Fresh Wind & Green Grass

When I was formulating my presentation about social research in conservation, I stumbled upon basic science rules in a behavioral research method book by Paul Cozby and Scott Bates (2015).  I grew fond of how these rules have applied around me lately.

First, data play a central role in science. Data reflect systematic observations, which can be obtained in many ways. The powerful sentence from the book was, “Scientists have a ‘show me, don’t tell me’ attitude.” I’ve seen people who have this attitude, and they are not particularly researchers (professionally). A resort manager in Maumere, who really cares about the facility, walks around the resort every day to ensure the employees do things in detail. I read an article in National Geographic February 2018 edition about a classical method in making Batik and found an heir of one of Batik’s business empire do the Batik by herself together with her employees, even though her children don’t wish to continue the business.

Second, scientists are not alone. They have to share their results with other scientists and the public. My partner gave me a book to me as an early birthday gift, titled “From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg” by John Naughton. Several days before, he told me a story of one of the greatest inventions of mankind: the printing machine. It created a massive impact, including religious transformation. It was described in detail by Naughton, and science has a huge debt on the invention. The book was so expensive that only certain people had access to it. After the invention, the science dispersal was so much cheaper, and it provided people who didn’t have the fortune access to science, then gave birth to extraordinary scientists. However, the printing machine invention also shaped humans to develop a new skill: reading. In the book, it was said that human doesn’t have the reading skill (and this skill means gathering scattered information in the lengthy article into structured information, involving word processing, language comprehension, and catching clues given by the book’s author) by their evolution, and it created an individualized society. When we read, we create a personal space, not talking to anyone, and also create an imaginary boundary for other people. Well, science and books (or papers) create a lonely society when it is shared? Maybe.

Third, science is adversarial. Scientific findings or writings should have falsifiability aspects, that any findings can be falsified by new findings supported by data. We may conclude that science should keep moving and being reproduced over the years to advance itself. The science of psychology today faces difficulty in being accepted because around 90% of the research failed to be reproduced (not because of its method, but because the data showed unstable findings). But then I ask myself, how about the other fields? Do they find the same failure in result reproducibility? A recent survey in Nature Journal revealed this replication crisis is happening: more than 70% of research findings failed to replicate former researchers' results. I only can find several skeptical scientists that are skeptical of their own findings. But I can understand. We scientists spend so much effort in research, time, funding, and sometimes emotional pain. We tend to avoid the loss by saying our findings are questionable. The truth is, saying "maybe" in a scientific publication is as important as in a popular publication. When I wrote a preface for my children's book that is being reproduced currently, I put that “maybe” when explaining how the animal story for children can be linked to their attitude towards animals when they grow as an adult. That hurts my ego that I think people who read will feel unsure about whether they should believe in my science or not, but I think the truth deserves to be told. The truth about science that we seldom tell to the public: is that the ultimate truth will never be known. The basic concept of level of significance in the statistics.

Fourth, scientific evidence is peer-reviewed. Cozby and Bates wrote that this process reflects that science is a free market of ideas where the best ideas supported by data can build upon others’ research to make further advances. When we talk about the free market, we know that it is a system where anyone can sell or buy products, and the prices are determined by unrestricted competition and privately owned businesses involved. And I think we welcome the era where multidisciplinary research is started to emerge, and any scientist can give feedback on scientific findings from another field. I love this era; I just don’t love how some people respond to this approach. Every time I am asked by someone who wants to ask me about the social research methods, I passionately answer I’d love to, but I am thinking will people receive my feedback? My experience proved otherwise, with around an 80% chance. For example, my friend in the conservation area shared a review paper about inferring interview results in conservation papers – mostly qualitative. It was published in May 2017. I’d only wish those people talked to social scientists who have already developed many new ways (and even statistics!) of gathering information from human subjects. In my (very) personal opinion, this is the time when we have to redefine “peer” in peer review. I do really enjoy working with teams from various backgrounds. I currently work in a full fledge Biologists team, and honestly, I also miss working with artists, programmers, analysts, advertisers, and writers as a team.  That diverse “peer” provides me a chance to learn bigger things, invent a new solution faster, and give me a new way to perceive things in people’s shoes.

Another story that really caught me personally from Naughton's book was the history of the World Wide Web in CERN, when Tim Berners-Lee was a young prodigy who tried to offer a proposal to make a communication system between computers worldwide to his boss, even skipping it to his boss’s boss. He waited long until he got the green light and found another one to work with him to build the system. Together with Robert Cailliau, he put the foundation to WWW and Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTML) that helps the dispersal of information around the world until today. I find this story appealing because of Berners-Lee's comment about Cailliau: “Robert’s real gift was enthusiasm.” Yes, I think science, or everything in life, can achieve its potential when the people who are working on it put great enthusiasm into it, and I’ve witnessed some. When someone is becoming a rational enthusiast, I think s/he will acknowledge the four basic rules of science easily (and that can be wrong, too). I can put credit to my current boss, who is really enthusiastic in his field, that by being so, it allows him to hear any feedback from me, who is a newcomer in conservation, or any of my crazy idea for communicating our new findings. Naughton says a great invention came from a developer's itch. I do really hope to see enthusiasm survives along with our itches to make progress toward a better humanity.

In an Airport,
and feeling thankful for space science that successfully predicted last night's super blue blood moon,

February 1st, 2018

Based on scientific findings, stereotyping, and prejudice naturally happen in the modern human’s mind. Even if you think you are educated enough and try not to think about people based on their social attributes, when you face an implicit bias test, you may not escape from the subtle prejudice. Stereotyping and prejudice are impacts of social categorization, which we have accepted since the baby (yes, baby!) from our significant others who hold their cultural value (who doesn’t?). The conception of “we are better than them” is somehow important for our own self-esteem, and that self-esteem is important to our psychological well-being to be a well-functioned person. 

Then what hurts? As the implication of the “self-esteem baking,” we tend to see flaws from outgroups is much bigger than someone from our ingroup who has the same flaw. It is so much easier to point out someone’s mistake if s/he has different religious faith, major, ethnicity, or you name it. Plus, people also have different amounts of self-esteem needs. We can say we will see the amplification of prejudice and stereotype effect in someone who has a tremendous thirst for self-esteem. That possibly comes from anywhere, such as a ruined childhood, a broken home, a neglected child, a bullying victim, or the one who was always left behind. Perfect self-imagery is needed to fill the imperfection gap.

Now if we take a walk in Nature, we will see imperfection everywhere. From the fallen orchids, rotten wood, fungi, leaves with holes, and others. But then we learn it is a process of something. I’ve seen beautiful, perfect fungi with nothing coming close. Some mushrooms have imperfections and are eaten by insects, but that could be a signal that the mushroom is edible. I’ve seen fallen trees that then provide food for other creatures. Feces everywhere help the spreading of plants’ seeds, making a new forest. All the imperfections lead to new progress in the world's perfection.

Another case of imperfection is humans themselves. A few weeks ago, I watched a critique of our National television program and dramas. It was well said: in Indonesia’s TV shows, the main character is either purely evil or angelic. I personally think that this is what we adapted from a telenovela, which was famous back in the 90s. In real life, no one is purely evil or angelic. We human do good and wrong in our daily lives, and study has shown that both religious and non-believers do in the same quantity every single day. Recently my partner and I have been continuously watching our favorite American sci-fi crime drama. I notice that this drama’s stunning point is the conflict of main characters in deciding what is right or wrong to do, what is the best way to save humanity even when it risks ourselves – and that we all make mistakes and need to learn from them. Imperfection encourages us to learn, and that is our strength as humans. 

I once was a human with such huge perfect ambitions. I need to see all the things in my life are perfect, in the correct order, and fast. Time goes by, and I learn that imperfection is okay. Not all biologists have the traits whom I don’t prefer to work with, and it is okay – I can find other biologists with good traits. Not all feminists are sensitive; some people are wise enough to accept people’s jokes and puns. And most importantly, not all religious people are poorly educated and possess false logic; some have a really wise worldview. And if so, human possesses imperfection; it is a process of the world creating a perfection of the world itself: diversity.

Lore Lindu National Park,

January 12th, 2018

Recently I got back from North Flores to help my team with tourism discussion and workshop and collecting data for my thesis. It was a bumpy-and-lonely journey, as I spared most of my 10 days alone. Sleeping on a bus, jumping on a plane, thinking about a car, or enjoying a pleasant view from a truck window. A truck is common local transportation in North Flores, which can bring you to travel from Pota to Riung for 1.2 dollars. 

On my last trip to North Flores in August, I met several exotic and native birds of Flores with the help of the truck driver. This time, his elder brother drove me to my destination. He was a bit quiet and did not talk unless necessary. So I mostly enjoyed my time in silence.

On that bumpy journey, I sat next to the driver so I could freely take photographs. Enjoying the bright sun and blue sky - which Carl Sagan described as a "fake sky" in his book The Pale Blue Dot. The real sky is dark, limitless, and black. If we see a white, blue, orange, pink, red, or purple sky, we see a (or a few of) color spectrum(s) of the sun's light. Planets with a non-black sky are the planets that have atmospheres. So, enjoy it, folks! We have a fake beautiful sky during the day and a real sky at night without stars. I remember a passage in the novel Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome: we are the sons of the sun; we really enjoy the lights and are afraid when the night comes. 

The world from a truck window is romantic, especially when you take a trip through places you've never visited before, and the people along the road recognize you. Sometimes it was a loud call, a waving hand, a smiling face, or just a nod. You will also feel the wind, sometimes it cools you, and sometimes it whispers a lonely song.

Taking a trip to my research site is quite interesting regarding the weather. It was rainy season in Bogor when I started my journey, then 39 degrees Celcius in Labuan Bajo, then I should transit on Ruteng when it was (I believe) 10 degrees, then again, 39 degrees in North Flores. This is my fourth time traveling alone to (and from) Flores, and I found out that looking out the window really helps me to pass the hours of a lonely journey. I rarely listen to my MP3 player on my phone to reduce battery usage and to prevent being rude to local people who talk to me. But you know - as psychology research found - when we are lonely, we tend to feel there is someone or hear voices talk to us. For me, it's always a song. I never imagined someone talking to me in the middle of the journey, but a song will be played in my head.


When I passed the North Flores trans road, staring at the open, calm ocean, "Beyond The Sea" was played. Not Frank Sinatra's version, but Michael Bublé's. Someone told me he fell in love with diving because it is peaceful down there, beautiful, and you can find many interesting things beneath your feet. The Flores Sea is rich in corals, tuna fish, and also, pearls. It tickles me that I saw several serious farms of sea pearls owned by Japanese corps in East Flores. Some locals referred to it as "we are not completely obtained our independence." They said so due to local conflicts where many fishermen cannot fish around the Japanese farms, and the practice has been there for many years (like, 20?).

Well, I am not a marine scientist, but someday I hope I will understand the best marine resources management practice. Indonesia is the largest archipelago, so it is our obligation (and, of course, privilege) to master such knowledge.

Savanna is one of the major resources in North Flores. It is where people do agriculture in the rainy season and shepherd their livestock. A recent movie that I watched, Marlina, really gives a glimpse of both sides of the savanna: life and death. In my research site, monsoon forests are available surrounding savannas, people are lost there sometimes, livestock's dead - or stolen, and wild animals attack, but some ancestors, find waters between the great stones.

In a such great areas, it is common to find conflict over land (which are basically savannas). Some tribes claim here and there, war is sometimes unavoidable, and stories about it are available in so many versions - depends on where you sit and whom you talk to.


Another point of the road, which I can only see if I travel at the end of the year: is a burnt monsoon forest. People there still practice slash-and-burn agriculture. We should not blame anyone for this - the limited education in agriculture, lack of infrastructure, and resource support, may be involved. Even access to good seeds is limited. The song of Nosstress, Tanam Saja, played in my head. Life is so harsh there that they only can plant corn for three months in a year, sometimes paddy, but depends on the rain. In March, the dry weather already awaits the farmer again to rest until around October.

When we see it with our very own eyes, somehow, we will understand how people can do things that we never understand indeed.


See a bird flying in pictured above? I wasn't sure whether it was an eagle or not, but people said that it was a migration period for birds from Australia. Flores has an incredible sky full of birds; sometimes I see kingfishers, I've seen Asian Paradise Flycatcher twice, eagles so many times, pitta once, Flores' common hill Myna, and others. I often was not ready with my camera, and suddenly What a Wonderful World played in my head. It is always thrilling and exciting to see wonderful, free birds in the sky.


Last picture: is a broken road in North Flores. I was really afraid when passing this road, but the driver calmed me and said that he passes it every day, day and night, and we would be fine. The government had not repaired it at that time. However, their effort in establishing the main road in many remote areas in Flores should be appreciated. Each village now has funding for 1 billion rupiahs each year, and we can see improvement in many places. No song played in my head. Just a hope that the road will be fixed soon and people's life there will get easier a bit.

The world from a truck window is not lovely. But I want to recall what Carl Sagan wrote in his Pale Blue Dot book: mind wandering is important, as humans are wanderers. His mother sailed alone to America as she wondered how his husband was doing and then started a new life in the new country. We, and our ancestors, never stop walking. Even if we failed in one point or one place, we kept moving forward. That's what makes human civilization so advanced. And why are we not thinking of living on Mars? It is not a harmful thought; rather, we will be encouraged to think about how we save our only current home, our Pale Blue Dot. As humans often think that the universe was made for us, our wanderings and explorations will lead us to wide knowledge and ideas that we are only speck of dust in the universe.

Keep moving; that's what makes us at least an important speck of dust to make an impact in our very own world.
And that was what the truck driver taught me when our truck was trapped in really bad mud: you have to keep moving no matter how bad the road is unless you will never get anywhere.

There has been a body of research that shows how we act differently in our social groups or context, even when it violates our morality. One of the magic of conformity in daily life is when we fake our laugh in social groups when the joke is not funny or do standing ovation even when we actually do not appreciate the presenter in front of us. In the video above, Jonah Berger, a social psychologist who specializes in social contagion, explains how it happens. Contagion - an extended phenomenon of conformity, also happens in social media. Berger also wrote a scientific paper about how content with stronger happy or angry emotions will spread more quickly than any other content.

But social psychology is open to new explanations and findings - as the usual science should be. Conformity theory has its flaws; it varies depending on culture, influential members, group size, and also, the minority who speaks up. Consider this; conformity happens and benefits the majority, and you are doing what majorities do basically because you do not want to be seen as weird and violating the social norm. But when a minority speaks up consistently, you start to think, "What happens? Why is this person consistently saying the opposite of majorities? Are the majorities doing wrong?" This thought starts to haunt you over and over, and you may change your opinion and then support the minority.

Social psychology is a toddler that starts to walk. It is starting to grab people's attention as a science because of its strict experimental, quantified, and replicable method. But I think the magic of it relies on several things; (1) how it researches daily things that we think are not scientific, (2) how it is open to any possible explanation or new questions, and (3) how some people succeed in making people understand about our own behavior in a way to make society better.

Science itself is magic. I hope I can bring that magic to you, someday.