03 MAR 2014 by ideonexus
How to Explain Science
As nearly as I can see, the only secret in popularising
science (or anything else) is remembering what thinking went on
in your head when you first really understood whatever it is
you're now explaining: especially (1) what misunderstandings
needed to be cleared away, (2) what metaphors and analogies
proved helpful, and (3) what reassurance had to be offered. The
effort involved is slight, the benefits great. Among the
potential pitfalls are oversimplification, the need to be sparing
w...Remember what was going on in your head when you first understood the thing.
18 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
1939 New York World's Fair and a Future Through Science
The 1939 New York World's Fair - that so transfixed me as a
small visitor from darkest Brooklyn - was about 'The World
of Tomorrow'. Merely by adopting such a motif, it promised that
there would be a world of tomorrow, and the most casual glance
affirmed that it would be better than the world of 1939. Although
the nuance wholly passed me by, many people longed for such a
reassurance on the eve of the most brutal and calamitous war in
human history. I knew at least that I would be growing up i...Carl Sagan describes seeing the World's Fair as a youth.