Question: How important is the world of science to you?

Grant Campbell answered on 12 Mar 2013:

Thanks for your question. It is important, but I keep it in perspective – it is one of several things that are important to me. I enjoy reading science books, but as I get older I also enjoy reading history and other things that are not directly science and are interesting in different ways. Science helps us to keep ourselves alive, healthy and busy, but there is more to life than that. To put it another way, my life is easier if my body is healthy, but the purpose of my life isn’t to have a healthy body – the healthy body helps me to achieve things that are really worthwhile, but is not itself a really worthwhile achievement. (The world has many healthy bodies – one more makes little difference. But if my healthy body frees me up to do things that are unique to me, then that does make a difference.) Taking society as a whole, science may help it run smoothly, but that is only of value if that leads to things that are really important. What is really important? – things like love, truth and beauty. At a higher level than just its usefulness, science can contribute to those things, so the importance of science to me is not just its usefulness, but its contributions to truth and beauty and to the world of ideas and the mind.
Thanks for your question – I hope this somewhat philosophical answer is helpful.