Selfish Science?

So...  I have a question for  you fellow graduate students.  This has been kicking around in my head for a couple of years now, but recently has occupied more of my attention.

Is modern science an inherently selfish endeavor?

I was talking with a professor about science a few years back and I remember being shocked when I was told that they believed that their profession was a fairly selfish one.  It was a foreign concept to me, after all, I don’t know many lazy professors (pre-tenure) and aren’t we putting in all of these tireless hours in the name of ‘The Truth’?

Over my years of grad school, this thought has incubated in the back of my mind, occasionally popping up to put forward awkward questions.

“You used to be much more of an activist and more socially-minded.  What happened?”  Well, durh, graduate school happened.  I don’t have time for all of that stuff now.  This excuse isn’t without merit, but it isn’t precisely true either.  In high school and undergrad, I was much more connected to a group of other students who did care more about social issues.  I did get out on occasion to go to a protest, or to volunteer my time at one organization or another.  Grad school, the post-doc and the early professorial positions seem to be all about focus.  Focus on the science.  Focus on your career.  Focus on yourself.  Does the complexity of modern science in a heightened atmosphere of tough competition for dwindling resources demand a single-minded obsession with science that must block out other interpersonal and community commitments?

“Why, as academics, are we taught to look down our noses at scientific work that is geared towards application?”  We regard the justification of our research as a chore, that we need explain to ‘the masses’ why our research is important.  AIDS, Alzheimer’s and especially ‘The Big C’ (Cancer) are words to toss around to get your grant funded.  But it’s the research that matters, the unquenchable personal curiosity that is regarded in high esteem.  I came in, a freshly released undergrad, full of naïve ambitions to be researching a topic that had immediate grounding in a topic that has great importance in today’s society, or in our newly arising global landscape.  What is it that has changed that desire in me?  I realize that a deeper understanding of science certainly makes the issue more complicated than “I’m going to go out there and cure cancer!”.  But are socially-minded projects and academic research diametrically opposed?  To be a mature scientist does one have to be an immature neighbor?

Alright, that is enough for tonight.  Perhaps there will be a part 2 later.  But I’d be curious to hear any of your thoughts, on this forum or over coffee/martinis!