Masterclass: The history of science

OpMaat:

My response,

My first master class, ‘the history of science’ it was called, I wasn’t sure what to expect, on the 28^th of October, 8:25 it all started. Mr. Gault was our speaker. He asked us a few questions about history and guided us ‘through’ history, basically it was a ‘history lesson’, but I learned a whole lot more than I would’ve done in a normal lesson!

At the end, the question came up: Which one is more important to you: the past or the future. If I could’ve chosen the ‘now’ I would’ve done that, mr Gault said: ‘the problem with the now is, that it takes very short’ and he is right. But if I have to make a choice I’ll go for the future, not necessarily because I think history is not important, because I think it is, because of history we are where we are now, and we can do and make a lot! But because of the fact if you only look back in life you will never get anywhere in life (and on school as well!).

But when I’m writing this I start to doubt, because of our history we are where we are now, our whole civilization, cities, languages and cultures are results from our history. And, when there wouldn’t be any history, would we still be walking around like hunters and gatherers? Or would we live the way we live today? And if we wouldn’t have any history we would not have any knowledge we use every day. When I’m looking this way I think history is more important, but I’m still not quite sure if you can and must make a choice between these two.

If there would only be history and no future, I would not be satisfied as well. If you can only look back on things you and others did in the past you do not really have a purpose in life, do you?

Maybe I took this question a bit to serious, because there will always be a history and a future, but I think these are my arguments. Overall I think future is a bit more important to me, because you cannot only look back, there’s always something new coming up!

I really enjoyed this masterclass although I thought this assignment was quite difficult! I’m looking forward to the next masterclass!