Embrace The Terrifically Incompetent Scientist Inside You

There is a meme that “science” and “math” are skills that a select few are blessed to be born with, and the rest of us should bow down to those genetic superiors and do something else with our time—such as business, or poetry. From my observation, this is one of the worst narratives in American society. 

A related narrative is that math is for “those other guys” abroad. Why should you study calculus when some guy in India will do it better anyway? 

A third narrative is that even if you do study science, you will not be able to find a well-paying job in your field. 

Narratives can be self-perpetuating—and these three narratives are very self-perpetuating. If you think you will never be good at math, no matter how hard you try, you will not try. If you think that math is reserved for someone else, you will feel insecure and it will not excite you. If you do not believe science will pay you, you will find something that will. 

And this is tragic. 

Let’s forget the intrinsic richness in studying a jellyfish. Let’s forget for a moment the sadness bestowed on millions of kids who believe they have no access to this beautiful mode of inquiry.

The problem with these narratives is that even if you did not study a STEM field in college, this does not mean you can outsource every single STEM problem you encounter to somebody else—just as you cannot outsource speaking to the cashier to your English-major friend. 

Some things you have to do yourself—and one of these things is medicine. You can go to a doctor, sure—but a doctor is a person just like you. They are an expert in medicine as decided by a board—they are not an expert on your body, your pain, or your feelings. You can use other people as guides, but you are on your own there. They cannot directly monitor your body as it changes at every moment. Only you can do that. 

One of my great inspirations is the famous 20th-century writer Kurt Vonnegut, who has famously said that unlike his talented elder brother, his own engineering skill plateaued at mediocrity. This led him to write short stories, and his writing career took off. 

We can all be like Kurt Vonnegut! We can thrill at the mediocre scientist inside. And then, at a glacial pace, we can find excitement in getting a little better.