It is a Saturday in late May, and I am working on a blog post, a series of typed letters that few people will read. Why? I feel compelled to think and to write down any thoughts I might have. It is just my nature.
Currently, I am a bit emotional. Why? Well… that is a bit of a long story. Like many people, I am constantly picking up my phone. Today, I came across the commencement speech that Conan O’Brien gave at Harvard University for the graduating class of 2026. I am undone.
Is there an award for the greatest speech given during a graduation cycle? Doubtful. Should there be? Maybe. O’Brien, a Harvard graduate, gave the greatest speech I have ever heard, commencement or otherwise.
As I watched him mesmerize the graduates, I thought back to the two times I was in that crowd. In 1991 and 1993, I was sitting there, listening to the prime minister of Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and then Colin Powell weave their stories. Do I remember what they said? No. I do recall what happened on the dais between Colin Powell and Julia Child. I have a post about it. Fun times.
The other thing I remember about both graduations is that a dude stepped up to the microphone and gave an address in Latin. As a hillbilly from Northeast Ohio, I know about as much Latin as any random person does (very little). I sat there and laughed when those around me did. No harm, no foul.
You might wonder why I don’t link to the video of the speech. Well, I am not going to do that. I recently posted an incredible 52-second video by Hannah Fry, Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. The fallout was substantial.
I have often said that the only place I have ever lived with a population that listened to me was Cambridge, Massachusetts. If there had been the internet when I was there, and if it had been possible to share a 52-second video, everyone who received it would have watched it. The fact that I found it worthy of their attention is all that they would have needed.
As it turns out, hardly any of the people in my circle bothered to click on it. More importantly, one person got mad at me and told me to stop annoying her about it. Welcome to Exile from Eden.
The video, if a person would bother to conjure 52 free seconds to watch it, is the starting point of an important conversation about how discoveries get named and what can be done if something unfortunate happens. Stephen Jay Gould wrote an important essay on the topic, and it became the lead chapter in my favorite nonfiction book, Bully for Brontosaurus. I am looking at my worn copy now.
Brontosaurus is the favorite dinosaur of many people, especially kids going through the important and ubiquitous dinosaur phase. As for me, I am a Triceratops man. I am taking a middling Triceratops in a fight with a T-Rex any day of the week.
Gould’s essay discusses who gets to name a new dinosaur species when it is discovered. Of course, the person who finds it gets to name it. The problem is that O.C. Marsh, in the 1800s, found a skeleton and named it Apatosaurus. A few years later, he found more bones and called that creature, you guessed it, Brontosaurus.
The story becomes long and complicated, especially after the paleontological community decided that the two were conspecific. The name Brontosaurus took off, and the dinosaur became well known in popular culture. Under the rules of scientific nomenclature, Apatosaurus had priority, and the name, they argued, should be officially changed.
Gould argues that Brontosaurus should remain, even though the rules require a name change. It is hard enough to get people interested in science, and if Brontosaurus is the name people know the dinosaur by, then we need to keep it.
The story becomes even more complicated as funding was found for additional studies of the skeletons. Today, many people think of them as two separate species. On and on it goes.
As for the debacle depicted in the video, my guess is that the people working in that area will revel in the unfortunate name given to the discovery made by the Chinese scientists. I will be keeping an eye on the situation.
Whether it is the copper nanotubes discussed by Professor Fry or the dinosaurs discussed by Gould, both topics can lead to an interesting and informative discussion. All you need is an interlocutor with 52 free seconds and a phone. In my post-Harvard experience, that person remains elusive.
