Spoiler alert. Here's the money graf -- the paragraph, or 'graph as journalists call it, that explains the whole thing -- at the very end of the story:
As I walked out of the Field Museum that day, I heard people talking about Sue, wondering about her forearms, laughing as their kids tried to mimic how a Tyrannosaurus Rex might settle down for a nap. And whether they knew it or not, they were taking home a very different impression about science that I had learned as a child. Science doesn't lose any of its drama or wonder when we admit that we aren't sure what the facts really are. Questions are much more important. ...Now the questions.
Please answer in two or three sentences each, and post your answers as comments to this post:
1. How is the way the Field Museum presents Sue the dinosaur to the public in the 21st century different from the way dinosaurs were presented when Thaller visited the museum as a little girl?
2. What does the new way of presenting dinosaurs to the public have in common with postmodernism?
3. Was this reading really a tangent? What does it tell you about postmodernism? What does it tell you about communicating with the public?
8 comments:
1. How is the way the Field Museum presents Sue the dinosaur to the public in the 21st century different from the way dinosaurs were presented when Thaller visited the museum as a little girl?
In the past, dinosaurs, and most other museum displays, had been presented "as is": they were defined by what we knew about them. Today, it seems that there are no longer any solid facts. The display of Sue focuses more on what we don't know, and poses questions about what we may find in the future.
2. What does the new way of presenting dinosaurs to the public have in common with postmodernism?
Postmodernism states that there are no absolute facts, no universal truths. We can't know anything. This is very consistent with how dinosaurs are now displayed, and the focus on questions rather than answers.
3. Was this reading really a tangent? What does it tell you about postmodernism? What does it tell you about communicating with the public?
This article is an example of how postmodernism really is a part of modern society, and effectively changes the way we communicate with each other.
Tommy Cory
1. It is quite a bit different from the way it was presented when she was little. It is no longer about just looking at the structure. Now, they ask you questions that might make you think about how something might work. It encourages critical thinking more than anything else.
2. Postmodernism is more about stating what we do not know instead of stating what we already know. So this is a good example of postmodernism because we don't know a lot of things about the dinosaurs.
3. Over the years, we have become more and more relient on just what we know. This article shows that we should start questioning stuff more and more because we do get more out of stuff by questioning everything. If we take everything for granted, then we are not thinking critically.
1.) Thaller makes it seems that when she visited the Field Museum as a kid everything was concrete. Everything there was said with a sense of known truth, and undebatable sense of cetainty. Today the Field Museum not only shows what the scientists are rather sure of, but lets the public in on the still unanswered questions.
2.)This is postmodernism. Postmodernism is a "What do we know" kind of philosophy. It says that what you think is just as valuable as what I think. So hey, we as the Field Museum will let you help us out. It's your turn to think and try to reason it out. Science is no longer just shown to us as facts, but as problems that we can logically figure out (if we take the time to use logic). If you don't take the time to use logic, its just a fun thing to talk about for awhile.
3.) This article helps me understand postmodernism by showing how everyone's thoughts are not being appreciated, and everyone is being taught to think. People are being educated not to learn rote facts, but think independently. This is what people like. This is what spurn discussion. This is what gives a product staying power. If you see a dinosaur with a bunch of facts next to it. You are in awe brielfy, but then you walk away. You see a dinosaur, and a list of unanswered questions you start to talk and wonder. You trip to the Field Museum is not just an event that can be told to your friends, but a topic of debate and and discussion. You sould always try to deal with your public in a sort of way that will start discussion.
1. The field museum presents sue the dinosaur differently from childhood because she noticed that a lot of things had changed. She noticed that bones looked different, and there were bones missing. The museum structured, shaped, and imitated the bones; to question individuals of whats true and false. She was a scientist-Therefore, she felt the need to explore and investigate. Since the past everything has changed, but people create things based on those ideas or characteristics.
2. the new way of presenting dinosaurs has a lot in common with postmoderism because we are recreating something that has already existed. Society is using past ideas to create new things. It is like an on-going cycle of the same aspects, with a new model.
3. yes, it suggest that postmodernism will last forever. It is like no one is creative or brave enough to encounter their own models. it tells me that as long as people share there ideas or inventions, there will be imitators around.
Back when Thaller was a child, the Museum probably had a display of " Sue" the dinosaur, but made it much more detailed, and gave a intelligent story about the dinosaurs without saying a word. Then in the 21st century, the Museum probably has a diplayed design of Sue, very similar to the one she explored as a child. But now, many people dont take as much of an importance to the dinosaurs and what they made of the world. Also, people dont see all the abilities dinosaurs were capable of. Citizens today dont have a great sense of history, as the citizens in Thaller's childhood held on to.
Presenting the history of dinosaurs among other things that took place way before our time, has a lot actually to to with postmodernism. The idea of postmodernism is applied to the ideas and theories of philosophy culture,and critical theory, among others,as they're developed. Presently, history is currently in the making, and is going to continue. Dinosaurs are an learning importance to our society. We ignore most of history, so much we are blinded by what has been right in front of us. What happens if someone actually discovered a much smaller species of dinosaur today. No one would probably belive it at first, but wouldnt know what to say when we realized it was true.
This article lets everyone know that history isnt going anywhere, anytime soon, so we might as well become comfortable with it and get to know it real well. And I dont belive that there is enough communication with the public. The public needs to be let in on more of what's going on around them. Communication is one of the most important things when it comes to learning about the present and the past.
1. The Field Museum presented Sue the dinosaur to the public by placing her under full lights in the main atrium, instead of a dimly-lit, dusty hall. They also replaced the real bones with fake and unrealistic bones.
2. The new way of presenting dinosaurs to the public is similar to postmoderism because they both do not have a universal truth. In other words, both methods cannot predict what is true.
3. yes, this reading is a tangent. It tells me that the dinosaur is not really a true one because of the fake bones they used to get the publics attention. It also tells me that communicating to the public is very important when a huge discovery has occurred in the world.
1) Thaller marvels that a skeleton like Sue now can be presented out front in the bright lights… even if the scientists ended up with a pile of left over bones and felt they had to fabricate others. Thaller says that when she was a child, the dinosaurs were hidden in darker hallways and she only could stare in awe. She says that the Sue display encouraged her to explore. an enhanced skeleton.
2) I think the Sue display is a rare example of how a postmodern mindset ought to play itself out. Postmodernism basically says there is no absolute truth, just relative or group or personal truth. If someone has a postmodern worldview, then they should go through life saying, “Here’s my opinion, my hypothesis, my creative whim, but it probably won’t work for you so you should definitely come up with your own”.
3) Yeah, I think this reading was a tangent.
I think it is a positive example of how a big institution gives some room for the audience to interpret the information rather than telling or showing them exactly what to think.
Okay, I’m aware that I have a streak of cynicism, but this article had me picturing the scientists as plastic surgeons with their fabrication of bones—skeleton augmentation anyone?
1. Back then scientists diffent leave anyhting that was open for discussion, now a days people are allowed to use their imagination to come up with there own conclusion.
2. Dinosaurs don't have an absolute fact about them and there are no universal truths about them, so they fall in the catagory of postmodernism.
3. This article is a perfect example of postmodernism.How postmodernism is a big part of our society, and how these changes help people communicate
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