and Words
Come take my hand
You should know me
I’ve always been in your mind
You know I will be kind
I’ll be guiding you
Building your dream has to start now
There’s no other road to take
You won’t make a mistake
I’ll be guiding you
You have to believe we are magic
Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.
A dear friend is a physicist, though I’m not sure that he technically finished his degree. We have spent many hours debating the merits of a great wealth of topics. One such topic was the merits of a natural scientist versus an applied scientist. Natural scientist seeks knowledge for the pure sake of knowledge; physicist are natural scientists. Applied scientists seek knowledge that may be applied to some use; engineers are applied scientists. By schooling (and profession), I’m an engineer.
To illustrate the point, we talked about the lunar landing. It was a great feat of engineering, impossible to do without the science and math from natural scientists. While I am fascinated by our aspirations to land on the moon, I also wonder what we’ve learned from landing in the moon. Specifically, did we discover anything from physically being there that has greatly impacted our lives? Did the samples of moondust lead us to a great invention? Are computers faster? Did we minimize CO2 emissions? To be clear, I’m not criticizing anyone for the raw pursuit of knowledge; it’s simply that I find useful discoveries far more intriguing.