I’m an engineer, and thus a believer of science. Science is humanity’s way of understanding how the universe really works: from the unimaginably small to the incomprehensibly large. Scientists study things as fast as light, as slow as rocks and almost everything in between.
Why believe in science? When we follow science to do something, we succeed. Engineers exploit that knowledge and experience to make things for people, from the apparently simple like a pin to the mind-bogglingly complex like the International Space Station. Things so big and so complex that no one person is capable of understanding more than a fraction of a subsystem, so far nothing bigger than a transcontinental railroad, or smaller than an atom.
One of these engineering science projects is planned for Hawaii. The planning has taken 10 years so far and the construction will take about seven more. It will occupy about 0.00004% of this island. Less space relative to Maunakea than this o is to the rest of the newspaper page. Some people feel this is an affront to their belief that the tiniest blemish to what they consider sacred is unacceptable. They are entitled to their belief. Others say that they are entitled to their belief but have no right to impose it on everyone else.
Who is everyone else — the island population, the state population, the scientific community, or the whole world? Jews and Muslims have found a way to share the much smaller Jerusalem Temple Mount; over the centuries Christians have shared it, too. Those of a scientific mind maintain that the whole world stands to benefit if the Thirty Meter Telescope project goes forward, but admit it’s not possible to predict what the benefit will be. Like Ben Franklin said about newfound electricity, “Of what use is a newborn baby?”
The International Telescope Committee (ITC) has handled this badly. They claim that they consulted with cultural practitioners before proceeding but as a layman on those issues I see some serious mistakes.
First the name TMT sounds like a disease. It’s just an abbreviation for Thirty Meter Telescope, a name that needs explaining and is often explained wrong. Thirty meters, about 100 feet, is the diameter of the primary mirror. No doubt someday the official name will be for some professor of astronomy. Probably someone most of us never heard of. The least they could have done is to give it a Hawaiian name. Just think how much less resistance there would have been. If it was the Kamehameha Telescope there would be no “Kamehameha — Go-Home” protest signs. King Kalakaua was interested in astronomy and in 1883 had a telescope installed at Punahou School. Kalakaua Telescope would be hard to protest; Hale Kino Hoku O Kalakaua would be even less likely to face opposition.
The ITC has emphasized the scientific and commercial benefits, all of which are obvious but has done little to promote the cultural connection to Hawaiians whose lives were governed by the stars. There were Hawaiian Royal Hilo Koku, a title which can be translated as royal astrologer or astronomer. Many heiau also served as observatories. Polynesians achieved celestial navigation long before Europeans and they did it without complex instruments. The images collected will be electronic, not requiring observers to peer through a conventional lens, thus they can be shared with the cultural community as well as academia. They could even be on YouTube.
The ITC published and widely circulated promotional artist’s conceptions that until 2017 all depicted the observatory at the peak of the mountain, when the proposed site on the north face is 500 feet lower. Those misleading images still circulate and are the basis for much protest. It’s not like they have not been told. The ITC failed to engage the Hawaiian community. It has lived up to the popular image of eggheads who study more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for West Hawaii Today. Email obenskik@gmail.com