What profession do you admire most and why?

There are many professions worthy of praise. Any role that serves to protect, to build, to push the boundaries of human knowledge and wisdom, is a worthwhile one in this meerkat’s eyes. I highlight Albert Einstein, because scientific endeavour (despite the pompous and ignorance claims of the peanut gallery) has driven forward from superstitious nonsense, to the development of many tools that have greatly helped the human race.

There are naysayers to all of this, people who deny the history of observations and learning that have led us to where we are today. There are also those who criticise scientific efforts, citing alleged problems (whilst ignoring that the application of science is not the same thing as the pursuit of knowledge; and these critics have no issue benefiting from scientific discovery).

If we never ever asked ‘how does this work’, or ‘what can this do’, or any one of a number of questions, we’d still be living in caves. If we lacked the curiosity to learn about our own biology, diseases like smallpox and cholera would claim far more lives than they do today. Our pursuit of the stars has led to incredible feats of engineering, and our desire to challenge horizons has seen us learn to travel around our world in little more than a day. That’s why I admire scientific endeavour.