Quote Originally Posted by companioncube#3 View Post
@Thorne,

re: SCIENCE IS INTERESTING & IF YOU DON'T AGREE, YOU CAN FUCK OFF...



It's tongue-and-cheek, of course. When I am acting as a teaching assistant for undergraduate courses (one of my part-time jobs while I finish my degree), a significant slice of my efforts is directed at framing the message properly.
I'm the same way as companioncube. I tutored physics at university and I worked very hard at framing the message. My favorite trick, which I picked up from my Cal 2 professor, was that I never asked, "Do you understand?" I only asked, "Do you agree?" I didn't want them to feel ashamed and stupid for not getting it. I wanted them to argue with me so I could understand their frame of mind and be in a better position to structure the information in a way they could absorb it.

I think most people in the scientific community feel that way. We are passionate about sharing our love. To the point of being rather annoying.

That is what is so funny. It's just so wrong and so completely out of character.

See, Tyson's issue with Dawkins is that he isn't like that. And he isn't. I understand why he isn't like that. He's an evolutionary biologist and so he's been under attack his whole career because of his field. You can only expect so much patience from a person.

But Dawkins understood why Tyson had a problem with his attitude. He told that story only to illustrate that, not only is it possible for a person in the scientific community to abandon this desire to foment interest, but he knew of one who was at the absolute opposite extreme.

I guarantee you that just about every person in that room who laughed at that story shared our desire to inspire a love of science. Even Tyson laughed. It's just a funny story.