The following is adapted from a speech Jason Silva delivered at the Humanity Plus Summit this weekend in Irvine, CA.
“A new, wide eyed and freshly minted vision surfaces: as a species we are just now in the process of being reborn. Insights abound, awareness rebounds, and shackles are being untangled, we might, if all goes well, be free. Free of our genetic heritage and free of our biological roots, free to soar into a promisingly magnificent future, the future of commingled information, of interweaved sensation, of co-opted dreams.” – WildCat, SpaceCollective.org
My name is Jason Silva. I host and produce a show on Current TV, the Emmy-winning international cable network co-founded by Al Gore.
I’ve tried to use the opportunity as a platform to celebrate big ideas – to harness the power of the information technology revolution and use television, social media and beyond, to share my enthusiasm for human technological ingenuity: to celebrate our ability to find creative ways to overcome problems, go beyond our limitations, and extend our reach.
In surveying my peers and trying to gauge the level of enthusiasm for science and technology, what I have found is that there is very little excitement about the scientific breakthroughs that are occurring every day.
Not too many people in cocktail parties are aware of Bioprinting and growing organs, or the coming technological singularity; I’ve seen very little philosophical speculation about how far we can go, how much we could achieve.
I shared my disappointment with a close friend of mine; someone who shared a passionate and optimistic outlook about the future.
We decided that the problem was lack of art-direction. For whatever reason, the scientific community was failing to elicit a sense of awe and wonder out of people… you can’t win the hearts and minds of the masses unless you inspire them.
You must lift their spirits and enliven their hearts. We have to give people emotional experiences. Science can always use better art-direction: scientific progress and discovery must be presented to the world in a way that excites and titillates people’s sense of what is possible!
I recently read a Newsweek article about the space program that I think was right on the money. The article, titled ‘Rocket Men‘, written by Jeremy McCarter, spoke of the importance of artists in the effort to re-ignite excitement about space exploration.
It mentioned an idea by Buzz Aldrin, from his memoir Magnificent Desolation, in which he made an “intriguing suggestion: Send an artist into space.” The author of the Newsweek piece goes on to say that what is needed is a true “Romantic hero for our 21st-century space adventure” …and that we “might need a little star power to make it out to the stars.”
The point here is the same: big ideas need to be packed in a thrilling, sexy, emotionally-appealing way.
In the case of space exploration, the author eloquently puts it like this: “NASA itself needs to help the public grasp that sending human consciousness 40 million miles into space can be its own mesmerizing reward….”
I think this very same challenge applies to those working in other areas of cutting edge scientific exploration: Synthetic biology, genetic engineering, stem-cell research and beyond. We need to help the public grasp that enhancing humanity, merging with our technology, extending our lifespan, reaching for the infinite, really, is it’s own reward. It is the most magnificent of undertakings.
In the same article, I also learned about Richard Holmes’ fascinating book titled “The Age Of Wonder“, about the late 18th century, or as the author refers to it, “the romantic age of science” – a time when the scientists were poets and the poets knew about science… What scientists and artists shared then, and what we need to regain now, is a fascination and love affair with what Holmes calls “the exploratory voyage.”
My friend’s production company, Transcendental Media, uses the slogan “To agitate the sleep of mankind.”
I’d like to borrow this line as a mission statement for all of us who believe in reason, science and technology as the tools to help us overcome our limitations. Lets agitate the sleep of mankind and then find better ways to inspire people to embrace our next evolutionary leap.
Let’s all become what Alan Harrington calls “Un-comprimising Child-Voyagers”…. and let us retain a child’s-eye-view of what might be.
One of the best examples of the marriage between scientific speculation and brilliant, emotional aesthetic design, is www.SpaceCollective.org. Started by Rene Daalder and Folkert Gorter, this wonderful enterprise excites, inspires and thrills the mind. I recommend it to anyone in need of a little inspiration.
John Maeda, from MIT, quoted in an inspiring essay titled ‘The Universe will Fly like a Bird‘, said this:
“Amidst the attention given to the sciences and how they can lead to the cure of all diseases and daily problems of mankind, I believe that the biggest breakthrough will be the realization that the arts, which are conventionally considered ‘useless,’ will be recognized as the whole reason why we ever tried to live longer or live more prosperously.”
What do you think about science’s need to inspire wonder? Share in the comments!
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Want more Jason Silva? Read BNT’s interview on How Science Will Make You Live Forever, and The End of Death: Further Conversations With Jason Silva.
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11 Comments... join the discussion!
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I have mixed feelings about science. Or maybe more so about how we keep pushing on without really understanding the full implications of things we do. We use science to advance ourselves, but there are often overlooked side effects (eg overpopulation). How will science help when there are 9, 12, 15 billion people on the planet? We’re finding ways to make inedible things edible to feed starving people, at the same time increasing our life expectancies. We use science in agriculture to “control” pests and to grow more food and faster, but to the detriment of the environment. On the surface all of these advancements sound fabulous, but who’s looking down the road 20, 50 years to see how they might actually affect the earth and all the creatures who live on it (and off of it)?
I fully agree about the importance of the arts. I read an interesting book called The Element where the author dips into education and how the arts are treated like second class citizens behind “real” occupations like doctors and engineers and scientists. Our creativity is suppressed from a very early age as we’re only given time and instruction for these arts as extra-cirricular activities and told how they aren’t important. When the fact is, creativity/arts is the underlying catalyst of science and advancements. If you can’t imagine it, you can’t make it a reality.
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What you are not taking into account is the vast amount of people that don’t trust in science, don’t believe that science can cure all of our ills and diseases, and no matter how much you sex it up, that won’t make it truth. Space travel ignited the people of the 60s because it seemed Communism was being beat to a pulp by America getting there before Russia.
I don’t believe there is ever something that people as a whole get on board with because it’s sexy. And at this point in history, many of us have seen how much we’ve been lied to by governments, scientists, and anyone with money (and they’re all in cahoots anyway), so why should we get excited about anything they say?
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Sexy-Science sounds dangerous. As we’ve seen in the past with multiple pharmaceuticals, our science is not always sound. Releasing it, as a marketable venture, into the public could lead to disastrous ends. Research is a long endeavor, not something to be taken likely. I have worked both in communications and media and now in molecular medicine and I can tell you the pressure placed on research and products, particularly those of luxury value to the public is immense. Hurried science is flawed science. Flawed science is dangerous science.
I do think there should be a push to generate more interest in both science and math, not in product management, but as an educational tool. If NASA and other research institutes can make the topics more accessible, without the hassle of technical jargon or unchecked ego, I think people would be open to learning more about stem-cell research, bioinformatics, and organ regeneration. Maybe then, those cocktail parties will be buzzing with informed, interested people.
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I think what Jason is really getting at is fusing imagination with technology again… providing a vision of the future that is inclusive for all. There’s nothing wrong with “science”… since it’s actually a method of inquiry. The problem is tainted corporate influence on the goals of technology… what we really need are more Carl Sagan’s and David Suzuki’s…
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I agree with Jason that science can be made to look more interesting than it is often perceived.
On the internet I’ve signed up to the http://www.world-science.net newsletter, which I think is like a Brave New Traveler scientific equivalent, providing lots of interesting (’sexy’) news in understandable and relevant snippets.
For my part, my vegetarian werewolf friend, the Greenygrey, is off on a space cruise over the holiday period, and often brings attention to events in the solar system.
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Thanks for the tip on world-science.net, Marc!
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I agree, Jason. There’s a real time lag at present between cutting-edge discoveries in science and public knowledge. Interesting that you quote the Richard Holmes book – that was a time when poets and scientists were influenced by each other’s efforts and there wasn’t the art-science divide that there is today. I really agree that science needs the artists to express its new insights and promote its ventures.
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No problem Christine, good to introduce you!
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you all need to read magister ludiby herman hesse. he put all of these questions to work 40 years ago. this issue has been prevalent for decades.. probably centuries.. its timeless
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