An explosion at 30,000 feet:

Revisiting the discipline of science

Not long after the jumbo jet reached cruising altitude (after taking off from Narita) the passengers were jolted by a loud explosion, including the writer. It happened many years ago and is among the many travel tales that surface during social gatherings.

The explosion was followed by an eerie silence – like a pin dropping moment. The pilot’s reassuring voice calmed people’s nerves: “. . . one of the engines conked out; but this baby is a fail-safe equipment and can fly with just one engine . . .” – it had two more to spare! However, the remaining engines would be working extra and hence wouldn’t reach JFK (typically a 13-hour leg) and land at O’Hare instead. The flight attendants assured the passengers that connecting flights to New York were being organized, and lo and behold, at O’Hare the writer was directed to his plane to JFK in no time.

The couple of tech folks traveling with the writer came over to explain what the pilot meant. And given the many hours they’re to stay on the plane the group, as with others, turned into a small social gathering – partaking of cocktails offered by the crew.

The British colleague was most eloquent and gave an impromptu discourse on physics and science in general, beyond the technical innovations built into the 747: “Higher education taught us about hypotheses, e.g., Galileo overturned the earlier hypothesis that the earth was the center of the universe!

Europeans are credited for bringing higher education to America and at its core is the discipline of science and experimentation, e.g., employing scientific method in the investigation of hypotheses. Thus, it is not surprising that in the West they constantly stretch their capacity to renew themselves.”

The thought came back while reading the latest bad news about poverty in the Philippines: our economic model needs renewal?

One recent evening the writer and his wife attended the town’s (in a New York suburb) high school presentation of “Fiddler on the roof”. The opening scene made the writer reminisce about the Philippines: “Tradition . . . tradition . . . tradition . . . “

The stage-filling cast (culled from hundreds by a famed Broadway director) made the writer whisper to his wife that the diversity of the kids was a microcosm of America. One of the lead players, as the second daughter of the poor Russian Jewish farmer, was Filipino. But practically every nationality was represented.

Despite all its faults America remains the model of diversity – of culture and tradition. And in the process they attract the best and the brightest. These high school kids could give regular Broadway stars a run for their money! Over the years the writer has seen how kids he thought (his hypothesis) were rowdy (given his Filipino upbringing) turned into responsible citizens and generous to the less fortunate – their Protestant work ethic intact – beyond simply being well-off! Their hypothesis: “kids ought to be kids”.