The useful and the useless

“All art is useless, because its aim is simply to create a mood” – Oscar Wilde

By Prof. Kirthi Tennakone
ktenna@yahoo.co.uk

Today, our society focuses its attention solely on useful things, leading to material and monetary gains, envisaged advantages, or accomplishing plans. The work we do at home, in the workplace or at school, the policies we frame and the social activities we engage in are primarily intended for that purpose. And we subscribe to charity and alms, expecting dividends in a life after death.

We rarely go beyond the routine and the system discourages such deviations. We are reluctant to embark on seemingly useless and unprofitable things and fear undertaking challenges.

When children play and meddle, parents tell them all this is useless fooling, go and follow your lessons. When they struggle to secure a job after finishing school, the same parents would remark, all they had learned in school is useless.

Education pundits accredit unemployment and the absence of innovation in the country to useless subjects in the curriculum and propose reforms.

Despite the crazy emphasis on utility, we remain weak in performing useful tasks and producing useful goods.

Are we on the wrong track? History tells us embarking on outwardly useless things is indeed the secret behind transformative innovations and human intellectual advancement.

In 1872, an unassuming lad named Paul Ehrlich entered the Medical School in Strassburg, Germany. One day, in anatomy class, instead of dissecting corpses as instructed, he was coloring human tissue and looking at them through a microscope.

When the professor asked him what he was doing; he replied, ‘I am fooling’. The professor, without pulling him up said, ‘Continue your fooling’. Facing many hurdles because of his attitude, Ehrlich completed his medical degree. The faculty noted he is an unusually talented person and would not choose to practice as a doctor. As expected, he continued research making groundbreaking discoveries. Paul Ehrlich is regarded as the father of pharmaceutical science and chemotherapy. He was the first to introduce the far-reaching hypothesis that chemical substances can be synthesized, which when delivered to the body combat disease. Ehrlich earned the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1908.

The above story and many other similar anecdotes were cited by the American educator, Abraham Flexner in his book “The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge “. Flexner, who began his career in 1903 as a teacher in elementary school with a bachelor’s degree in classics, later turned out to be a vociferous critic of higher education in the United States, especially medicine. He pointed out that the standard of medical education needs to be elevated making it rigorously science -based. He vehemently opposed the provision of research funding to universities and research institutions considering only the utility value, pointing out curiosity- driven investigations, believed to be useless by many, were the ones that transformed the world. He worked hard to establish the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton and served as its first director. Flexner was instrumental in inviting Albert Einstein and several other European scientists and mathematicians to the Institute.

From time to time, people of the highest intellectual acclaim have reminded the world of the virtue of pursuing novel things ostensibly useless.

George Fitzgerald, an eminent Irish physicist who made important contributions to the science of radio wave propagation, wrote a letter to the Editor of the Journal, Nature in 1892, titled “The value of useless studies”, where he stated, “If universities do not study useless subjects, who will?” Once a subject becomes useful, it may very well be left to schools and technical colleges.”

In his analysis of social issues, Karl Marx declared, “Production of too many useful things results in too many useless people. The improvements in the quality of life in relation to technological advancement prove his assertion is not entirely correct. Yet what Marx said warns humanity of the repercussions of useful innovations.

Smartphones are undoubtedly useful. However, the youngsters addicted to them may perform poorly, because they interfere with the natural process of learning via healthy environmental and social interaction. The same applies to innovations in AI. Students who use chatbots for writing essays and solving mathematical problems, get deprived of the essential brain exercise needed to become more useful – you are being useful to yourself and to society.

In the present-day context, it would be more appropriate to say: “The engagement in useful things all the time decreases our usefulness”.

The usefulness and uselessness have crept into our education and planning more than any other sector. Until about three decades after independence, education philosophy in general was more balanced, emphasizing both arts and science. Later, the arts got branded as useless and science useful.

Oscar Wilde, one of the greatest artists (playwright and poet) once said “All arts is quite useless”. When someone asked him what he really meant, he replied, “Art is useless because its aim is simply to create a mood. It is not meant to instruct, or influence action in any way. It is superbly sterile, and the note of its pleasure is sterility.” The usefulness of the arts is their practical uselessness!

A good mood arouses emotion, serenity, imagination, and empathy, qualities even more useful than most useful material things. Our failure to inculcate these qualities resulted in rampant corruption seen everywhere. And other weaknesses, including our lag in delivering innovations, because the above qualities foster creativity and the spirit of inventiveness. A trait common to men and women who led the way for modern utilities, we enjoy!

Years ago, a team self-appointed to make suggestions to revise the A-level curriculum identified several subjects as redundant and useless. Among them were physics and Sanskrit. They also recommended a pass in physics should not be a requirement to enter medical schools in our country. The author commented that Sanskrit is deeply inbuilt to our culture, quoting the Indian physicist CV Raman, who said, “It is wrong to say Sanskrit is dead; it is very much alive, and it embodies everything we call ours. And

if a pass in A-level physics is made non-compulsory to enter medical schools, patients should be cautious in visiting doctors without a pass in this subject”.

In education and research, we are inclined heavily towards practical aspects, believing theory would not help, but in vain we continue to be poor in original, practically useful ideas and their implementation.

A technology stream was added to A-level, claiming physical and bioscience courses are theory- biased and not conducive to practical work. However, the real problem of the GCE A/L science students is they are deficient in theory. And for that reason, they cannot adapt to innovations. What they learn, mainly from tuition classes, are methods of answering questions in a disconnected approach. The coherence of theories and their value in foreseeing innovations is not emphasized.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519), one of the greatest innovative minds of all time said: “He who loves practice without theory is like a sailor who boards ships without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast”. He made this statement when scientific theories were not as ripe as today to make predictions and envisage innovations. Though not implemented, the basic science policy drafted by the National Science and

Technology Commission (NSTEC) highlights the value of basic science and theory, stating: “Basic science is the study aimed towards the advancement of scientific theories for the understanding of natural phenomena and/or making predictions. It is an integral part of all development programs. For any country, the creation of a strong foundation in basic scientific research is a prerequisite for applied research, innovations, and economic growth. There cannot be applied research or innovations without basic research. Curiosity-driven basic research influences all human endeavors, including rational thinking. The benefits of basic science research are gained through the dissemination of fundamental knowledge and principles of science”.

Universities are free to do either useful or useless research and teach disciplines belonging to both domains – permitting teachers and students to be critical and dream. Unfortunately, our universities tend to focus on applied aspects, neglecting the basics, theory, and arts. Nevertheless, no signs of increased productivity, and students turning more conventional or ideological than critical.

Strangely, the Institute of Fundamental Studies, established exclusively to promote basic science and theoretical studies has taken a retrograde step grossly deviating from its mandate and entertaining practical projects best carried out elsewhere without duplications. Sri Lanka is full of untapped exceptional talent. Allowing and providing opportunities for our younger scientists to pursue truly fundamental research would foster science and technology in this country.

We need to be exemplary as the professor who supervised Paul Erlich. Recognizing talent and potential, he permitted Ehrlich to play aimlessly in the anatomy lab. When new scientific and technological fashions originate abroad, we rush to pick them up expecting immediate economic gains. Earlier, it was biotechnology, then nanotechnology and today, AI. To reap the fruits of these trends and create our own fashions, we need minds turned sophisticated by doing useless things as well. Munidasa Kumaratunga said a nation that does not create will not rise. Creations often originate from indulgence in activities seemingly useless.