In California, USA, thousands of businesses and homes have been lost to fires. — AFP photo
IN the Concise Oxford Dictionary, there is an entry on ‘science’. It is ‘a branch of knowledge conducted on objective principles observing the systemised observation and experiment with phenomena, esp. concerned with the material and functions of the physical universe’.
I have no problem with the scientists such as the doctors of medicines or the philologists or the political theorists who claim to be political scientists.
The last-named scientists have done a lot of damage to human groups whenever they are in possession of power, especially those with the guns in their hands.
I am wondering, however, what the other scientists have done or been doing: the bomb makers, the rocket and the drone manufacturers, to name a few.
For instance, has one of the bomb makers, the rocket and the missiles’ manufacturers invented the fire extinguishers to douse large tracts of land from, repeat, wildfires in the forest?
Wildfires destroyed large areas of forests and many homes in Australia a couple of years ago, and again this first week, forest fires claimed several human lives there.
And in California, the USA, thousands of businesses and homes have been lost to fires.
Right here in Borneo, not many years ago, vast tracts of the prime jungle were in flames, scaring away many orangutans.
It is a war! Seasonal, but regular.
Need more than the planes
The fixed-wing planes and the helicopters appear to be the main front-fighters available in the arsenal now, used to control or contain the spread of the flames, attacking from above with the support at the ground level of fighters, the professional fire brigades operating from trucks and with limited amounts of water.
They get help from the volunteers whose homes and properties are in danger of being burned to ashes. Once their property is out of danger, their job is done.
Not a winning strategy, but it is the best that can be done, I suppose.
There must be more than the above that can handle the wildfires more effectively.
I don’t understand why clever people like scientists cannot invent the types of fire extinguishers powerful enough to fight the fires spreading fast and furious.
I wish that the money spent on building rockets intended for the Sun and the Moon and Mars would be spent on new methods of firefighting. I cannot suggest one myself, I am just a layman.
One of those scientists out there should have some ideas.
Going to the Moon may be a wonderful idea, and landing on Mars or skirting the Sun are resounding triumphs of science – maybe. But what good are they for you and me when a natural (or man-made) disaster strikes?
There has to be a method by which these fires can be extinguished – it has just not been discovered or developed yet.
Is anybody working on this extinguisher at all?
Scientists have invented many things, including artificial milk.
They have found a method to extract a stone from the kidney.
In fact, the advances in medicine are fantastic when you think that less than 100 years ago, it was common for a patient to die of appendicitis.
The scientists have invented the television, the handphone, engines of airplanes, and many other things, but they have not invented something really effective to save the forests, the businesses, and the homes.
Many years ago, Form 5 students at St Thomas’ School in Kuching were debating the choice of streams: Arts or Science. Those in a Science Class thought highly of themselves as being better than those in the Arts Class in terms of knowledge in technology, claiming that human life would be dependent on their inventions for survival.
Typhoons and hurricanes
If the scientists are so smart, why can’t they invent drones carrying the material which, when in contact with the hurricane, could reduce the power of that terrifying force?
As many drones as possible may be sent just so that the force of the hurricane could be reduced considerably before it makes a landing somewhere.
OK, drones will be destroyed in the process, and drones are expensive.
Oh yeah? Go tell that to the people who use thousands of drones in warfare!
The scientists can calculate how strong the force of the hurricane will be and how far away it is away from landing on land.
They can predict the weather, the rain, the tide. They must not stop there.
Honestly, they have not done enough and go one step further. Instruments that can predict a volcanic eruption or earthquake and where it would take place are available.
These have saved thousands of lives, but we need something similar for fighting forest fires.
The political scientists
These are the scientists who can make or unmake a human society.
Some of them have gained way too much influence, and some have done a lot of damage to humanity through the ages.
They have given ideas to rulers on how to defeat their rivals, how to conquer a territory and exploit resources for their own benefits.
They draw on the map of the world, choose the best sites and call them their territories.
As you may have noticed, I am in a grouchy mood.
Maybe it’s the constant rain; maybe it’s caused by watching the news on TV.
So many things are wrong with the world.
If a few good scientists are able and ready to help, we will all be grateful!
* The opinions expressed in this article are the columnist’s own and do not reflect the view of the newspaper.
This post was originally published on here
