40. "Scholars and researchers should not be concerned with whether their work makes a contribution to the larger society. It is more important that they pursue their individual interests, however unusual or idiosyncratic those interests may seem."
There is a famous TV program named “Blurt out”— the live audiences say a word related to the word given by the TV compere without thinking. When the given word is “researchers”, people blurt out these words: interests, power, ability, science, progress, lonely and so on, which can to some degree reflect people’s direct understand about “researcher”. The following words are chosen from them to analyze the researchers and scholars of our society.
The first word: interests. The interests of the researchers and scholars plays a vital role in their academic life that if they do not have a passion for the things they are doing, they can not do them well. Accomplished people must have been able to dig into the subject of their interest. For example, Steve Wozniak, who had created the APPLE Computers, developed his passion for electronic in 4th grade. He helped launch an industry that has come to touch the lives of almost everybody in some way. His APPLE set the stand for the industry .If it wasn’t for Woz we would not have the information age as we have now.
The second word: value. The researchers should confirm their goal with correct value, in other words, when they determine to do something, they must pause to inquire whether they should do it. Technology is challenging social customs and ethics and influencing our social values. For example, genetics are a hot topic of conversation nowadays, with technology approaching the stage where we can alter the very blueprint of human beings. Our genes come from our parents and determine how we grow and what traits we will develop. so many parents are choosing he characteristics of their children now by paying small fee to change their child's genes after conception. Another example is the rapid development of surrogate motherhood. Modern reproduction technology has great impact on traditional natural reproduction as well as ethic principles and causes many problems in law. It brought benefits to the couple who have no fecundity. At the same time, it led to many legal and ethic problems. How can we protect the legal benefits of the pregnancy-agents, babies and other relative parties are being discussed by all people. There are also some evil scientists used their knowledge to do some illegal things. As a consequence, many people complain that some researches have brought harm and disasters to human life.
The third word: contribution. When we concerned about the interests of the researchers, we should also care about the contribution they have made. Most people agree that we should own all of human progress and civilization and the modernity of our modern life to our ancestors and scientists like Einstein ,Newton and Watt, without whose invention there would be no modernity and human progress that we can proud of. Many of the researchers devoted most of their time and much of their life to their researches, not for themselves or their family members, but for the prosperity of the whole country and for the benefits of the whole people, Therefore , the whole society should pay due recognition to their selflessness and their contribution.
All in all, instead of devoting ourselves to a given problem, what we should do is trying to develop a better, more scientific and more humanistic system of research and creating a favorable atmosphere for the researchers and scholars.