I loved Mr. Wizard. I thought
his use of science to engage children in exploring the world around them was
just awesome. Don Herbert was a decorated World War II veteran and an early TV
pioneer and he realized the power of the medium to capture the public’s
attention and draw it toward science. Bill Nye and the Mythbuster’s guys have all attributed
their love of science and scientific experiment to Mr. Wizard and I think it’s
entirely just. I know I certainly tried to re-create some of Mr. Wizard’s home
based science experiments.
Science is friendly yet
impartial and Mr. Wizard tried to make us all aware that it wasn’t about some
stuffy egghead in a white lab coat sitting over some sterile lab environment
with a blackboard in the background with the word’s “Kill God” written on it.
Science is accepting of anyone with a willingness to learn about it, openly and
freely, and without preconceived notions (or at least a willingness to have
those notions bent.) The principals of science are for everyone.
Yesterday I saw a commercial on
TV for something that I thought was pretty amazing. A company named Project MC2
(Squared) has launched a line of STEM related dolls. Each doll focuses on a
particular area of science and comes with its own experiment. “The Project Mc² brand was developed in order to inspire
girls that it's cool to be smart, leverage the growing trend of STEM,” the toy
company’s CEO Isaac
Larian told Mashable. STEM is
an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
I
thought this was brilliant and frankly, something I have never seen. I think it’s
about time companies understood that science is pretty cool and that the only
way we can get back into the forefront of scientific exploration is to encourage
play with these types of toys. It also emphasizes the fact, without sounding misogynistic;
women have been mostly left out of science. I say this with a heavy heart and because the
statistics support it. Women made up just 28 percent of science and engineering
workers in 2010, according to the National Science Board's annual "Science
and Engineering Indicators" report, from Feb. 6, 2014. These numbers have
apparently risen to 33 percent since 2010, but that’s still dismally low. So I
hope these toys encourage a whole new generation of young women to explore
science and use it is a window to open-minded thinking.
It
also got me wondering about Kim Davis. I wondered if she ever played with any
science themed toys or was ever encouraged to explore ideas or concepts through
science, technology, engineering or mathematics. Kim Davis is a Kentucky county
clerk who spent six days in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to
same-sex couples, claiming it conflicted with her religious principles. I
wonder what sort of person she might be if she’d had the opportunity to play
with toys like those being marketed by The Project MC2 brand. Would she still
only believe that God is the engine behind all things on Earth, or could she
perhaps still be a woman of faith but understand that God’s gift to humanity
was curiosity and a willingness to explore the world around them, to in effect,
become more like the being that allegedly created us in its own image?
I
wondered if Mrs. Davis ever watched Mr. Wizard when she was younger. I wondered
if her youthful fascination with the universe was limited to the dogmatic doctrine
of a religious principal. Was it only Sunday school or was there any brain
expanding school? Did she ever see a machine and think, “I wonder how that
works, I should take it apart and then put it back together,” or did she just
think, “God made it work through his infinite power, The End.”
Imagine
if she had been exposed to scientific exploration or was encouraged to get into
mathematics or engineering. She might be the loudest voice in the choir of
scientists pleading for environmental change solutions or drumming up media
attention to alternative power solutions or pushing Mars exploration. She might
have been the claxon call for scientific education. I mean, considering the
doggedness with which she is resisting a Supreme Court decision and the Law of
the Land, imagine her doggedness for clean water in Africa through improved
irrigation and solar power if she had been given the opportunity.
Perhaps,
she might be that symbol after all. Perhaps she can bridge the gap between
faith and scientific discovery. Even the Pope has indicated they’re not
mutually exclusive. Maybe she’ll be that symbol of what NOT to be and inspire other’s to avoid her type of close-minded
thinking. It’s certainly permissible to be a person of faith as well as someone
with a burning desire to know why or how things work the way they do. It is
through the search for truth that we ultimately find God. Or something to that
effect I heard somewhere once.
The
reason I do love science is because it’s fair. It’s a lot like chaos that way.
Chaos and science don’t care where you’re from, how old you are, if you’re transgendered,
if you’re mulatto, if you’re straight, or even if you believe in God. The
reason things happen is always open to exploration and possibility. Physics is
the best example of why science matters, since it’s always evolving and
changing our understanding of the world around us yet keeps so many rapt with a
nearly obsessive desire to know more.
Science
opens the mind to possibilities, possibility is the doorway to questions, questions
are the gateway to knowledge, and knowledge is the key to wisdom. Who wouldn’t
want to be a little wiser?
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