I genuinely believe that at the core
of what it means for us to be human
is our ability to question.
I teach a course called Unsolved Mysteries in the Universe.
We get to talk about everything from is there
extraterrestrial life to what happens inside black holes
to what is the nature of time.
All of these things are fair game in this class.
We spent half the first day drawing aliens.
And then she said, "Well, why do you
think it would look like this?"
How do you know it's not invisible?
How do you know it's not minuscule?
How do you know you could even perceive it?
Our bias towards humans was holding us back
from being able to comprehend that life doesn't
have to look just like us.
It's those types of questions that she
asked that get us to start delving into that deeper
sense of curiosity, which is what the class is really about.
It is so important to teach the students
that it's OK to question.
Somehow they get in their brains that having a question
means you don't understand something, when really
asking these deep, meaningful, provocative questions enable us
to advance and make progress.
I think it's important to have a class that
focuses on things that we don't know because if you only
have classes that teach you things that we already know,
then what is going to inspire students to pursue
those aspects of our lives and those aspects of the universe
that we don't know?
One of my top goals for the class
is for them to leave with a renewed sense of curiosity
about the world.
When children are little, they're so curious
and they're willing to play with anything
and they're not afraid of experimenting.
At some point, they lose that and I really
try to light that spark.
In the grand scheme of things, just because the universe
is incomprehensibly large, doesn't
mean that you have to be scared of it.
I think it just means that there's
so much out there that is left to be learned,
and instead of being scared, we should take steps
towards learning that.
Come in and open your mind.
And when you think deeply about those depths of space
and darkness, and you allow yourself
to have this experience, it'll blow your mind.
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