American kids today dream of being vloggers, not astronauts
The dream of space travel has been usurped by superficiality.
01 August, 2019
- Recent survey of 3,000 kids showed that more kids aspire to be a YouTube star than an astronaut.
- Children in the U.S. and U.K. were three times more likely to want to become vloggers than kids in China.
- The survey also indicated that kids in America were less knowledgeable about space travel than their global counterparts.
<p>Space travel was once the communal dream and subsequent reality of 1960s. Fifty years ago, the Saturn V blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center and landed the first men on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the surface, while Michael Collins stayed in Lunar orbit. </p><p>This exalted event stands as one of our most triumphant accomplishments. The many scientists, engineers, astronauts and creative people that it would go on to inspire is countless. </p><p>We owe an innumerable cultural debt to this technological era. Which is why on the eve of Apollo 11's 50th anniversary, <a href="https://theharrispoll.com/lego-group-kicks-off-global-program-to-inspire-the-next-generation-of-space-explorers-as-nasa-celebrates-50-years-of-moon-landing/" target="_blank">LEGO and The Harris Poll set out to survey children </a>in the United States, China, and the United Kingdom on their attitude and knowledge concerning space. </p><p>A total of 3,000 children were surveyed. While the results revealed that there was some lingering excitement for space, there were some disconcerting trends as well. Such as the fact that American kids would rather aspire to inanity on YouTube as a "vlogger" than to the great beyond as an astronaut in space.<span></span></p>
Results of the survey
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMDUxNjA3Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MjgzNTIxNX0.TMwqZFBqzqFwSxmtQrGgUz2BBc_zvuXQasMfzqIOYWA/img.jpg?width=980" id="16297" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e4af639fff2c2f2ef02f83f6d043fdd2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />The Harris Poll / LEGO
<p>According to the study, children were three times as likely to aspire towards a YouTube career than an astronaut. That is, creating videos on the internet in order to become famous. Kids in the study were between the ages of 8 and 12. On average only 11 percent said they wanted to be an astronaut.</p><p>The only place this trend was reversed was in China. A majority of children in China, at 56 percent, would rather be an astronaut over other professions. Their other answers to space questions showed that Chinese children were also more interested in the prospect of not only going to space, but creating settlements there as well. </p><p>Three out of four children, in general, believed that humans would eventually live in space or on another planet. About 96 percent of Chinese children prescribed to this answer, compared to 68 percent in the United States and 63 percent in the U.K. </p><p>On the subject of whether they'd like to go to space, 95 percent of Chinese children said yes, compared to 70 percent from the U.S. and 63 percent from the U.K. </p><p>The survey didn't delve into why children in the West were less interested in space than their Chinese counterparts. We can only begin to speculate. Perhaps it's the fact that we've been in a rut since the 1970s and haven't set foot on another celestial body since then. It could be a lapse in good space PR combined with apathy spurred from our continual failings to rile up enough support for another grand initiative. </p><p>China currently places a greater emphasis on long-term goals, as well as a higher value on the tangible applications of space exploration. They're both educated and united under the primal banner of human curiosity and a nationalistic organizational efficiency. </p><p>It also comes down to just plain ignorance. Western kids are barraged at a young age with frivolous "internet stars," whose only claim to fame is commercialized parroting. This is a great waste of intellectual capital as children seek to emulate these people. The survey also found that kids truly don't understand the impact and importance that space travel has imparted to their daily lives. </p><p>For instance, only 18 percent of Western children knew they used something that was invented because of space travel, compared to 43 percent in China. </p><p>Like many things in life, knowledge and inspiration can help reverse these concerning trends.</p>Inspiring kids for space exploration
<p>Bettina Inclán, NASA associate administrator for communications, is optimistic about what to do next to inspire future generations of America:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"For nearly 20 years, NASA and LEGO Group have collaborated on projects to inspire the next generation to imagine and build their future in space. Our latest efforts celebrate the incredible feats we achieved during Apollo 50 years ago, and now with our accelerated plans to go forward to the moon, we will continue to inspire children to dream about what's possible and to grow up to pursue STEM careers." </p><p>There is a lot to be inspired about. The future of humanity lies beyond the atmosphere. If we're going to travel there and stay there, we'll need our best and brightest to <a href="https://bigthink.com/technology-innovation/inventions-space-colonization" target="_self">invent some incredible new technology. </a></p><p>If we're going to make space exploration possible, we first have to pass down our dreams to the future custodians of the stars.</p>
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James Franco Has a New Show All About Philosophy
Would you rather learn philosophy from James Franco or a professor of philosophy? Well, now you don't have to choose.
01 August, 2017
Philosophy Time, with James Franco and Eliot Michaelson.
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">“The unexamined life is not worth living,” allegedly declared Socrates while he was on trial for corrupting the Grecian youth. While it appears that through its endless chatter modern culture constantly examines life, its motivation seems to have nothing to do with the pure and unconditional love of wisdom, or how the ancient greeks called it: philosophy.<span> </span></span> </p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">In an attempt to familiarize the general public with the oldest of the sciences, one unlikely duo—a Hollywood actor and a professor of philosophy, James Franco and <a href="http://www.emichaelson.org/" target="_blank">Eliot Michaelson</a> respectively—has launched a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCURj_t8MSVNkal7OYxu_FgQ" target="_blank">YouTube series called <em>Philosophy Time</em></a>. </span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">In four published episodes so far, the hosts share 6-minute-long fragments of their conversations with fellow academics on topics like language, beauty and the ethics of abortion. Amongst the academics are </span><a href="http://rci.rutgers.edu/~emc233/index.html" target="_blank">Elisabeth Camp</a>, philosophy professor at Rutgers University, who discusses the utility of metaphors and different types of imagination in helping us create a shared human experience. </p> <p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6818946c0361402377a26ea0103831fc"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JovYmcS2djY?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p> <p class="p1">In another clip, <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/~eharman/" target="_blank">Elizabeth Harman</a>, a professor of Philosophy at Princeton University with a special interest in morality, explains her views on the moral status of a fetus. </p> <p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6ada0f9e9ee57001e241b1e001f31cbb"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/r5SQnQjryzI?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p> <p class="p2"><a href="http://www.andyegan.net/Andy_Egan/Front_Page.html" target="_blank">Andy Egan</a>, also a professor of philosophy at Rutgers, tries to explain the concept of beauty by feeding Franco and Michaelson a lime after shutting down their sour receptors with “miracle fruit”. </p> <p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fa8416d8640f8132de795a62bc0c732f"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iEy1BxMVUzk?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p> <p class="p2"><em>Philosophy Time</em> was conceived years ago when Franco and Michaelson, who met as a student and professor and became friends afterwards, wanted to work on something together. While many know James Franco as an A-list Hollywood actor, he is increasingly known for his writing, poetry, painting and music and being a kind of an academic junkie. Everyone wants to crack open his productivity secrets, because he has somehow found the time to earn an undergraduate degree in English from UCLA, graduate degrees from <span class="s3">Columbia University, </span><span class="s3">New York University </span>and <span class="s3">Brooklyn College, as well as </span>a PhD in English (currently in the making) at Yale. </p> <blockquote>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">"I love school,” Franco <a href="http://people.com/celebrity/james-franco-loves-his-new-role-as-a-professional-student/" target="_blank">says</a><a href="http://people.com/celebrity/james-franco-loves-his-new-role-as-a-professional-student/"> to People magazine</a>. “I go to school because I love being around people who are interested in what I’m interested in and I’m having a great experience… I’m studying things that I love so it’s not like it’s a chore. School is a way to take my other pursuits like directing and writing seriously.”</span></p>
</blockquote> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Of course, 6-minute-long videos are insufficient for any in-depth examination of most subjects. While other philosophy platforms like <em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpvhlSLzg2LT89FNUuN-Sig" target="_blank">Wireless Philosophy</a></em> and <em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/schooloflifechannel/videos" target="_blank">The School of Life</a></em> follow a similar model, it is hard to see them as a proper substitute for the philosophical discussions and gathering of minds that took place at the agora.<span> </span></span></p> <p class="p2">But maybe this is not the goal of Michaelson and Franco. As Michaelson himself <a href="http://dailynous.com/2017/07/25/philosophy-time-james-franco-guest-post-eliot-michaelson/" target="_blank">says about the project</a>:</p> <blockquote>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1"> </span>“We need to figure out how to do more that reaches out beyond the NPR-set, to people interested in learning to think better but who didn’t have the luxury of taking a philosophy course or two in college, or even going to college at all. […] if we as a profession are going to have more of an impact on the world, we need to figure out how to reach more people, to offer them the tools for thinking hard and clearly about things that our discipline can offer. Not only in MOOCS, or in the pages of high-brow newspapers and magazines, but via whatever avenues are going to help us reach the most people in the most effective manner we can find."</p>
</blockquote> <p class="p6">Hopefully, the format, content and Franco’s presence will indeed manage to attract and “corrupt” some youth that otherwise wouldn’t have ventured into these deep corners of thought.</p> <div class="video-full-card-placeholder" data-slug="philip-kitcher-its-possible-to-live-without-philosophy-but-it-wouldnt-be-wise" style="border: 1px solid #ccc;">
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Stanford Releases a Free Series of Talks on Buddhism
Add to playlist! Stanford University posts its Ho Center for Buddhist Studies series of talks on YouTube.
30 December, 2016
Buddhist monks release a lantern into the air at Borobudur temple during celebrations for Vesak Day. The holy day celebrates the birth, the enlightenment to nirvana, and the passing of Gautama Buddha's, the founder of Buddhism. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Ge
A little while back, we published exciting news of a free online course in Buddhism offered by Harvard University. The archived course introduces Buddhist beliefs to novices, and illumines them for practitioners. Now the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford University has a way to carry on your self-education: it's made its expansive series of talks on Buddhism available on YouTube.
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkn7wpgMPWBoEyeLEn0vigA/feed" target="_blank">The 35 Stanford videos posted so far</a></span> — the earliest of which date back about a year — feature lectures from a range of experts, including active practitioners and scholars. It’s an ongoing series, too, <a href="https://hcbss.stanford.edu/events/upcoming-events" target="_blank"><span class="s1">with a full schedule of talks planned for 2017</span></a>.</p>
<p class="p1">If the Harvard curriculum is a great way to become familiar with Buddhism, the Stanford course goes a bit wider, with speakers discussing the religion from a range of perspectives. There are talks on Buddhist wisdom, recent historic revelations, discussions of complex concepts, and what it’s like to bring the religion to new geographic areas.</p>
<p class="p1">The most recently posted talk is by <a href="https://divinity.uchicago.edu/christian-k-wedemeyer" target="_blank"><span class="s1">Christian K. Wedemeyer</span></a>, an associate professor of the History of Religions at the <a href="https://divinity.uchicago.edu" target="_blank"><span class="s1">University of Chicago Divinity School</span></a>. His <a href="https://youtu.be/xm17Mog9sW8" target="_blank"><span class="s1">talk</span></a> is called “Rhetorics of Solidarity in Mahāyāna Sūtra Literature, or 'You're So Vain, I Bet You Think This Sūtra is About You’.”</p>
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<p class="p1"><span style="color: #737d83; font-size: 13px;">(BUDDHIST STUDIES AT STANFORD)</span></p>
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