Sonia's Proposal: Take Two (sorry, it's not all that different from take one)

Sonia’s Midterm Proposal: Take Two

Title: Theory or Theology: The Search for Truth in Science

Abstract:

For the past 35 years, physicists have been consumed by a problem that, if solved, would in essence be the “theory of everything”: string theory. After years of trials, experiments, and absurd mathematical calculations, the amount of evidentiary proof is at a resounding nothing. We have no data, no images, and no reason to believe it’s true; so why do we believe it’s true?
Has science become a religion rather than a science? Why would we believe something without any proof? I am studying the movement of science into a non-innovative realm, in which modern scientists are relying to much on the dogma of its elders, instead of being revolutionary and breaking boundaries. I would like to show my audience that the new face of science may actually be narrowing the job market and discouraging young students from pursuing a career in scientific research, because they do not see an opportunity to be the Einstein of the new era.

Methodology:

(I’m not really sure about this yet)
Because string theory is an excellent example of my argument, I will probably start by defining the bare bones of string theory. I will give the audience an opportunity to do an experiment in deductive reasoning, to make them understand how scientific theories are produced. From there, I will go into the development of string theory, allowing the audience to understand (non-mathematically) how string theory emerged, and hopefully they will be able to see the narrowed exclusivity of this particular theoretical argument.

The next step is to show the reader other examples of how science is losing its empirical basis. Maybe include interviews with prominent scientists as well as journalists. Present the fact that many scientists who reject string theory cannot find jobs, and therefore we are effectively blocking the progress of science. From here, I will move to address science education, and why students are turning away from scientific study due to the stagnation of scientific research. In term of scientific education, I would like to interview students and various age levels to find out how they respond to scientific study and why many of them are turning away from it.

Media Presentation and Justification:

I haven’t really addressed media in full yet, but I don’t want the presentation to be a boring one-sided scientific “powerpoint.”
After our discussion, I was considering the possibility of allowing the viewer to add to the project, that way it is constantly changing. This might indicate that it will be an online project instead of a DVD. It really fits in with my topic, because I don’t want to be talking at the audience, I want it to be a dynamic conversation, where they can put forth their own ideas while responding to my own.
I would like to include interviews in a sort of interactive format, where there are hot buttons that the user can click on to get more information or a further understand of a topic. Also, I think it would be beneficial for the sake of the string theory explanation to use an animation or visualization. I would also like to design some minor logic games using deductive reasoning to show theoretical evolution.
One of the important points of my project is to show how science is losing it’s creativity—the kind of creativity that led people to come up with theories in the first place. For that reason, I want to incorporate some interactive creative aspect to the project, where the audience can express themselves in a non-mathematical, completely creative way—I think doing that might open up some people to new ideas instead of being stuck with the old ones. This is a difficult concept for me to explain on paper, but I will try to come up with a better phrasing for it soon.