Today’s Big Idea: Humanizing Technology

Why do we love our mobile phones so much? Technology is science brought to life. The word comes from the Ancient Greek techne, which means to produce an object or accomplish a goal. But in practice, technology is about more than providing us with shiny new devices. It’s also a way of shaping the world, challenging, altering, and expanding our understanding of what it means to be human. 

In today’s lesson, the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explains how parents often get in the way of their childrens’ curiosity. The rules we make tend to hinder their exploration. And so if you are looking to enhance their curiosity rather than hinder it, Tyson has a simple suggestion: buy your kid binoculars. 

Then your child will join the universally human undertaking that is science, and from that moment embrace technology as something that is to be celebrated rather than feared.