issue41 by lesheng

qinleshengUID: 2309050

041 – Nonmainstream areas play vital rile
"Such nonmainstream areas of inquiry as astrology, fortune-telling, and psychic and paranormal pursuits play a vital role in society by satisfying human needs that are not addressed by mainstream science."



While the history of human being have witnessed the unprecedented technology advancement brought by the mainstream science such as physics,chemistry,biology and etc, the nonmainstream areas of inquiry like astrology,fortune-telling and psychic have never vanished from this planet regardless of the development of modern science,on the contrary,these paranormal pursuits,which aimed at human physical or psychological needs,play a vital role in the society.

Those nonmainstream science survived and thrived through out the human history.
Ancient Greek grouped some stars in the sky together and associated them with particular animals or tools,moreover they even created numerous stories on the constellations they assumed.Until today, people around the world are still using the constellation system to explain how the present come about and predict the future.It will not be difficult to find some books on Zodiac in any bookstore around the country,which claimed that it could help you to better comprehend you and others and thus prevent you from the possible danger and toward the eternal happiness.Also in Europe,common methods such as  tasseography, cartomancy, crystallomancy have been used by the Gypsies to tell the fortune since the 13rd
century and those methods are still being utilized by some fortune-tellers nowadays.This illustrates the points that nonmainstream science did affect how the human beings perceive the world and themselves until today.

Many people might wonder how those nonmainstream areas of inquiry which are usually lack of scientific evidentce would still exist today in spite of the fact that human beings now know more about the universe than ever. I contend that the nonmainstream science and mainstream science actually have the same root-human beings' curiosity and manipulative nature.Humans are notable for their desire to understand and influence the environment around them seeking to explain and manipulate natural phenomena through philosophy,art,science,super-natural things through mythology,astrology or even part of the religion.This natural curiosity has led to the development of advanced tools and skills;humans are the only species known to fires,cook their food,clothe themsevles.Therefore,there is no wonder that when it comes to something that are not in control of the hands of the humans such as the relative positions of celestial bodies or the layout of palms,the human beings would ask for some nonmainstream science for help.Those nonmainstream areas of inquiry,in a word,aimed at enhancing people's knowledge and control of the world.

Admittedly,nonmainstream science(s) do satisfy human needs,however the significance of mainstream science is undeniable and irreplaceable.Before Copernicus and Bruno,most people put the earth in the center of the universe and even build a religon upon this. Throughout the effort of Copernicus,Bruno and other scientists,a  heliocentric cosmology is built and those unscientific explaining of the astronomy are abandoned.Still some areas of the universe and the planet we lived in remained a myth to all of us, however,simply associate the unknown with nonmainstream science is obiously not the best policy.After all, no one has successfully won the 1 million US dollars awarded by the James Randi Foundation which offer these money to anyone who can demonstrate a supernatural ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria.

To sum up,the nonmainstream areas of inquiry such as astrology,fortune-telling,psychic do contribute to the human's needs until now, whereas the advancement brought by mainstream science is profound and everlasting.Maybe some day we could build a whole fortune-telling system based on the Human Genome Project which is far more convincing than the Gypsies's crystal sphere.