0:04 how's it going Google debunkers it is
0:12 uh like 22° in here right now so I'm
0:13 going to make this [ __ ] blowing
0:15 clouds as quick as possible it is no
0:18 secret that I am not a big fan of pseudo
0:19 science and while I talk a lot about
0:21 specific instances of it and why those
0:24 specific instances are bad I rarely talk
0:26 about the kind of big picture what can
0:27 be done about it and how I don't think
0:30 you need to have you know a PhD or a m
0:32 in order to be able to identify and
0:34 debunk pseudo science yourself I feel
0:35 like the modern scientific world has
0:37 tended towards specialty and I think a
0:39 byproduct of this is that most people in
0:40 the general public feel like they can't
0:42 actually engage with science it's
0:44 something it seems too headyy and
0:45 academic and hard for them to get into
0:47 and as a result of science having a hard
0:48 time connecting with the public I think
0:50 that it can drive the public right into
0:52 the hands of pseudo science now science
0:53 communication is obviously a topic I'm
0:55 very passionate about and I was asked to
0:56 give a lecture at the University of
0:58 Maine talking about exactly this and
1:00 since I haven't dove into in its own
1:01 video yet I thought that this would be
1:03 an important lesson and perhaps an
1:04 inspiration for all of you so what
1:06 follows are some of my opinions on some
1:08 of the problems with Academia as well as
1:10 the crucial role that myself and all of
1:12 you can play in fighting pseudo science
1:13 as a generalist where you don't need to
1:15 have a PhD in something in order to be
1:17 able to identify and correct
1:18 misinformation now if you guys are
1:19 interested in this I'm also planning on
1:21 doing some live shows this year it's all
1:23 under wraps for now I'm not spoiling
1:24 anything but hopefully I'm going to be
1:26 doing some more shows like this that are
1:28 a little bit less academic I was on
1:29 stage at University after all so I'm a
1:31 little a little bit less uh rambunctious
1:33 but stay tuned because I might be coming
1:35 live to a city near you at some point in
1:37 2025 oh oh one other thing I want to
1:39 throw in here real quick uh my team and
1:42 I are uh looking to add a new member
1:43 this year we've been really wanting to
1:45 step up our map editing game you know
1:47 like get really nice like 3D renders and
1:49 models and use like lar and you know be
1:51 able to import it to animation software
1:53 and while I have a very talented
1:54 editorial team none of us have any
1:56 experience with like you know arcgis and
1:58 all the [ __ ] things that you need in
2:00 order to actually make 3D models out of
2:02 you know lar data so if you have any
2:04 experience in this field and are looking
2:06 to help out on the Milo Rossy team
2:07 submit an application there's a Google
2:09 form in the description of this video
2:10 that'll ask more about like the
2:11 specifics of all the technical [ __ ] that
2:13 we're looking for to see if you know any
2:14 of it and you'd be working closely with
2:17 me as well as my animator to help make
2:19 uh some of these sites come to life for
2:21 future videos okay that's enough yappen
2:22 we're going to just get right into it
2:24 ladies and gentlemen without further Ado
2:26 and with a big thanks to the University
2:33 what was the lecture called
2:35 again fighting pseudo science with
2:39 science communication and the power of a [Applause]
2:39 [Applause] [Music]
2:51 [Music]
2:54 generalist howdy everybody how's it
2:58 going you hear yeah well that's what I
3:00 like to hear wow that is an awful lot of
3:01 faces I see out there you know I'm
3:03 normally used to doing all of these uh
3:05 you know presentations videos what have
3:08 you uh talking to myself uh so it's a
3:09 little bit interesting to actually have
3:12 a live studio audience with us here
3:14 tonight um I'd like to thank you all for
3:16 coming out this is awfully exciting you
3:17 guys have all traveled a long way to be
3:19 here I would imagine I don't think all
3:22 of you are you know you undergrads so I
3:23 appreciate all of you for uh taking in
3:25 the uh the effort to make the Trek out
3:28 here from wherever that may be um and uh
3:31 coming to join us this evening um anyway
3:32 I think we'll just kind of kick things
3:34 off uh my name is MIL Rossy uh today I'm
3:36 going to be talking to you guys a little
3:39 bit about pseudo archaeology uh and
3:41 science communication my experience with
3:42 science communication and how important
3:44 it is to use social media uh as an
3:47 educational tool I want to give another
3:48 little disclaimer here because I hear
3:50 this one a lot Milo you're just raining
3:52 on people's parade what come on can you
3:53 just let people have their funs
3:55 absolutely I want to practice by saying
3:57 there is nothing wrong with finding
3:59 these uh theories interesting they
4:00 absolutely are think science fiction is
4:04 supposed to be interesting um but but
4:06 the problem with these theories is not
4:07 the problem that I have with these
4:09 theories is not the people that believe
4:11 them the audiences that find them
4:12 interesting or the people that kind of
4:14 end up getting pulled into it it's those
4:16 that will perpetuate these theories
4:17 which I believe to be highly
4:19 irresponsible um and so when I talk
4:21 about these theories it's never to try
4:22 and come down on those that are actually
4:24 interested in them or found them
4:26 thought-provoking or make people feel
4:27 stupid for having like fallen for it or
4:29 something like that these theories are
4:31 at the end of they made to be fallen for
4:33 so there's nothing wrong with kind of
4:34 being you know falling into that and
4:36 there's nothing wrong with knowing that
4:37 they are incorrect and still engaging
4:38 with them after all they are
4:41 entertaining pieces of media uh so again
4:42 when I talk about these things this is
4:44 mostly directed to those that are
4:46 actually responsible uh for uh
4:48 platforming this and continuing to share
4:51 it uh with their broad audiences why are
4:53 these ideas so popular um I thought
4:55 about this a lot as I began to see more
4:57 of these ideas crop up on social media
4:59 is what is it about them that actually
5:01 connects with an audience because
5:02 clearly there were millions of people
5:05 that were engaging with these topics uh
5:07 there's a couple reasons the first one
5:10 they are very flashy which one of these
5:13 looks more exciting I'm not going to be
5:16 insulted this this is uh one of the
5:18 papers on the excavation of bebeca teepe
5:20 by CL Schmidt who was one of the um
5:22 first archaeologists to work on the site
5:26 um and this is uh uh YouTube short talk
5:27 about how there were Fallen Angels at
5:30 Quebec Lae using AI generated imagery
5:34 you are not foolish to think that uh uh
5:35 this one looks a lot more engaging and
5:37 it absolutely is that it speaks for
5:41 itself it has 3.7 million views um so
5:42 because of that people are a lot more
5:44 likely to engage with these things
5:45 because nobody wants to read that and I
5:47 don't blame them I don't think that it
5:48 is something for the lay person to have
5:50 to do to go out of their way to research
5:52 a bunch of scientific papers it's the
5:54 job of science communicators to be able
5:56 to bridge the gap between complicated
5:58 science and the general public and so if
5:59 this is the closest they can get to
6:01 actual science that is going to be the
6:03 thing that they listen to the second is
6:05 that these theories are really
6:07 accessible they're absolutely everywhere
6:09 um it is an unfortunate reality that
6:11 these theories are easier to come across
6:13 than real science there is a lot more of
6:15 these out there and so people are going
6:16 to stumble across it more than they're
6:17 actually going to stumble across real
6:19 science if you wanted to find the paper
6:21 the cloud sh that I put back up there
6:23 again uh you would have to go out way to
6:24 find it you'd have to research it you'd
6:25 have to be interested in it and you'd
6:27 have to sit down and read a dense
6:28 academic paper that is not something the
6:30 Layman has to time or motivation to do
6:33 and again I do not blame them however I
6:35 definitely do have the time to put on a
6:37 a almost 3-hour video of uh Graham
6:39 Hancock talking to Joe Rogan while I
6:43 drive my car um so you can't blame
6:44 people for kind of being more interested
6:47 uh in that furthermore many of these
6:49 topics are geared towards an audience
6:52 with no prior experience in the field uh
6:53 they are not geared towards scientist
6:55 and they know that uh and that's great
6:56 they should be connecting with the
6:57 general audience but again they are
6:59 carrying this information and so General
7:01 audience doesn't actually have the tools
7:03 required in order to know that what they
7:05 are hearing is misinformation uh and
7:07 because of this it prays on people who
7:09 may have a lack of media literacy um
7:11 when you see someone talking about
7:13 something uh and they have you know
7:16 millions of viewers or listeners uh or
7:18 or subscribers or a Netflix deal it
7:21 makes it very uh um compelling and it
7:22 makes it a lot more believable because
7:23 you're like this person wouldn't have
7:25 got to this point unless what they are
7:27 saying has some level of factuality and
7:29 so you end up with this kind of you know
7:31 blind leading the blind situation uh
7:34 where it kind of ends up being you know
7:35 people climbing on each other's
7:36 shoulders and the bigger you get the
7:38 more trustworthy you are even if there's
7:40 actually nothing below it and the last
7:43 reason is that these ideas are really
7:45 simple this ties into the fact that
7:47 these ideas are made to engage with a
7:49 mainstream audience who have no
7:51 experience in this field uh and I I I
7:53 don't want that to sound like an insult
7:54 that these ideas are somehow more
7:55 believable because they're simple they
7:57 are uh you know this is part of the
7:59 intent of it uh and this is why do
8:01 become so believable um because if
8:04 you're trying to uh you know convey
8:06 something like this to an audience uh it
8:08 is a lot easier to boil out a lot of the
8:10 archaeological Nuance uh to these uh
8:12 topics in order to just get that nice
8:14 sound bike the people can walk away
8:17 feeling like they know the Capal te trce
8:19 okay so what's the
8:21 problem I had fun with that one too I
8:23 know let's good one so what's the
8:24 problem with this this is another
8:26 question that I see all the time um
8:28 quickly following the question if people
8:29 be like oh Milo why you got to be such a
8:32 buzz kill is uh you know what's wrong
8:33 with this you know what really is the
8:36 problem with people thinking uh whatever that
8:41 is and honestly I'm going to be totally
8:45 real that's a very fair question um
8:46 obviously a whole conversation that we
8:49 could kind of Spur off to here will be
8:50 talking about how um these theories that
8:55 have Roots uh the racism uh how it is uh
8:57 easy for even those that are trying to
8:59 responsibly talk about these theories to
9:02 have their theories than used by racists
9:04 to um support their pre-existing racist
9:07 ideologies um so there's obviously that
9:08 but I want to talk a little bit more
9:10 about something else the real uh kind of
9:13 grander issue that I see with these
9:15 pseudo archaeological theories this
9:16 isn't about the periods this isn't about
9:19 Giants this is about what is true and
9:22 what is false it is a simple difference
9:24 between fact and
9:27 fiction by perpetuating these theories
9:30 and by claiming that
9:32 the big archaeological deep state is out
9:36 to get you it is rather foolishly still
9:39 undermining actual science this is a way
9:41 of slowly getting the general public to
9:42 no longer believe the words that are
9:45 coming out of a scientific body again a
9:47 scientific body that is not homogeneous
9:49 it is an interdisciplinary body it
9:51 expands across political borders this is
9:52 not a matter of politics this is a
9:55 matter of Truth and fiction but these
9:57 theories begin to undermine and corrode
10:00 the uh um Trust within the scientific
10:02 process which can lead to some
10:05 disastrous results okay so what do we do
10:07 you know this my little Doom and Gloom
10:09 for the first 40 minutes but now is the
10:11 fun part we get to build it all back up
10:13 again so now I get to you know get all
10:16 get all py up here Li up a little and
10:19 talk about how we fix the sinking ship
10:21 uh I think there's actually a lot that
10:23 we can learn from pseudo archaeology um
10:24 which sounds a little bit ridiculous
10:26 after the last lecture that I've been
10:28 given um but I actually do think that
10:29 there are some certain things of the
10:31 scientific world that any of us who are
10:34 interested in fact uh should actually
10:37 kind of take away from it one people are
10:39 interested in archaeology that's pretty
10:40 nice I don't think that comes as a
10:41 surprise to anyone anyone who didn't
10:43 grow up I don't know a single person who
10:45 didn't grow up watching Indiana Jones um
10:47 and because of that there is a large
10:50 public desire to learn more about
10:52 archaeology uh but there are currently
10:55 very few reliable and easily accessible
10:57 sources for the public to go to to
11:00 actually learn about archaeology
11:03 because of this pseudo Archaeology is
11:05 currently out competing actual
11:08 archaeology in the public sphere there
11:09 are more people making videos that are
11:11 more engaging about pseudo archaeology
11:13 than there are people making videos
11:15 about actual archaeology uh which is
11:16 beginning to lead to an oversaturation
11:18 of the topic and the general public were
11:20 ill equipped to be able to uh parse
11:22 these ideas out from one another um
11:24 being able to be led right into that
11:27 pipeline this also applies to a lot more
11:29 uh than uh just pseudo archaeology you
11:30 can kind of apply this to any branch of
11:32 science that you're kind of interested
11:35 in uh is that it's important to connect
11:36 with people who are actually interested
11:38 in these things if you are in a field
11:41 and you have been able to identify um a
11:43 certain topic or something you
11:44 understand very well that has been kind
11:46 of bastardized and twisted and turned
11:48 into a a conspiracy theory you're in a
11:49 field that people are actually
11:51 interested in um which is both a good
11:53 thing and a bad thing when it leads to
11:55 this we need to focus on science
11:57 communication that's the big takeway
11:59 here I I'm going to get into my whole
12:00 science communication speech now but
12:02 this is the single most important thing
12:04 that we have on our side it is the
12:06 ability for science to connect with the
12:08 public for science to be able to take
12:10 what we learn and be able to relay it to
12:12 those who do not need to make the effort
12:14 to read our scientific papers it should
12:17 not be their job to do that social media
12:19 is the biggest classroom ever created at
12:21 the time of me making this video this is
12:23 roughly how many views I have on my
12:25 channel that is half a billion and in
12:26 the grand scheme of things my channel
12:28 isn't even really that big when compared
12:30 to some of the other ones but in the
12:33 educational sphere it is up there and so
12:34 this really illustrates the fact that we
12:36 are able to overcome many of the
12:38 bottlenecks that traditional education
12:40 has by using social media uh now don't
12:42 get me wrong uh social media is
12:43 something that science has been pretty
12:45 reluctant to kind of uh adopt and I
12:48 almost don't blame them uh because when
12:49 I think social media I think like Tik
12:52 Tok dances and kids eating like cinnamon
12:56 and stuff like that um but you could
12:57 have millions of people watching kids
12:58 eating cinnamon so why don't we do
13:00 something better with it um and this is
13:02 an example of that this is uh you know
13:05 stands to suggest just how far reaching
13:07 any topic online can have if it's good
13:09 enough to engage with an audience
13:12 traditional classroom environments have
13:14 strong bottlenecks that will limit the
13:16 amount of people who are actually able
13:17 to learn from what is going on within
13:19 them uh the largest of these that I
13:21 think all of us will identify is a
13:23 financial bondt L um I think the fact
13:25 that many uh that that there has been
13:28 sort of a trend towards uh educational
13:30 entities being the for-profit businesses
13:32 is something which is a crime against
13:34 humanity I think that is an absolute
13:36 travesty that one has to have a certain
13:40 level uh uh income or Revenue uh or the
13:42 the good grades to get a scholarship to
13:44 be able to be highly educated there
13:46 should never be a bottleneck that will
13:48 only allow the wealthiest to be able to
13:50 be educated that is absolutely terrible
13:52 um unfortunately there is not much that
13:54 I as an individual can do about that so
13:56 I want to give you some ideas of things
13:59 that we can do otherwise um firstly by
14:01 recognizing the fact that many of us are
14:02 uh any of us who were able to sit in
14:04 this classroom today or have sat in a
14:05 classroom before are immensely
14:07 privileged we can take what we have
14:08 learned in these classrooms and take it
14:10 as our responsibility to share it with
14:13 the public it should not be up to every
14:15 individual to go to university to learn
14:17 about the things they're interested in
14:18 and it should not be up to every
14:20 individual who didn't get the chance to
14:22 go to the university to have to sift
14:23 through pseudo science based on their
14:25 own you know understanding and judgment
14:27 calls in order to get actual real information
14:29 information
14:31 so because of this we have to identify
14:34 the fact that Academia can feel like a
14:36 uh something that's inaccessible to some
14:37 people and I hear a lot you know people
14:39 being like oh well you know they say
14:40 Academia is an ivory Tower and I don't
14:41 think it's an ivory Tower but frankly I
14:43 don't care what you think if other
14:45 people think Academia is an ivory Tower
14:47 it may as well be because that is going
14:49 to keep them away from it so it is our
14:50 responsibility no matter what we may
14:52 think about it to kick the door down and
14:55 make it a place that is open for them uh
14:57 because of this with even if people are
14:59 feeling like it is you know uh to it
15:00 will drive them away so what are we
15:01 going to do are we going to just watch
15:02 them leave and be like well they
15:04 shouldn't have thought that or are we
15:05 going to make an effort to reach out our
15:07 hand and bring them into the fold so
15:09 that they can have the same things that
15:11 we have learned
15:14 here okay this is the really big thesis
15:15 this is what I've been building to this
15:17 whole time I want to talk about the
15:19 importance of a
15:23 generalist so what is a generalist uh a
15:25 generalist is sort of the Jack of B all
15:28 trait someone who has a wide pool of knowledge
15:29 knowledge
15:31 uh that they can pull for multiple
15:33 buckets uh this illustration is a little
15:35 bit misleading it kind of illustrates
15:39 that uh The Specialist knows one thing
15:41 uh which is probably not true I would
15:45 imagine but you guys get the jist uh a
15:47 generalist is someone that has a uh you
15:48 know it's kind of like the inch deep
15:50 mile wide well a specialist may have
15:52 sort of an inch wide mile deep sort of
15:55 situation again exaggerating uh but this
15:57 was typically the way that science
15:59 operated uh this
16:01 historically I have lost track of the
16:03 amount of like you know papers I've Del
16:05 delved into especially from like you
16:07 know the mid 1800s and kind of like that
16:08 beginning real uh you know Brun of the
16:10 Scientific Revolution where it's written
16:11 by a guy who was like you know a
16:14 geologist an oceanographer a mountaineer
16:16 a paleontologist a botanist and an
16:18 acrobat and I'm like wow that's amazing
16:20 that got point the resume now it's like
16:22 yeah I'm an archaeologist and I study
16:23 you know
16:26 like pot shirs from like you know
16:29 Mesopotamia between like 2,000 800 and
16:33 2,810 BCE and it's really specific and
16:35 now there's a reason for this granted as
16:37 as the uh the Scientific Revolution has
16:39 moved forward and we have learned we've
16:40 learned a lot more about the world
16:42 around us and so the importance of a
16:44 generalist is something which seems like
16:45 it is sort of Fallen by the wayside as
16:47 we've learned more the only you know we
16:48 we've cleared off all the top so the
16:50 only way you can go down go now is down
16:52 so you know it's a lot harder to get
16:53 through that and so we as we as we
16:54 specialize more and more the only way
16:56 you can go is into specialty where
16:57 there's less of an emphasis put on generalism
17:00 generalism
17:03 um however is my belief that generalism
17:05 is more important now than it ever has
17:09 been science needs generalists SC
17:12 generalists are immensely uh capable of
17:14 communicating science to the general
17:16 public I think that this is something
17:19 which uh you know I I very proud of in
17:21 what I do where I have a hard time sort
17:23 of putting myself into a box of exactly
17:25 what it is I do because I have so many
17:27 interests that I like so many things
17:28 that I kind of have that little little
17:30 bit of water each pale that I can pull
17:31 from and apply to give the general
17:34 public an idea of of a broad complex
17:36 topic without having to go into the
17:38 Nuance of every single little detail and
17:40 because of that generalist can act as an
17:42 excellent inter intermediary between the
17:44 very kind of heavy complex places of
17:47 Science and the general
17:50 public I think that it's also unfair for
17:53 the general public or for the kind of
17:55 kind of petty academic uh area to uh you
17:58 know kind of look down at people who may
17:59 not be as
18:01 uh ad depth to understanding the things
18:03 that they process I said this earlier
18:04 and I want to emphasize it again that it
18:06 should not be up to the general public
18:08 to read scientific papers to educate
18:10 themselves on science that is ridiculous
18:12 it is a skill to even understand
18:14 scientific papers I have to take classes
18:16 on learning about scientific papers you
18:18 do not need to do that in order to know
18:20 you know the the things that are uh you
18:22 know the most important to the world uh
18:24 but a generalist can act as an
18:26 intermediate where the public doesn't
18:28 also need to know the level of complex
18:30 detail going on in you know the the the
18:33 Tower of Academia um I think that it's
18:34 important that you know we we we're
18:36 surrounded by things today that I just
18:37 don't even know how they work you know I
18:38 got a phone in I don't have a phone in
18:40 my pocket now but I normally have a
18:42 phone in my pocket I don't know how it
18:43 works I could not tell you the first
18:45 thing about it but I'm sure that there
18:48 is a technological generalist who could
18:49 you know have a look at all the things
18:51 he's been keeping up with all the you
18:52 know news about how these phones are
18:54 produced and he can be like okay you
18:56 don't need to listen to the multiple
18:57 years of work that has been going on in
18:59 this but I can tell you in like 3
19:01 minutes roughly how your phone works and
19:02 i' be like H that's kind of cool I don't
19:04 think it's magic anymore and I'll put it
19:06 in my pocket and I'll go about my day
19:07 that's great I don't need to know every
19:09 single In-N-Out detail and so that's a
19:11 really important thing to do is to be
19:12 able to bridge that Gap to be able to
19:14 bring the complexities that are learned
19:16 in the Ivory Tower and bring it down and
19:18 make it something that's accessible for
19:22 people in doing this we allow for uh the
19:25 um uh public to get a a greater
19:27 understanding of complex topics because
19:29 as science tends towards uh
19:32 specialization it also begins to isolate
19:33 itself from the public the problem we
19:35 were talking about earlier of the closed
19:37 doors of uh you know Academia um is
19:40 exacerbated as people begin to feel like
19:41 Academia is something that they couldn't
19:43 even understand if they wanted to nobody
19:45 wants to read all of the chemistry
19:47 papers or the you know biotechnology
19:48 papers but they might be a lot more
19:50 receptive to someone who's boiling that
19:52 down and putting it into words if they
19:55 understand um and if we do not you know
19:58 continue to put uh that emphasis on to
20:00 uh uh generalists who are able to kind
20:02 of translate and AC at the intermediary
20:03 it can drive people right towards pseudo
20:05 scientists because pseudo science has no
20:07 problem in saying whatever they want and
20:09 if those are the only people speaking in
20:10 those fields those are the things that
20:18 to here's Big takeaway don't
20:20 underestimate any of your powers as a
20:22 generalist how many of you here tonight are
20:23 are
20:26 undergrads wow okay asite then this is
20:29 going to be potent
20:32 um my undergrad friends in the audience
20:34 tonight um I was sitting exactly where
20:36 all of you were sitting just 2 years ago
20:39 uh which is terrifying uh when I was
20:41 sitting where you are sitting right now
20:42 I had no idea what I was doing with my
20:44 life and I thought no matter what I
20:45 chose to do I was going to be
20:48 underqualified for it uh especially when
20:50 I found myself uh doing social media and
20:51 having uh a large amount of people
20:53 listening to
20:56 me I was uh plagued with the insecurity
20:59 that I uh was not
21:01 uh qualified enough uh for people to
21:04 listen to me um now i' I've largely
21:05 worked past this imposter syndrome in
21:08 the time since I graduated uh and in my
21:09 years kind of working in this and seeing
21:12 the level of acceptance uh that has been
21:13 um sort of given by the archaeological
21:15 Community uh and the science
21:17 communication Community as a whole but I
21:18 want to speak to all of you to let you
21:21 know that when you graduate from this
21:23 University no matter what your major is
21:26 in you will have a deeper level of
21:29 understanding in many of these topics in
21:31 any of these topics than most of the
21:33 general public will even with a
21:34 bachelor's degree or even if you don't
21:36 even complete it you will have a much
21:39 greater understanding of topics that are
21:41 something that most people don't fully
21:43 understand and that puts you at a
21:45 perfect opportunity to be a generalist
21:47 someone who can take whatever level of
21:49 Education you have and communicate
21:51 complex things to those who have not had
21:52 the opportunity to even sit in one of
21:54 these classrooms and that's something
21:56 that I think is really important again I
21:58 come I I'm working currently in a field
22:00 where I was told that there is no reason
22:02 to even do it because no one will take
22:04 me seriously unless I have a PhD and I
22:06 am standing here right now so believe me
22:08 when I say that there is an immense
22:10 amount of Need for people with the skill
22:12 set of a gist people who are interested
22:14 in a wide variety of different things I
22:16 want to open this up to those who are
22:19 not undergrads uh to the rest of the
22:20 audience here tonight and say that the
22:22 same thing applies for all of you all of
22:26 you have been able to uh uh compile
22:28 interests and things that you love all
22:29 of you have have been able to uh
22:31 interpret information that you have been
22:33 presented with which puts all of you in
22:34 the exact same position of you can
22:37 communicate these topics to the general
22:38 public and this could be anything this
22:39 does I'm using obviously lens of
22:41 archaeology and Natural Sciences but
22:44 things like medicine things like history
22:46 things like uh biology U different parts
22:48 of technology I use the example of you
22:50 know a phone and how that works all of
22:51 you are a specialist in something and
22:53 the difficulty is most people are never
22:55 going to go through the same level to
22:57 learn about a certain specialty as you
22:58 already have which puts you at the
23:01 perfect position to be that link to
23:03 create that bridge between the Ivory
23:05 Tower of Academia and the public who is
23:07 the one who actually needs to learn FR
23:10 it I have a few final notes Here uh that
23:13 I want to give one stand up for
23:16 scientific fact it is more important now
23:18 than ever this is something which all of
23:20 us have seen ourselves it is something I
23:22 recognize constantly with my work and
23:24 all of us need to be United in standing
23:26 against pseudo science and
23:29 misinformation second open the doors to
23:31 people who feel shut out if there are
23:33 people who are tending towards pseudo
23:36 science make them feel as though science
23:37 is not something that is closed their
23:39 doors to them that's why I began this
23:41 presentation by talking about how I have
23:43 nothing against people who listen to
23:44 these theories and who find them
23:46 interesed it's those that perpetuate
23:48 them and to pray on people who don't
23:49 know any better that I have a problem
23:52 with so be that person who can open the
23:53 door to someone who may not have the
23:56 same level of understanding that you
23:59 do thirdly don't undersell your
24:01 qualifications this one goes especially
24:03 out to the undergrads out there whatever
24:04 grade you are in right now whether you
24:07 are a freshman or a senior you probably
24:09 have a greater understanding of what
24:10 every your discipline is than most
24:12 people do and that puts you in the
24:15 perfect position to be able to help
24:18 educate them as well and last going to
24:20 go a little cheesy with you guys here
24:23 you can make a difference I heard this
24:25 one a lot I really did and this is one
24:26 of those things where it's like just
24:27 believe in yourself and you hear it all
24:31 the time you're like shut up um but I I
24:33 really do mean this I really do I think
24:36 that there is uh no one should be able
24:38 no one should undervalue the impact you
24:41 can make as a single individual um a
24:43 brief example I will give uh earlier
24:45 this year uh I got an email from an
24:48 archaeology professor and he was like my
24:51 love love what you do it's great I got
24:53 to tell you my incoming class of
24:55 freshmen half of them are taking this
24:57 class because they watch your videos
25:00 that absolutely blew my mind so even
25:02 though I may be a generalist and even
25:04 though I am someone who is dedicated
25:06 probably to continuing down the path of
25:07 science communication and I don't know
25:09 if I'll ever go for my PhD or go for my
25:11 masters I very well make it fill the
25:13 classroom with people who will go for
25:15 theirs and that's the important thing
25:17 you can make this domino effect you can
25:20 help turn the tide against the the the
25:22 wave of anti-intellectualism and get
25:24 science each one of you has it in you
25:27 and I know it very well because I did it
25:30 myself um what would you say to people
25:32 who want to make a difference but are
25:36 just overwhelmed with other work they
25:38 have technological issues and not as
25:41 capable as other people what would you
25:42 say to them that's a really good
25:45 question um making a difference does not
25:47 necessarily have to be something that is
25:49 tangible in a numerical sense uh that
25:50 was actually a I'm glad you brought that
25:51 up because that's actually a slide I
25:53 thought about including in this
25:54 presentation um because I'm coming at
25:56 this from an angle of a large SZ
25:58 communication platform it's easy for me
25:59 kind of make it sound like the only way
26:02 you can make a difference is big number
26:04 um that's not the case um I think that
26:05 it is something that can be done as
26:08 simple as in your day-to-day life uh
26:09 again the the simple fact that you
26:11 actually want to make a difference means
26:12 that in any interaction you have you're
26:13 going to be putting your best good
26:15 forward to actually make that difference
26:17 um now granted you probably won't be
26:18 hearing a lot of people just coming up
26:20 to you and being like boom pseudo
26:22 archaeology so maybe it's a little bit
26:23 different there um but I think that
26:25 that's kind of why I started this uh you
26:27 know uh presentation by talking about
26:28 how it's our responsibility
26:30 uh to you know fight against the powers
26:32 that be to fight against uh you know the
26:34 the the the history of colonialism to
26:36 fight against pseudo science to to fight
26:37 against all of this stuff that's
26:38 something that can be done on an
26:41 individual level um and you know find
26:42 places where uh you know that those
26:45 injustices are being uh perpetrated and
26:46 find a way whether it be through
26:48 donation or simply just sharing it on
26:49 you know social media and things like
26:51 that to be able to just make an active
26:53 difference instead of just having your
26:54 beliefs and not communicating them with
26:58 the world thank you you got it so what
26:59 your thoughts are on science
27:01 communication being mostly for kids like
27:03 Bill n in the Science Guy and then how
27:05 we can get adults more involved in
27:08 science communication wow that's a
27:10 that's also a really good question um I
27:12 think that having science communication
27:13 available for kids is obviously really
27:16 important by giving them you know a sort
27:19 of a broad slate to begin with um but
27:20 that's something that's kind of already
27:21 being done I mean our our you know
27:24 public education system is kind of made
27:25 to give a lot of these different pockets
27:26 and then you go on to you know
27:29 specialize in Babylonian pottery um but
27:31 I I think that uh there there should be
27:33 a lot heavier emphasis on uh you know
27:35 engaging with an older audience I think
27:37 that the difficulty is it's been just
27:38 really hard to find a platform to do it
27:40 on which I think is where social media
27:42 comes in because you know a young
27:43 audience there you know let sit in front
27:44 of the TV you know you can put something
27:45 on to entertain them and it's great for
27:47 the parents if it's not their tunos and
27:48 it's something that's actually kind of
27:49 educational or they're in school where
27:51 they're kind of getting a generalist uh
27:52 you know curriculum covering multiple
27:54 different topics but once you're an
27:55 adult you're kind of you know already on
27:57 the path to specialization no matter
27:58 what that is even if it's not an
28:00 Academia and you're working you know
28:01 like a manual job or something like that
28:02 you're still kind of on the path to
28:05 Specialty and so it's a lot harder to
28:07 find a way into the time that those
28:09 people have uh you know like are they
28:10 going to sit are you expected to sit
28:12 there and read a newspaper or you know
28:14 read a book or you know something like
28:16 that but now with social media you can
28:18 kind of uh take whatever it is that you
28:20 want and just kind of shove it in front
28:22 of people's faces which is amazing way
28:24 to engage with
28:27 adults I'm not the only one um I'm going
28:28 to make everyone's Professor Lo lose
28:29 their minds I'm going to tell all of you
28:31 to take your phones out for a second can
28:33 take a picture of this uh these are some
28:35 of my colleagues uh doing archaeological
28:38 videos uh online as well uh I am far
28:40 from the only person who is uh making a
28:42 difference out there and I want these to
28:44 stand to suggest that all of you have
28:46 the ability to do this as well uh these
28:48 accounts all have a wide variety of uh
28:50 topics that they cover of subscriber
28:52 accounts and of production values but
28:53 all of them are excellent I can vouch
28:54 for every single one of them and I
28:56 highly recommend that you check them all
28:59 out then we have a few more if you want
29:00 to take a go through those as well you
29:02 can uh these are just some personal
29:03 favorites of mine this is showing I know
29:05 I talk a lot about archaeology here and
29:07 I just did but this is something which
29:09 is uh just some of my personal favorite
29:11 accounts talking about history uh and uh
29:13 there's a lot of geology up there three
29:15 geology uh and things like that so this
29:17 is showing that whatever your Niche may
29:19 be uh there is going to be a place for
29:28 is wow that guy sure can app that was a
29:30 really boil down version of that lecture
29:32 I'm pretty sure I talked for like 90
29:34 minutes so to however many hundred
29:36 peoples were sitting there and just sat
29:38 listening to me yeah uh thanks for your
29:39 patience I'd like to thank you all very
29:41 much for watching this video we will be
29:43 returning to our regularly scheduled
29:45 programming uh probably with the next
29:46 one we have some site videos coming up
29:48 that we're working on uh but I have been
29:51 in the capital T [ __ ] trenches
29:53 working on Ancient apocalypse season 2
29:55 so it will be coming down the pipeline
29:57 um I will be putting my first reaction
29:59 walk watch throughs on patreon so if
30:01 you're interested in seeing those those
30:03 are available for patreon links to that
30:07 in Des video it's really [ __ ] cold in
30:08 here I've literally been standing here
30:09 for maybe like 10 minutes to film this
30:12 piece and like my fingers are turning uh
30:14 I don't even know what color that is
30:16 blue green white who cares there's a cat
30:17 meowing outside the door too but he does
30:18 not want to be in here I can guarantee
30:20 you that again I'd like to give a huge
30:22 thank you to Dr Dan sandwi and the
30:24 University of Maine for hosting me at
30:26 the Colin Center for the Arts it was a
30:27 dream come true to be able to speak on
30:29 stage at my alma mater that is something
30:31 I never dreamed would be able to happen
30:32 and I'm thrilled to have been able to
30:33 have the opportunity being able to be on
30:35 stage and do what I do in front of a
30:37 bunch of people was probably the most
30:39 fun I've had all year and so I have the
30:42 itch to do actual like live shows with
30:45 like tickets and drinks and me getting
30:47 up there and just doing this so keep an
30:48 eye out because hopefully there'll be
30:49 some of those coming down the pipeline
30:50 this year but anyway I'd like to thank
30:51 my patrons for making what we do here
30:53 possible patrons get early adree access
30:55 to all of my videos all of your Nam been
30:56 the credit videos small token of my
30:58 appreciation and links to that are in
31:00 the description remember to stay curious
31:03 stay inquisitive and most importantly I
31:05 am going to go back into the house
31:07 because it is so [ __ ] cold in this
31:10 room I think I'm going to [Music]
