Science for the Masses

His thoughts spurred in me an equally compelling, if more eloquent argument to my economic one for why we need to become ridiculously connected to all the world's information - we need robust broadband in our lives so that everyone, literally, can have the ready access to information that some of us have come to enjoy through the Internet and the marvelous search engines, social networks, blogs, and websites that make this rich world all so accessible.

We desperately need more rational thought in our society. Science has become such a big part of our lives, and too few in our society appreciate its many intricacies. Much of Greene's article focuses on the teaching of science, and how our schools and teachers, with best intentions, drive kids away from science. He argues that we should start with instilling wonder in the marvels of the universe and science by teaching the big picture first, and then going back to build the fundamentals using that wonder as the energy to keep kids engaged. In contrast, most teachers today subscribe to the pedagogical approach of first teaching the building blocks, getting kids to first master the fundamental details so that the bigger ideas that follow can be better understood. Problem is that in practice, by the time teachers get to the really sexy stuff, they've lost many kids' interest. I'm with Dr. Greene - we need to grab 'em up front with the sexy stuff - win their hearts, then their minds will follow.

At times I feel we've become in such a hurry in our busy lives to solve vexing problems, make money and satisfy our many needs and desires (all very serious adult pursuits, after all), that we easily lose sight of the wonderful world we live in and all that there is to experience and enjoy (the child's viewpoint).

But the future can be a bright one. If we can just find a way to power through this decidedly unsexy phase, where we must build the infrastructure that under girds the information society, we will come out on the other side with a new world where information is literally and figuratively right at our fingertips, there for the asking, there for the taking. When that day comes, those who enjoy the benefits of ubiquitous broadband connectivity may not understand the struggle of those who went before them to build the underlying infrastructure, but they will enjoy the fruits of our labor. And we who built it will know that it was our efforts that made it possible.

We will have lit up the world with information, just like our forefathers lit it up with electricity and light. And we used science to make it happen.

These are the deeper motivations that keep me going in this quest to build broadband into our lives.

The last word to Dr. Greene:

Science is the greatest of all adventure stories, one that's been unfolding for thousands of years as we have sought to understand ourselves and our surroundings. Science needs to be taught to the young and communicated to the mature in a manner that captures this drama. We must embark on a cultural shift that places science in its rightful place alongside music, art and literature as an indispensable part of what makes life worth living.

It's the birthright of every child, it's a necessity for every adult, to look out on the world, as the soldier in Iraq did, and see that the wonder of the cosmos transcends everything that divides us.