The Complication of Simplifying Complications
March 16, 2006 @ 8:44 am
Did you get your subscription of the Humanist News Netowrk in your inbox last night? Go there to see my second article (with the above title) where I tell about our Darwin Day adventures and the questions it inspired from the kids that were so hard to answer.
Do you not get the weekly HNN ezine? Subscribe here to see my monthly column, and to read about the most current humanist news and issues every week.
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March 16th, 2006 @ 9:17 am
Got it. Commented. Good stuff. Keep it up.
March 16th, 2006 @ 1:20 pm
Noell,
I loved your column about your Darwin Week. I think your kids are very fortunate to have parents who are so creative about making science and nature and humanity so interesting and fun for them. You’ve inspired us to do the same for our kids when theyre older.
There is one point I would like to add to the discussion about the origins of life, people and everything: we all come from stardust!
Every chemical element besides hydrogen and helium was forged by the nuclear fusion in the heart of stars. Some of these stars explode in supernovae, spreading their elements far and wide. This star dust gathers into new stars and planets. In fact, non-gas planets aren’t possible without the heavy elements from supernovae. So all the carbon and oxygen and iron and everything else in our bodies was created in the heart of stars.
We don’t have to invent a pre-earth heavenly existence: the truth is far more beautiful and awesome than any invention.
I can’t wait to celebrate Darwin Day with my twin daughters and tell them they are made of stardust!
Matt Cherry
March 18th, 2006 @ 12:13 pm
Noell,
I really enjoyed your article. It’s comforting to see that I am not the only one who struggles with programming from the past
My husband has bailed me out a couple of times when I start speaking to my kids about something before I think it all the way through. I think I’m starting to get better at explaining things though.
Matt,
I like the stardust idea. My kids are 5 & 3 1/2 and have been trying to grasp that the earth did not have anything living on it at one point. I think they would enjoy learning they (and all matter on earth) came from stardust.