Is this communication especially important in inspiring young people to enter technological careers?
MJ: I don’t think that young people need any inspiration. I think the problem is with adults. None of us has looked up at the stars and not wondered what they were. It’s one of those unifying experiences that all humans have. I think all children are naturally excited by science. It doesn’t necessarily mean they want to have professional careers in the technologies, but they’re curious. They gather data when they pick up a worm and ask us what it is. It’s when the adults start saying, “Leave that alone” that children start to change, or when we imply that they should learn things by rote instead of by the way that you’re supposed to learn science, which is by coming up with theories and testing them.
