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A YouTube podcast I’ve taken to is called The Rest is
Science hosted by mathematician Hannah Fry and “content creator” Michael
Stevens. In their entertaining one-hour dialogues, they explore questions like,
“The Infinity Paradox” or “Would you Kill One Person to Save Five?”
“Who needs to know that stuff?” question naturally comes to
mind. Yesterday, I got a lesson on magnetism: what it is, why the earth is a
magnet, all served with a side of
migrating birds’ connection to magnetic forces. Some might protest, “Birds will
migrate even if the earth’s magnetic polarity switches north to south, makers
of compasses will quickly adjust their product to reflect it. All this whether
I know it or not.”
There’s some truth in the “Ignorance is Bliss” adage. We don’t tell children that the world lives on
the brink of a horrible nuclear conflagration, do we? Would we even if it were
true? And if television was airing an urgent message on a new pandemic and how
to protect yourself, would you pay attention only if it didn’t interfere with
an important hockey game broadcast? And would you pay more attention if you’d
previously learned how the immune system reacts to bacteria and viruses and how
science has invented vaccines to raise our bodily defenses, and how they work
to achieve that?
Ignorance may provide bliss for the moment; it’s not that
good at creating the wisdom that saves lives, or improves living conditions for
the you and me (like air conditioners, let’s say). Lack of knowledge leaves us
subject to speculation, guessing and conspiracy theories. I spent some time in
the Roswell UFO Museum observing how misinformation and half truth could so
easily indoctrinate people who lacked knowledge of the universe. [i]
But perhaps I’m sounding overly harsh. Perhaps, The Rest
is Science appeals to me because I’ve a thirst for it. Some people are satisfied
most by physical activity, some by the arts, some only have time to pursue sources
of knowledge because of a demanding schedule of obligations. Most of us are
born with wit enough to know that you eat the plum and not the stone, but not
enough to follow the complicated conversation that complex knowledge demands.
In any case, if you thrive on new knowledge, try The Rest
is Science on YouTube. Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens are easy to like, and
knowledgeable as hell Wikipedia.
NAICA
Respond below or to gg.epp41@gmail.com
[i]
See (14
Planets and Moons That Scientists Believe Could Support Life) on the search
for alien life. Proxima Centauri B is 4.2 light-years away, or 9,600,000,000
kilometers. The fastest speed ever achieved by a man-made rocket launched from
earth is about 60,000 km/h. At that speed a trip between Proxima Centauri B and
planet Earth would take at the very least, 18 years and 7 months, one
way. What launched rocket could carry enough life provisions to maintain a crew
for 37.2 years? And what plunder could they usefully carry back? And where
would they get the enormous energy required to launch them back home?
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