[Student Post] What i lerned in skool today part deux.

WARNING. What follows is a a bit of a rant. Worse, it's an undergraduate rant. If awkward phrases, fallacious arguments and poor grammar offends you, I would suggest skipping this post.

It could be that I'm seeing the world through cobalt-colored glasses-- it is winter in MN and very cold and dark-- and it is highly probable that the onslaught of medical school rejection letters biases me, but I think today was the most depressing day of school I've had in recent history.

It started with neurobiology (Ok...this one's a bit of a stretch) when we learned about the development of nervous tissue and how progenitor cells literally compete via lateral inhibition with each other to see who will become what. Neuroectoderm cells that "lose" become dispensable support cells while the ones that "win" are lavished with 'cytoplasmic gifts' (PZ's words) and differentiate into a neuroblasts. I couldn't help but think, "Wow, our very cells viciously jockey to establish hierarchies!?" I mean... who wants to be the little peon cell? They lied to us in kindergarden...

Next came ecology. This was a killer. The professor even had a disclaimer before lecture warning us that what would ensue would be upleasant. Yep. It was the global warming lecture. I had seen the "hockey stick" graphs before and the receding glacier pictures and yes, they're all very disturbing, but what really got me was a picture of the arctic circle in the summer. There appeared to be about half of the ice cover that usually persisted pre-industrial revolution.

Things got worse in ecology lab. We had to calculate our carbon footprint. Apparently I use about 24 acres to support my lifestyle. It would take 4 earths for everyone to live like me (and I didn't even count this l'il methane producer):
i-b85428f459789e03342dab62f21dcbe9-s13909083_17655930_5438.jpg
...or these guys...
i-112bd0c1e2cb1efd7af8c580a373e889-bunnies.jpg

The final blow was a film screening for my class on human aggression. The movie? Natural Born Killers. It was a double whammy. Even if the self-destructing, unsavory, hopeless nature of the characters doesn't get to you than the indictment of society's commodification of violence certainly does.

Man. Days like today almost make me yearn for the good ol' days when I had my class on" critical pedagogy" with excerpts from Paulo Freire on the necrophilic and dehumanizing nature of oppression.

I... think I need to go hold one of the bunnies...

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Your ecology class sounds like a day of my 9th grade Earth Science honors class last year. We even watched "An Inconvenient Truth." Luckily, we weren't quizzed on it like we were parts of Ice Age when we were studying glaciers. :P

"If awkward phrases, fallacious arguments and poor grammar offends you..."
I see what you did there.

This is what science and technology do: first we find cool new things to make life better, then figure out how to make those new things more affordable. We got lightbulbs and modern medicine and the Internet, but we also got CFC's and CO2 emissions and trash with no place to put it.

As a scientist or engineer, your job in this world should be to find less costly means of energy production, or more effective ways to use the energy we've got, or better ways of cleaning up after the messes. Maybe your particular job won't seem like it, but if you're doing the bio thing I guarantee that you or your classmates will be doing one of those things. Or you'll be busy making life better in new and expensive ways, and someone else will come along to make your ideas more practical.

We'll get there. And by the time we get it down to needing 2-3 earths for 8-billion Katies, we can be colonizing the Moon and Mars. But we'll never get a perfect 1:1 ratio, or else we'll slow down and get complacent all over again.

I can't help you with the neurons. And the violence is a whole other issue -- still related, but I'm rambling and need sleep. :-P

By Rachel I. (not verified) on 10 Dec 2007 #permalink

Medical School Katie? I think you might be missing your calling! Become a science writer, communicating this tuff to the masses - you have a gift for it!

By demallien (not verified) on 10 Dec 2007 #permalink

Welcome to the real world.

From Wikipedia:

Ignorance is bliss is a phrase that comes from Thomas Gray's poem, "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" (1742): "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise."

By John Morales (not verified) on 10 Dec 2007 #permalink

I second Demallien. Katie, of all the students PZ prompted to post on Pharyngula this school session, you seemed to "get it" the best. Nothing wrong with the other students' efforts, of course, but you engage the reader. Your posts have been humorous, accessible, interesting, and thoughtful. If you aren't already, you should be taking some creative writing classes to hone your skills. Even if science is your first love, you should not neglect your writing talents.

Just my two cents.

By H. Humbert (not verified) on 10 Dec 2007 #permalink

Natural Born Killers is only the best movie EVER. How can you complain?!

For depressing self-destruction movies, the one that got to me was William Friedkin's "Bug," probably because I can identify with the mental illness aspects of it both in myself and in people I know well.

I... think I need to go hold one of the bunnies...

I prefer frogs: lovely and soft and squishy with cute faces and beautiful transparent flippers but no fur, teeth or claws. Plus occasionally they hug back - grasping their forearms firmly around ones fingers.

NB What was the largest component of your carbon footprint?

Rachel I: We'll get there. And by the time we get it down to needing 2-3 earths for 8-billion Katies, we can be colonizing the Moon and Mars.

Rachel, you optimist. :)

I think in any clearheaded view of our future, you also have to consider the POSSIBILITY of the black alternative, couched in the lesson Katie learned yesterday: We'll continue to wreck the planet, and billions of people will die.

I wouldn't want to bet either way. But ...

I continue to think there's some critical level of intelligence necessary for humans to survive on earth, and fear that we're somewhere below that critical level.

I was telling a friend just yesterday that for the amount of money we've pissed away on killing other humans and poisoning the environment in Iraq, we could have built a CITY in orbit.

Some days I think we're WAY below the critical level.

Just a followup:

I got to meet a climate scientist briefly a few months back. The first thing out of my mouth after I found out what he did was a joking "Tell me the truth! Are we fucked?"

He nodded solemnly and answered: "We're fucked."

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function" - Albert Bartlett

By Fernando Magyar (not verified) on 11 Dec 2007 #permalink

Well, at least you got to hear one of the greatest songs ever--Leonard Cohen's "The Future"-- playing over the credits of "Natural Born Killers".

By Dave Wisker (not verified) on 11 Dec 2007 #permalink

Sounds as if your ecology lecturer is simplifying a rather complicated picture. Think on this: how many endangered species are there in the world? Any idea? Now, keep that guess in your mind and think how many of those are at risk because of global warming? Any? Three?

The killers (Natural Born, you might say) ARE humans, but it is habitat destruction, invasive species (imported by whom? Yep, you got it), and direct hunting that is causing the loss of species. Global warming is just a distant maybe. The world's on fire NOW, and we ain't doing a thing about it 'cept multiplying like so many locusts.

And I'm an optimist.

Think on this: how many endangered species are there in the world? Any idea? Now, keep that guess in your mind and think how many of those are at risk because of global warming? Any? Three?

Hundreds.

The famous golden toad of Costa Rica already died out because of it. It lived on cool mountaintops. With the heat came a fungal infection. Being on a mountaintop, the toad wasn't able to escape to a cooler place. It died out in 1991.

Now, that fungus threatens amphibians all over the world...

By David Marjanović, OM (not verified) on 11 Dec 2007 #permalink

Wow, what a downer day! I'm depressed just reading about it. Close your eyes and go to your happy place...

I can tell you have never been kicked in the stomach by a large bunny. If you must hug one, hold it facing away from you.

I echo others remarks about your writing. You have a nice way with words, and I look forward to seeing where that and science takes you.

Why med school? Everybody and their third cousin twice removed goes to med school. Go ahead and keep the applications in, but think about some alternatives as well. You are a good writer; you could go into journalism and science writing. Or, if the environmental things really affect you, try environmental science. Or environmental law, which I've heard some law schools offer as a specialty now. There are lots of possibilities. I always sigh when multi-talented people who could do just about anything try to fight the hordes into med school.
Bunnies are good for hugging. This is always good for a depression antidote as well.

"If awkward phrases, fallacious arguments and poor grammar offends you..."

...what are you doing on the internet in the first place?

We're fucked. On the other hand, we've always been fucked. Check out 19th century cities or bronze age agriculture or the early nuclear period or any plague anywhere any time. Maybe we'll find a way through, maybe we won't. Just like every other time. (Not sure if this is comforting or not.)

Hmm...just did a CO2 calculator. On the one hand, my contribution was only about 60% of the national average. On the other hand, over 2/3 of it was from flights. Got to get more trains around this country...

Natural Born Killers is only the best movie EVER. How can you complain?!

Agreed. A buddy of mine and I watched it many times when I was in high school. Its about snakes and the color red, iirc :P

Fourth on the science writer path. Your writing really conveys the interest and draws the reader in. Ask PZ to introduce you to Phil Plait or Carl Zimmer, maybe they can offer you some advice on getting in the market. It's a great way to learn about lots of different areas, and continue your gift/skills in expressing that interest to others.

Good Luck!

ICanHasCheezburger is all well and good, but the true virtual bunny snorgling site is www.cuteoverload.com (trust me on this one). :)

By speedwell (not verified) on 11 Dec 2007 #permalink

Still lovin' the Glasrud posting style and content, here.

Glasrud

? 'K, you stumped me. (And I respect that.)

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 11 Dec 2007 #permalink
Glasrud

? 'K, you stumped me. (And I respect that.)

Stumped how?

By Owlmirror (not verified) on 11 Dec 2007 #permalink

The world can be a depressing place, no matter how rosy we would like to believe it to be. If ecology class bummed you out, don't ever watch the movie Earthlings.

Sorry. I'm feeling excessively pessimistic. I blame PMS. *wah*

I am ignorant of the meaning of the Glasrud reference. The Google didn't help.

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 11 Dec 2007 #permalink

Cutoverload=Seconded. After several such helpings of fiber, some sugar might help with your digestion of all those ideas!

*Is also occasionally laid-low with a case of the 'HUMANITY= EPIC FAIL!'s*

I am ignorant of the meaning of the Glasrud reference. The Google didn't help.

Dude. Don't look it up, look up.

[Student Post] What i lerned in skool today part deux.
Category:
Posted on: December 10, 2007 11:42 PM, by Katie →Glasrud←

By Owlmirror (not verified) on 11 Dec 2007 #permalink

As in Katie Glasrud, the student whose post this is.

Ha! D'oh. Thank you.
In that case, I agree completely. I have enjoyed Ms. Glasrud's posts very much.

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 11 Dec 2007 #permalink

I'm new to the blog but I'll fifth the writer suggestion. Like Carl Sagan, you give science a human face and make it easily accessible to your readers.

It's a gift and if it's something you enjoy you should consider it.

Another AMEN from the "Write!" corner. Do what you love, whatever it is, and write about it please. Remember too that you don't have to do the same thing all your life. Remember that you have the absolute right to enjoy what you do with your time.

In fact, conveying the pleasure* you get out of science is a talent and you do have it.

*OK, yeah, damned little joy on days like this. I'll admit I've been telling people lately that I'm glad I'm not any younger.

One of the things I am proud of accomplishing during my active professor days is diverting several bright young folks from the pursuit of medicine to the study of fishes. Different strokes for different folks, but I would rather be in a museum surrounded by jars of dead fish than in a hospital surrounded by sick people.

So far as endangered species, we do not really know, because there are so few people like me. People who know groups of organisms; folks who can identify species and give you a reasonable estimate for that group. Saw a mention on Science Daily of a study which suggests that a third of the bird species are at risk. Global warming is habitat modification on a global scale, rather than a bit here and there as we have been doing throughout history.

By Jim Thomerson (not verified) on 11 Dec 2007 #permalink

Little one: You are such a gem, and God bless you every, every day. Your gifts are from a long line of people who have struggled every day to overcome so much... we are proud of you and love you 4 ever!!! Even if we are, as a species, doomed,as your professors say, we can still try to make the most of each day for as many people as we can, and you do by providing comfort to those you serve, and to those closest to you with hours and hours of quality entertainment about the house! And now apparently, to the internet. Who knew?

By mudderbadger (not verified) on 11 Dec 2007 #permalink

LOL, Sven, I think you flatter me yet again, by supposing that I'm conversant with esoterica so obscure that it escapes even the all-seeing Eye of Google.

This could be the start of something, though. "The Glasrud Style" lives!

Coinage! Hey, Vox Day does it - so can we. ;-)

I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that Katie is by no means the only competent and engaging writer in PZ's class, but she does seem to have come by our affection and admiration honestly.

Yes, Katie, write!

Those of us in medical fields, working to save lives, have this as our (tongue-in-cheek) motto:

"Fighting Darwin, every step of the way!"

By CthaWorld (not verified) on 11 Dec 2007 #permalink

KT, if everyone were to live like me, we would need 7.1 Earths (and I went to Zoo School -- I should really be more conscientious about my carbon footprint...).

add me to the list of people who say "Katie - think twice about med school. Write. Teach. Use your voice to educate" - while I've enjoyed the other student posts too, I really like yours especially.

C'mon PZ - persuade this young woman of the folly of med school!

By CanadianChick (not verified) on 11 Dec 2007 #permalink

Another voice in the crowd applauding your writing and one thing science badly needs is a multitude of good communicators. For though I enjoy many of your fellow students offerings, yours jumped out of the page and grabbed me from day one and have continued to do so.

By John Phillips (not verified) on 12 Dec 2007 #permalink

It wouldn't be so terrible if she did go to med school but then used that opportunity, eg through her writing, to convince some of the pottier medics and members of the public to stick with evidence-based, science-based medicine rather than dangerous fantasy-based stuff. Eg to stop people spreading and believing false scare stories about vaccinations and condoms and to stop them falling for pseudoscience and con-tricks like homeopathy (and religion, eg prayers). There's more than one battleground and Katie has the "right" (or even duty) as a responsible adult to pick her own path.

@11: Thanks Magyar for that quote. It led me to the wikipedia, where I encountered this graphic tutorial for understanding exponentials: Understanding Exponential Growth - Video clip 8.5min

Now if only I could remember who said "It takes a wise (wo)man to be moved by statistics".

[And: another vote for the Glasrud style ... may its influence grow - exponentially!]

Think on this: how many endangered species are there in the world? Any idea? Now, keep that guess in your mind and think how many of those are at risk because of global warming? Any? Three?

Hundreds.

The famous golden toad of Costa Rica already died out because of it. It lived on cool mountaintops. With the heat came a fungal infection. Being on a mountaintop, the toad wasn't able to escape to a cooler place. It died out in 1991.

Now, that fungus threatens amphibians all over the world...

By David Marjanović, OM (not verified) on 11 Dec 2007 #permalink