After a snow fall, the air is fresh and clean. On a hill in the woods, I feel a bit disoriented - I look around, and am not so sure this is the right path, but I have walked it at least a hundred times before! Then I realize how easily a layer of snow has changed my perception, and how easily things on the surface can prevent us from seeing what is essential. It's the same with scientific research, but science is all about seeing through distracting details on the surface and finding what's fundamental at the core. With my mind occupied by the many concepts in climate change research: adaptation, vulnerability, adaptive capacity..., I can't help wondering if they touch on the fundamentals. But the perspective we assume affects what we see and what we do. When it comes to a science that has real world implications, there can be significant consequences. Borrowed from An Lee's Taking Woodstock, "Everybody holds his/her small perspective, and shuts love out." Could it be that we scientists, each with his/her small perspective from his/her field, are shutting truth out? Rather than further specialization, what we really need is integration of ideas with a larger perspective. I do believe social scientists can contribute a great deal and should have a more central role in science. It will depend on how social scientists do it. "Get to the essential and fundamental" is the motto. - Please forgive me that I have written frankly (not only this piece). But deep in my heart, I love humanity, and appreciate any scientific endeavor that increases our understandings about humanity. I am fascinated by all human experiences.
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