Talk Nerdy to Me

In this TEDTalk, Melissa Marshall discusses a topic she likes to call “Talk nerdy to me.” She emphasizes the importance of communication between scientists and society, and how important it is to knock down the wall separating the two worlds. By not dumbing down the content, but rather putting it in more widely understandable terms, this is possible.

When I watched this TEDTalk and heard what Melissa had to say, an article my dad showed me immediately popped into my head. My dad found and article that really put the Fiscal Cliff into a better perspective. It outlines the costs of government spending and the debt we now face, and then further explains what the Fiscal Cliff will put into place. I am not savvy with government spending and politics, and quite frankly it doesn’t interest me all that much because it seems so foreign to me. Just as Melissa saw a barrier between her and the world of scientists and engineers, I saw myself facing a barrier between politics and I. However, when my dad presented a simple picture in a Fox News article to me, the wall was knocked down. Instead of presenting the Fiscal Cliff in terms of government, it translated it into a hypothetical situation involving a “family” income and “credit card” debt. By subtracting a few zeros and re-labeling what the numbers meant, I found it much more easily understood. By no means did this article dumb down the effects of the Fiscal Cliff, rather it put it into perspective in a creative way.

After reading this article and listening to the TEDTalk “Talk nerdy to me” I realized how important communication is among people. We all have different talents, specialize in different fields, and have different interests, but that does not mean that we are dumb. We need to help each other and communicate what we know in simpler terms if we want a well-informed society that is able to make a difference together.