On living a life of significance.

I always listen to the words of "great men" and "great women", for what they say of the life they have led. Now, whether or not Vidal Sassoon could be considered "great", he is certainly successful and I remember what he once said of his life. He expressed regret into having gone into "hair" and wished he had done something else with his life.

I remembered his words, today, and they reminded me of how important it is to check whether the goals one sets for oneself are actually worthy of achievement, in the first place. Vidal Sassoon didn't think much, in the end, of his life work. He rather rued that he had chosen something as trivial as hair to build a life around. I have seen this kind of thinking in many successful people. They mature as they get older and realize that the goals they set themselves when younger were not really worth achieving: life is so much deeper than the choices they made.

So, if a life is to be lived well and worthily, the first thing to consider is what, ultimately, would make a meaningful life? Is the glittering path laid out for one by the society around, actually worth treading on? So many people lead lives that are externally successful - by which I mean that other people adjudge them successful (usually in material terms) - but do those lives actually have meaning? I would suggest that that question should be answered, first, before embarking on such a life. Otherwise, at the end of a long, successful career, one could end up like Vidal Sassoon, looking back on his life and thinking of how pointless it was and how he would rather have done something else.

A significant life has a different meaning for different people: for some it means to be socially connected, for others it means to be rich, for others still it means to be famous - for many it means to help others, for a few it means to create lasting works in either science or the arts. Whatever it is that is significant to you, and you alone, should be what life is built around. One should never live a life that is significant only to others (meaning that fulfils the common values of the society in which one lives) since, too often, those external values are not in alignment with one's core inner values. The values of modern societies often seem a little too shallow, a little too materialistic, to constitute a purposeful and meaningful life, for deeper people - or people who mature into deeper people as they get older (like Mr. Sassoon).

Only you know what is of value to you. I wish you luck in living a life that fulfils those values - irrespective of what society actually thinks of your goals. It only matters what you think of your goals.

Be significant!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

The value of Science in Singapore

Singapore is a materialist nation. Just how materialist became clear to me today.

We were attending a biomedical science lecture, with Ainan, 7, and after the lecture we were given a tour of the lab facilities. Outside one particular lab, the scientist in question asked the audience for their questions.

There was a pause while people collected their thoughts - and then the questions began. In the context of a science lecture and a science lab, I expected scientific questions - but that is not what came from the audience.

The first question was: "How much is the budget of this department?"

The scientist deflected the question.

The second question: "How much do these prosthetics cost?"

He answered it: "A piece this size is about 2,000 dollars."

The third question: "What is the value added here?"

Answer: "They sell for about 5,000 dollars."

No-one but us asked any questions that were scientific. We asked ones about the nature of research done - after the crowd had moved on.

Science in Singapore has, for most of the population, no value apart from the money it can make. I am not being critical of the people who asked these questions: I am just observing that their values are purely economic. They don't see value in science for science's sake. True scientists, of course, see value in science itself; value in the pursuit of knowledge, understanding and insight of the world. Yet, in Singapore, nothing, really has any value unless a dollar sign can be attached to it.

The adults in the audience were all parents of children who were interested in science. Yet, the parents' interest was purely and clearly: how much money will my child make if they go into science? The question about departmental budget was an indirect reference to how much money the scientists themselves are likely to make.

There was another question that I omitted to mention - one about turnover. "How many of these do you sell?" I took it to mean per year - and so did he.

He answered. There were no more questions. The audience had managed to assess the financial possibilities of this particular science department.

The exchange was, for me, the most unexpected of things to happen. It never occurred to me that the obsession over money extended so deeply into the local population that science, itself, had no value apart from the economic ones.

I grew up to believe in the value of science for science's sake. It is a value that I assumed all scientists to have. However, perhaps I should revise that opinion. Perhaps in some parts of the world, the only value of science, is in dollar terms.

The question then is, of course: if science is only valued in terms of dollars - would the resulting science - pursued for economic reasons alone - have any true value as science? It may be that pursuit of dollars, alone, might prevent the pursuit of higher, deeper truths. It may be that dollar-driven science might overlook everything that is of lasting importance in science. That danger has clearly not occurred to Singaporeans. The only scientific danger here is that it just might not pay as much as banking.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and nine months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and two months, and Tiarnan, nineteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)