The 11th KAIST-POSTECH Science War was held from Sep. 14-15 in POSTECH. Since 2002, POSTECH and KAIST have celebrated this festival, known as the ?cience War,” every year for mutual interaction. Science War is composed of athletic competition, e-sports, and scientific competition. As the two universities specialize in natural sciences and engineering, those who know Science War expect to have a battle of wits. What people expect is not entirely wrong. Hacking competition, science quiz competition, and artificial intelligence programming are held to satisfy expectations. However, these competitions can never attract enough to call people together, even Postechians. Science War has become a festival just for a few students. Then, why does not Science War make Postechians and local residents think it is filled with profitable, scientific content and gather together to learn and celebrate?
As the Science War was of little scientific interest, local residents were not interested in the festival. Hacking and artificial intelligence were unfamiliar to them. They might have thought that the players were impressive, but they could not understand the competition. In addition, the public did not consider watching sport competitions with their family because they only expected ?cience wars,?not ?ports.?It is also important for the students of the two universities to engage in athletic competitions. However, if they seriously think and work together to foster better festival within the community, the public will be interested in the Science War, which should be similar to science expo. For instance, some students could make dancing robots and some could hold an exhibition of inventions. Other students could give an interesting scientific lecture for the public. POSTECH and KAIST should make efforts to make the public feel friendly toward science.
Postechians need to change their mind about the festival. Postechians have regarded the period of the festival as a time to go home. Festivals of POSTECH have become less popular among Postechians than business fairs at which students can get a free USB. Postechians cannot expect a good local festival if even students from the university hosting the festival ignore their festival. Once students participate in the festival, it will become more and more advanced. If enough students continued consistently, the festival could become a popular celebration in POSTECH.
Students of POSTECH and KAIST will become the driving force for the future science of Korea. As science helps the public feel comfortable, students should also make the public feel comfortable about science through the Science War.