Science can sometimes make you feel really good about yourself and, you know, everything - ever. Then at other times it really wants to kick you when you're down.
Today I read something online that said "You are the result of 3.8 million years of evolutionary success. Act like it." Which is fairly inspiring when you feel a bit down - 2.8 million years of success resulted in me!
A while ago I had a less uplifting experience when it was pointed out to me that every moment I ever spent thinking about how impossibly unique I am and how amazing it is I am able to have those thoughts at all is a moment I'll never have again and everything I could possibly achieve becomes less likely to occur with each passing moment.
Then there are times when science is just hilarious, like when scientists decided to study the centre of the galaxy and discovered it tastes like raspberries.
I was thinking about these and realised that while what science studies will exist whether we study it or not, it is the people involved in science that truly give it its awesome, terrifying and hilarious aspects. The wonder is in the observation and understanding not the observed. And the power to influence how a particular fact or discovery is received rests with people too.
It is something that I'm noticing more and more, everyone has a spin they want to put on things and that can be good or bad. A lot of the time people don't even realise the effect it might have.
Hopefully this response to a petition for building a death star will have a positive impact on you, just think of the trouble Paul Shawcross went to to make this funny and engaging to the people who signed the petition and to make sure it had as many references to the films as possible. You know that people are going to get a kick out of reading this and the authors will never get to see it, but they crafted it with obvious enjoyment and reverence anyway.
I wish more people could be like that more of the time. Myself included.
No comments:
Post a Comment