Science and Prometheus Bound

Science and Prometheus Bound is a paper in partial fulfillment of requirements in Geology 11. This is my reaction to a film entitled Prometheus Bound, which is originally a Ancient Greek tragedy based on the myth of Prometheus, a Titan who was punished by Zeus for giving fire to the human race.

For the past semester, I have been thinking also of what Prometheus Bound presented about – the weakness of science and technology here in the Philippines.

My inquisition started when Dr. Caesar Saloma, Ph.D., the UP Diliman College of Science Dean, during a Physics 10 meeting, talked about the number of Ph.D. graduates in the country as he looked very disappointed. He had a lot of criticisms of the Pinoy technology such as the Jeepney.

Another was when a Physics teacher said to me that how can the Philippines stand out in the field of Research and Development (R&D)  if Filipino students are afraid of taking courses like Physics. She added that it is a deep satisfaction and honor to be “one in a million.”

So well then, allow me to open up and talked about my own arguments and reactions.

Had there been enough budget for the Department of Science and Technology by the National Budget, we could’ve been reaching the level of achievements of first-world countries which include Singapore, China, Japan, and the United States. The lack of budget is really the root of the drift in scientific research. If and only if the Philippine government would give enough budget for S&T, the country will develop. Why so?

First and foremost, business and foreign investments are not the only source of economic growth. The venture in S&T will keep the Philippines in touch of international meetings that will allow Filipino scientists to share what they have produced. Hence, what they have produced may be used here in the country for the national growth. Another way is that they can establish firms that would own the patent of a new output and allow other countries to pay the firm for the consumption.

Next is that “big things come from small things.” According to the Prometheus Bound, many professors comment about the lack of facilities that decreases our competitiveness. If universities would be provided funds for the new materials and facilities by the government, it would likely to happen that our research outputs would be as great as other countries’ would be.

The fear factor of the students is one of the impediments towards the innovation. They know that if they would take science courses, they would probably have no jobs in the future. Certainly they are wrong. Well, some might think that there may be jobs but they fear to have small salaries and that is true because, again, of the S&T budget.

As a former Physics major student, I tend to realize that we really need to stand for the development of our country in the field of S&T. I encourage all students who are enrolled in science courses to pursue their studies and seek for new knowledge that is only the way to prove that we are not far behind. We are 42^nd out of the 45 countries in the field of science competitiveness. The survey doesn’t mean that we have to lose the fight. It only means that we have to do more, think more, and work more. To do these is our responsibility towards well-changed Philippines.

The presentation ends with the tagline, “Nasa kamay ng maykapangyarihan ang pag-unlad ng S&T.” Let Prometheus be released. Seriously, we really need a Hercules to set him free. We need to produce a fire that would symbolize our edge in science.