Although I have been working in science for quite a long time, it never ceases to amaze me just how much we have found out over just a few centuries of human history. This has nothing to do with technological progress, which is unfortunately unrelated to our natural curiousity and therefore fails to motivate or inspire. Instead, it is really about the possibility of making all of these discoveries once more, on our own.

My recent lecture on Principles of Physics for first year students of the new department of Integrated Global Studies gave me an opportunity to reflect both on the history of physics and on the role of science in society. The lecture started with an overview of the major discoveries, starting from Kepler's laws of planetary motion and covering developments in optics, thermodynamics and electromagnetism all the way to the discoveries of relativity and quantum mechanics at the start of the 20th century. Throughout this long history, science was driven along by an unspoken desire to find things out, without any thought to the usefulness or the social consequences of the results. In fact, none of this could have been planned.

Real research is still a bit like this, and I am doing my best to keep the spirit of exploration alive in my own work. I am also trying to share this experience with the students, and the recent lecture was a welcome opportunity to do so. Sometimes I worry that the students waste too much of their time at University by narrowly following their assignments without developing any independence in their thinking. Unfortunately, there is not enough appreciation of the true role of a University education in society. Thanks to the entirely fake part of society occupied with manipulative advertising and cheap entertainment, the importance of questioning the world on our own is being drowned out by an ever increasing amount of noise. At the same time, it becomes increasingly clear that new answers are needed, and it would be so much better if we embraced our own values and our own experiences without fear or selfish ambition before this great opportunity is snatched away by another one of those cruel twists of fate that have also shaped our history. Here, at University (and especially at Hiroshima University), it must be our mission to protect and nurture the freedom to explore the full width of the human experience, without any delusions about "usefulness" or "efficiency". Education is not a business or a job - it is a way of life, and if it is done right, it will give life to those who participate in it.

The right way to study is to follow your own curiousity. When I was a student, I wondered why the Professors were always answering questions I had never asked. Now I know the reason: at some point, no teacher can know the right question. It is the task of the student to find the right questions for themselves. At best, a good teacher can provide an interesting collection of questions, but the student can only learn by asking the question themselves, and finding their own way to the answer. If students were to study in this manner, they would not only enjoy their studies more, they would also improve their chances of finding their own way in life after their time at University.

At the end of my lecture, I discussed the scientific method in general, explaining the role of measurements, the role of mathematics, and even the role of technology. This part of the lecture was recorded and is now available as one of the lecture videos that showcase the courses available at Hiroshima University (https://hice.els.hiroshima-u.ac.jp). At the end of the lecture, I summarized the interplay between experiment, theory and technology in a triangle of observation, understanding and control. When organized in this manner, science may look like a well designed machine - a cyclic process that produces a kind of scientific "output". However, I see something different in this picture. To me, the most important truth is that there is a place for us somewhere in this cycle, and we can discover something about our own lives when we take part in it. I personally find that what I like most of all about science is the time I spend thinking about various observations, trying to connect them in new ways, trying to find a new perspective. It is important to embrace our talents, and to find out whether we are more content to think or to act, more inclined to build or to observe, more eager to discover the unexpected or to tell the story afterwards. In the end, all of these activities must come together to create the human experience that we call science.

As for the place that science has in human society, we need to remember that technology is not meant to solve the challenges of life. All the comforts of an advanced technological society come at a price, and the only justification for this cost of technological progress is the opportunity it may give us to realize our own potential as human beings more fully. That is why science should be a personal journey of discovery, driven by curiosity and not by ambition. Education is far more important than the fake measures of "success" or "usefulness" that are the hallmark of a society without any human values, because education (in all fields of academia) is all about finding our place in the world as human beings creating a society in which we can all have a place where we can contribute the part that is closest to our individual talents. Unfortunately, this has not gotten easier in recent years, and the unhealthy obsession with "success" and "usefulness" is already doing serious damage to education at all levels. We would do well to remember that human civilization is not build on selfish greed and ambition, but on the free pursuit of our natural curiosity. Universities are built on this foundation, and they are meant to be the place were we can still experience the joy of finding things out, free from the unnatural constraints imposed by people who delude themselves about their "practical" understanding of the world. It is important that we all appreciate this important role of University in society as a place where students and teachers alike still have the freedom to discover the whole wealth of human civilization that we inherited from those who went before us, so that we can learn how to continue this great tradition, whatever the future might bring.

(2018年7月17日掲載）