Try to Develop Scientific Approach to issues. Abandon superstitions & orthodox attitude.

Despite everybody enjoying the fruits of so many great scientific innovations each day, a large proportion of population still follow so many superstitions and false beliefs. There are so many clear disadvantages of such an orthodox approach.

It is the time that we develop a general scientific attitude which involves objectivity, critical thinking, and open-mindedness. A person with a scientific temper is not quick to conclude based on what (s)he is told and is open to his ideas being falsified by evidence. Science has no place for unquestioned acceptance of claims. Being rational and loyal to facts forms the essential grain of scientific thinking.

Scientific attitude is not meant for practitioners of science only, rather it is hugely relevant to all of us. It represent a set of attributes that, if imbibed, could benefit us at individual level as well as our economy, polity and society at large.

Scientific thinking holds promise for our daily lives too – a patient with a scientific attitude will trust research-based therapies and perhaps be better positioned to decide when to adopt traditional remedies and when to seek the help of modern medicine. More generally, asking why – the word that science is anchored around is likely to serve as a pivot to better decision making in many areas of life. Perhaps it is high time to take scientific attitude outside the confines of science textbooks and give it wider space in social discourse.

Further, scientific process is based on sensory evidence, and critical evaluation, is accepted as necessary to improve existing theories. Consequently, intellectual honesty and open-mindedness are built-in components of scientific thought. They stop us from being carried away too much by our own beliefs. They inculcate in us the willingness to suspend judgment and study an alternative point of view, thus creating a better climate for making societies more tolerant and accommodating of diversity.

What’s more, all innovation springs from a spirit of enquiry. A society imbued with such a spirit could be better primed to innovate and find creative solutions to the challenges before it and also to adopt such solutions quickly and widely.

Policy makers and planners with a scientific outlook would frame policy informed by evidence and judge its efficacy based on transparent and objective impact analysis. They will encourage rigorous peer review and scrutiny.

Lastly, a spirit of enquiry would perhaps make us appreciate the beauty in the world around us in broader dimensions than is possible otherwise. As Feynman, the Nobel laureate physicist said – a scientific mind sees and imagines more about the flower than others. A curious approach only adds to the excitement, mystery and awe of a flower.