Wondering About Things (1971)

this leader is provided to permit the projectionist to adjustments before the F Begins the volume and tone are identical with the soundtrack which follows [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Laughter] [Music] what is this how does an Andy why is water wet how tell pleas what's the be why are candles hot what is this what's this what is it a [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] what are you currently working on DNA rock and roll chemistry of viruses communial art the notion of fuzziness I working on a script Institute for nonviolence boat repair the moon sculpture and writing songs well I was writing a column until uh bunch of nuts wandered in here with a movie camera I'm an organizer for the Berkeley tenant Union uh 6 5ft figure that I'm doing for Hiroshima where we dropped the B growth of world population mentally children teaching them art astrophysics environmental planning compounds containing transition metals higher education in Sweden in the United States infared study of the atmosphere of Mars gotri FM's new hexameron written for the orchestra white dwarf stars why are you interested in that at work it has a Fascination because it's the extreme that matter can eventually get to I like to work three dimensionally it's more therapeutic intellectual curiosity I built the boat and I enjoyed it everybody has equal opportunity for input who else gets paid to tell tell everybody every day what he thinks you know I think it's fundamental to our understanding of nature to me it's the medium I'm not so sure I know why what I'm trying to help at is uh find a a nonviolent politics I'm interested in the structure of molecules the impetus behind it was a uh series of spectacular rent increases around this area last summer dma is the basic genetic material of Life all of the economic gains the agricultural gains and so forth which have been made during the course of the last quarter Century have been wiped out by very rapid population growth it's a figure of peace what practical benefits to mankind do you foresee as a result of your work well maybe none um hopefully um some understanding we work towards trying to benefit mankind there might be some yes well it's in a sense sure I hope not too many I would hope that as much as possible what I do is relevant to man's curiosity rather than to man's uh desire to use nature you can't you know drive it you can't hang it on your wall uh but it's it's something that can become part of your way of life it's always hard to predict immediately I would say no none there's quite a lot of people benefiting from just coming and sitting and listening to beautiful music understanding Mars helps us understand Earth We're trying to say things that mean things to people new knowledge is in a is by itself a benefit to mankind yes I mean that's my of course that's my point in practically everything I do do you regard yourself to have a highly active curiosity yes perhaps yes yes yes always have that oh yes oh yes I think I do yes I I do I think so that depends upon the time of day I'm very curious about the things that I'm involved with I lie awake at nights wondering about things I'm very curious about people I'm just curious ious as it is legitimate to be well I'd be a pretty poor scientist if I didn't it requires a curious and inquisitive mind yeah it's necessary to have one to be alive I think what is creativity I'd say it's remaining open to reality not looking at things with the eye of what you know in advance to strip away things that don't matter being able to digest lots and lots of information and resist the temptation to say what everybody else has said it's actually what life's all about I'm sure creativity has something to do with love has something to do with dreaming to me it's it's a song coming out of me using the different mediums combining the different mediums creativity stems from limitations pain you encounter the same difficulty in trying to Define creativity as you do in trying to Define Beauty I'd hate to even try creativity is probably a word that describes what free people do the human brain is a very very complicated computer and some persons are able to uh take these obvious things and and put them together and come up with something new is the ability to probe into something you don't know to answer questions previously not answered the ability to associate things which uh really aren't Associated and then to make something of that it's taking what we have and reassembling it I guess and using it in a different manner looking at one thing and seeing [Music] [Music] another for [Music] I'm interested in taking molecules we find in nature around us and rearranging them into new molecules new substances take sand or quartz that's silica has a strong 3 dimensional lattice made up of silicon oxygen bonds high temperatures silica reacts with graphite to make Elemental [Laughter] silicon from Elemental silicon I can obtain the cloral methyl silanes with the monochloro pyan I can make the Dy oxane through the reaction with water this is a small molecule there weak forces between such molecules that gives me a liquid I'm interested in substance with higher viscosity I'd start with Doro dimethyl silene that polymerizes to a long chainlike molecule and of course these stringy molecules have viscous [Music] properties and if I bring in the possibility of interconnecting these chains cross linking I can obtain elasticity rubbery qualities [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] f [Applause] zero LIF off we have the [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] are you concerned about the possible misuse of science yes oh absolutely yes I am yes I am yes I am very definitely oh I think we all are I think science is misused more than it's used in this country now misuse of some of the basic discoveries in science in the last 10 or 20 years has turned the public completely off I think science is in the hands of the devil at this point some of these things are destroying things mankind now is poised to end civilization and science is neutral science finds new things we learn new things which can be used for bad and good purposes I think most of the scientists are very much concerned about misuse of of the scientific information well I'm much concerned by the misuse that Society uh makes of science this concern for misuse frequently does not translate itself into action scientific and technological developments have been misused by people who have not really understood the con quences have not really understood what's been happening [Laughter] [Laughter] are you satisfied with life as it is today no not at all absolutely not no definitely not how can I be it's getting very complicated I think we're just too in a hurry to get every place but there's a lot of cement but someday I'm afraid that some child will have to go in and see a tree in a museum I think we're dying it's B you know of course it could be better but it could be worse I think it's better than it has ever been but I'm not satisfied definitely not when I'm satisfied with life then I just don't want to live no I am not satisfied but I want to do something about it I don't complain about my own life because I think I have it lucky and because I enjoy what I do and because I see hope [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the animals of our Society any [Music] clean says first ever cost [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] do you think further scientific investigation should be stopped while we learn to deal with what we already know no no I really feel very strongly that it shouldn't that is the only single suggestion which is more imbecilic than being contented with the environment as we see it today I do feel that many of the tensions that we are observing today stem from excessively rapid technological progress sure slowed down so we can catch up and try to you know foresee some difficulties instead of staying what it's too late man you know F it's over no it's not man's nature to stop I don't think we should stop it's easy to escape I like to do that myself and I dream all the time of going back to the farm but I know that I never will you're telling a whole group of people from the beginning of time to stop functioning that is not possible that has to go on you will not only cut off these Sciences but you'll cut off the optimism that man has always had that all knowledge is useful no I think research that's part of that's part of what man is all about is as a human being is to explore and find out science is our tool the people we we made it no I don't think it's wise to stop scientific investigation I think the problem is not the advance of science but the uh lag of humanity the lag of of understanding the direction that science should go I think that it should be sped up but it should be directed uh in other ways I think that our present situation calls for Clear thinking of uh whether want to call that science or not there's plenty of work for scientists to do the way we solve our problems is with knowledge and so the solution to these problems is going to be in more knowledge not less the more you know about you know get deep in science you know learn about life Lies We are dependent upon our getting more knowledge and more understanding not less I want to do something about it that's part of what man is all about trying to say things that mean things to people there's plenty of work to do it requires a curious and inquisitive mind it's actually what life's all about I lie awake at nights wondering about things [Music] [Laughter] [Music] a [Music] [Music] n [Music]