Is It Worth It?

I think how we decide what knowledge is worth pursuing is deciding whether this is something that is impactful and something that would make a difference if we knew about it and wanted to inform other people of. How to pursue it would be to do the necessary research and gain all the information on it (whatever it may be) and then to let the people know.

There is a 30-meter telescope that scientist are working on building on Hawaii’s tallest mountain (Mcavoy, 2019), and these scientist are “expected to explore those and other fundamental questions about the universe when they peer deep into the night sky.”

The advantage of this telescope would be that the large size of the telescope’s mirror would “collect more light which would allow it to see faint, far-away objects such as stars and galaxies dating back as long as 13 billion years” (Mcavoy, 2019). This 30 meter telescope also has some issues that comes along with it, one main question that was raised was “Do Indigenous people have the power to decide what happens to their own homelands?” (Kahanamoku, et al. 2018) There are protesters that hope to protect while also helping to restore the native ecosystem on Mauna Kea. These protestors said they will keep protesting until this 30-meter telescope is not built.

There were also some advantages talked about by Mcavoy. The head of operations for this 30-meter telescope said “for the first time in history we will be capable of detecting extraterrestrial life.” He went on to state how it will also be able to tell us about more galaxies and more black holes in more detail. He believes “Black holes at the center of most galaxies are so dense that nothing, not even light can escape their gravitational pull, and that some scientists believe black holes play a fundamental role in how galaxies are formed and how they evolve.

This is important information to know and to pursue because it has an impact. “Mass deforms space and light and the new telescope would make it possible to measure how dark matter influences light.” (Mcavoy, 2019)

There are many questions that many scientists want answered about this black hole. This telescope will allow them to see the heart of the galaxy. However the place this telescope is being built, in Hawaii, is on native lands and their problem is that “there was no broad consent for the 30-meter telescope among the Native Hawaiians.” (Kahanamoku, et al. 2018)

Can we reconcile the knowledge we gain? Well, they more knowledge we have will just make us want to learn more. I think we can definitely reconcile that knowledge and it can be developed, constructed, and used together.