ARTICLE/SATIRE: Has Science Had Its Day In the Sun?
As you know, I make a practice of pulling articles that might be interesting, teachable and relate to the MC Pop theme. Way back on March 17-19 2006 I pulled an article from the free NYC daily paper Metro from their editorial section titled "Has Science Had Its Day In the Sun?"
Metro has an incredibly crappy online archive so I hunted down the author Elliott Kalan (he writes for The Daily Show) and got him to send me a copy of the original pre-edited text. I thought this would be a great companion text for teaching about any scientific advances in a world history, literature (esp. with texts like Frankenstein or A Brave New World) or, of course any science class. It is especially interesting if you're tackling the God vs. science debates indigenous to every time period.
If you dig the text and find a way to integrate it into your class please do tell us about how you used this groovy satire in the space below the article!
Enjoy,
Ryan:)
SCIENCE: ON THE OUTS?
By Elliott Kalan
For a few centuries now, science has grown in popularity, overtaking formerly hot trends like alchemy, magic, and fear of the unknown. Our modern world is now science-obsessed. Not since the greek empire, when Archimedes’s discovery of water displacement inspired three hit pop songs, has science been more talked about. But has science run its course? The airwaves are filled with stories of religious faith resurging against science. By my count, a full 80% of Americans believe in God, whereas just twenty years ago, when science was relatively new, I don’t think anybody did. In addition, 67% of Americans would offer God a place to crash on their couch if He did exist and needed some time to get His head together. This clearly says to me that the days of faith are back, and the days of science are ending.
The reason, I believe, is humanity’s love of size, which can be traced back to our early days as small, ape-like hominids surrounded by larger, scarier animals like lions, elephants, and very tall trees. We learned that to be bigger was to be stronger, and strove to create giant things like the pyramids, the great wall of China, and the 1988 Tom Hanks hit “Big”, which introduced piano-playing on a never-before achieved scale. Our awe of gigantic things continues today in our noble endeavor to push the human body to greater and greater limits of obesity.
But whereas people love massive things, science has become obsessed with making stuff smaller. Cameras and cell phones are shrinking rapidly. Physicists are splitting the atom, already very small, into tinier pieces. Modern real estate has managed to invent a two-bedroom apartment too small to hold a single bed. These are novel achievements. But are they big? No. Science, once the creator of Hoover Dams and computers the size of entire buildings, has gone astray. God, on the other hand, continues to make planets just as big as before. In fact, when you think about it, God’s basically just the biggest person there is. No wonder He’s coming back into prominence as the science fad fades from mainstream society.
When I say “fades”, though, I really should say “vanishes”. Prayer is gaining distance on electricity, and I wouldn’t be surprised if science, a mainstay of Tiger Beat Magazine’s “Hot” list, moves to the “Not” category in ten years. Within our lifetimes, people will go back to a pre-industrial feudal society, and I imagine our children will even stop the quasi-science of farming in favor of hunting and gathering. Very likely, our great-grandchildren will return to a natural life ruled by animism, the belief that there is a soul or spirit in all things. With the mistake of science behind them, they can return to the important mission of achieving bigness, and evolve into giants or possibly even dinosaurs. Scientists, of course, will tell you this is all impossible, absurd, ridiculous, mind-blowingly stupid. But they’re probably just trying to sell you a smaller iPod.
Metro has an incredibly crappy online archive so I hunted down the author Elliott Kalan (he writes for The Daily Show) and got him to send me a copy of the original pre-edited text. I thought this would be a great companion text for teaching about any scientific advances in a world history, literature (esp. with texts like Frankenstein or A Brave New World) or, of course any science class. It is especially interesting if you're tackling the God vs. science debates indigenous to every time period.
If you dig the text and find a way to integrate it into your class please do tell us about how you used this groovy satire in the space below the article!
Enjoy,
Ryan:)
SCIENCE: ON THE OUTS?
By Elliott Kalan
For a few centuries now, science has grown in popularity, overtaking formerly hot trends like alchemy, magic, and fear of the unknown. Our modern world is now science-obsessed. Not since the greek empire, when Archimedes’s discovery of water displacement inspired three hit pop songs, has science been more talked about. But has science run its course? The airwaves are filled with stories of religious faith resurging against science. By my count, a full 80% of Americans believe in God, whereas just twenty years ago, when science was relatively new, I don’t think anybody did. In addition, 67% of Americans would offer God a place to crash on their couch if He did exist and needed some time to get His head together. This clearly says to me that the days of faith are back, and the days of science are ending.
The reason, I believe, is humanity’s love of size, which can be traced back to our early days as small, ape-like hominids surrounded by larger, scarier animals like lions, elephants, and very tall trees. We learned that to be bigger was to be stronger, and strove to create giant things like the pyramids, the great wall of China, and the 1988 Tom Hanks hit “Big”, which introduced piano-playing on a never-before achieved scale. Our awe of gigantic things continues today in our noble endeavor to push the human body to greater and greater limits of obesity.
But whereas people love massive things, science has become obsessed with making stuff smaller. Cameras and cell phones are shrinking rapidly. Physicists are splitting the atom, already very small, into tinier pieces. Modern real estate has managed to invent a two-bedroom apartment too small to hold a single bed. These are novel achievements. But are they big? No. Science, once the creator of Hoover Dams and computers the size of entire buildings, has gone astray. God, on the other hand, continues to make planets just as big as before. In fact, when you think about it, God’s basically just the biggest person there is. No wonder He’s coming back into prominence as the science fad fades from mainstream society.
When I say “fades”, though, I really should say “vanishes”. Prayer is gaining distance on electricity, and I wouldn’t be surprised if science, a mainstay of Tiger Beat Magazine’s “Hot” list, moves to the “Not” category in ten years. Within our lifetimes, people will go back to a pre-industrial feudal society, and I imagine our children will even stop the quasi-science of farming in favor of hunting and gathering. Very likely, our great-grandchildren will return to a natural life ruled by animism, the belief that there is a soul or spirit in all things. With the mistake of science behind them, they can return to the important mission of achieving bigness, and evolve into giants or possibly even dinosaurs. Scientists, of course, will tell you this is all impossible, absurd, ridiculous, mind-blowingly stupid. But they’re probably just trying to sell you a smaller iPod.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Greg Sperry on
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I find this article interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it is ironic how science has gone from making large items to now focusing on making things smaller. This is true for some things but for other items or objects this is not true. Take for example the new Dallas Cowboy stadium. It is so large and magnificant, it stands alone among the sports stadiums throughout the world. Engineers spent time designing and the building the largest retractable stadium roof, as well as the largest HD TV in the world. Yes, it is true that scientists are making things smaller and smaller but they are also making this objects perform faster, and better the there larger counterparts. It is also interesting that the author notes that kids today are disinterested in science. I think this is a trend we are seeing. We are growing up in a technological age but kids don't seem to care about how their electronics work, only that they do work. They take for granted what they have and the lose interest in inquiry. This is a challenge that is facing science teachers today.
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Permalink Reply by Ryan Goble on
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Greg, nice thoughtful response. I see a powerful lesson shaping up here - students could certainly have a debate here around the article - an agree disagree or in debate parlance affirm or negate debate around the very topics you bring up.
Also I could see you laminating a bunch of images that relate to the article above (from massive bridges and stadiums to graphics of nano tech you read about in wired and popular mechanics. You could use all these real world examples to springboard discussion.
Thanks for your great ideas!
RRG:) -
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