Saving Ourselves With Science

How is it that everything (100%) of what we do, see, experience, adore, avoid, touch, seek, remember, dream about and think about is SCIENCE – and yet perhaps 1% of the human population understands not just this conceptually – but this in detail. How are we supposed to advance as a civilization if science is seen as elitist and inaccessible? With so many people in the world having access to resources on the internet that provide free education, such as Coursera, iTunes university, podcasts, and Youtube videos – absolutely no one has an excuse in this complacency. The problem lies even deeper still. Culturally, we don’t value lifelong learning and innovative thought. Historically, we have shunned the most radical and creative minds because the deviate from the norm. Aren’t those deviations what makes us beautiful? Why is being the same so valued? And why can’t learning, especially and MOST importantly – learning about science – be cool? Why are there more youtube views of “music” videos – by hundreds of millions – than there are of how the brain works, why the sky is blue, how many stars are in the sky, why we laugh, how two single human cells conspire to form a human being, how the human genome has been mapped, and whatever the heck we maybe kinda think dark matter is? I didn’t grow up on top 40 music, 24 hour cable reality TV, advertisements in my face constantly on cell phones, or the addiction to technological entertainment that we all have today. So how are kids today going to grow up to appreciate these things, if they don’t have those experiences of playing outside until the crickets chirp and the street lights cut on? What will happen to us if we aren’t all trying to improve this world together by learning about it?

Advertisements