010 showed that three economic factors worsened. The research showed an increase in the number of households that used over 50% of their income on rent by about 6% (Thompson, 2012). In addition, unemployment increased by about 4% in the one year period, with 11 states experiencing more than 10% increase in the unemployment rates (Thompson, 2012). Foreclosure activity, as expected, increased by around 2% with research showing that one in every 45 housing units faced foreclosure. The only positive economic indicator within that period was with working poor people’s average real income, which increased by less than 1% (Thompson, 2012).
While it may be difficult to lay blame on any entity, it is evident that the government bears the greater part of the blame. The United States had misplaced priorities in the name of war against terror, which saw enormous funds being used in the war. This had a bearing on the taxes and the inflation rate, which ate deeper into the pockets of the poor and the middle class, as well (Thompson, 2012). This wastage of funds accelerated and inflated the effects of the recession that was experienced in 2007 and its return in 2011. It goes without saying that the wasted funds would have played an enormous role in cushioning the poor and improving the economic conditions, thereby decreasing homelessness (Thompson, 2012).
References
Todd, E. P. (2005). Homelessness: Is society looking the other way?. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
Layton, J., & Shapcott, M. (2008). Homelessness: How to end the national crisis. Toronto: Penguin Canada.
Thompson, T. (2012). Homelessness. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.