Living Longer Than
40 - Thanks Science!
In the movie Jurassic Park, Jeff
Goldblum's character Ian Malcolm is explaining to Laura Dern's character Ellie Satller a bit about chaos
theory, and how similar events can lead to vastly different outcomes. In his
example, that would be the placing a drop of water onto Dr. Sattler's hand and
seeing where it rolled off too. In my case the similar events are a rather
silly question.
I see this type of
sentiment sometimes here and there. People express it differently to be sure,
but it happens a lot. The question comes in many different flavors, each with
their own nuance and character, but they all essentially boil down to one simple
question "What has science done for me?/done for me lately?" What's
different about this time? Nothing! Nothing that I can tell, anyway. What got
me going was a comment online (yeah, you'd think I'd learn, but no) Someone
said that the space program is a waste of money. I've heard it before and I'll
hear it again. So why did this one get
under my skin? I blame Jeff Goldblum.
So in response to
that mentality, here's a list of stuff!
- Flying - Thanks Science!
- Not contracting polio - Thanks Science!
- Cell Phones - Thanks Science!
- The Internet - Thanks Science!
- Connecting to the internet on my cell phone while flying and not dying of polio - Thanks Science!
- Dr. Pepper and the containers thereof - Thanks Science!
- Distillation - Thanks Science!
- Plastic - Thanks Science!
- For the numerous contributions to construction, architecture, chemical adhesive, latex paint and everything else that went into making the chair your sitting in, the house your living in, and the bridge you drive on - Thanks Science!
- Lasik Eye Surgery - Thanks Science!
- Surviving Surgery - Thanks Science!
- Germ Theory and Sanitation - Thanks Science!
- Penicillin - Thanks Science!
- Living with diabetes - Thanks Science!
- Surviving a heart attack - Thanks Science!
- Pacemakers - Thanks Science!
- Chemotherapy and those who live - Thanks Science!
- Knowing our origins - Thanks Science!
- R/C Cars on other planets - Thanks Science!
- Hubble Deep Field - Thanks Science!
- The Pale Blue Dot - Thanks Carl!
- Comprehending the vastness of the universe, and our place within it - Thanks Science!
The next time
someone asks you a question like, "What has science done for me
lately?", you look them straight in the eye and ask them, "What have
you done for science … ever!?"
