Scientific Experimentation with Jacob

Jacob had a fun day on his birthday at the park riding on his favorite slide. He also discovered the new property of static electricity and began to experiment with it. You will notice the effect of the slide on Jacob in the next picture:


Getting charged up as he slid down the slide definitely had a shocking result on his hair. Luckily, he knew how to expend his excess charge, as documented in the next picture. It is difficult to see, but he is touching a small metal bolt with his right hand.


He also tested the bolts on the other side of the slide to see if he could achieve the same effect:


Lest you think that we have merely doctored the photos in order to give Jacob an undeserved reputation for scientific genius, here is a video clip of one of his many experiments that day:

Jacob makes scientific progress

Today's breakfast was very exciting. Just Jacob and I were present. He ate some Quaker oatmeal from an envelop that Grandmama left behind. Breakfast wasn't exciting because I watched him eat dry oatmeal from an envelop (as you may have surmised). I did cook the oatmeal for him. It wasn't exciting because we shared the meal--I didn't make anything for myself and Jacob didn't even pretend to offer me any of his oatmeal.

What made it exciting was the conversation or, more precisely, Jacob's monologue. During past meals, if Jacob thought something was too hot we would tell him to drink some milk to cool it off. This morning, Jacob had a bite of oatmeal that made him say, "Too ho'." He reached for his milk and said, "Dri' mi'k coo' off."

I was stunned. I was floored. I was overjoyed. Not only has he learned a valuable skill (dealing with hot food on his own) but he is starting to grasp scientific principles. I am not sure if Jacob has discovered the principle of cause and effect but he is certainly applying it to his breakfast cereal. What more could a father ask for?

Well, I would still like some sort of Star Trek universal translator. I can't always interpret what he is trying to tell me. The statement Angie and I really can't figure out is "Beem uhh." Sometimes he says it repeatedly and vociferously and we just can't parse it. Maybe he is quoting Kirk, "Beam me up, there's no intelligent life down here." I refuse to believe this interpretation is true. I just hope he never gets his hands on a communicator.

Non-Zombie Scientific Experiment

Jacob has developed another scientific interest while going on our morning walks. We've started bringing Jacob's stroller on our walks since he often decides he is tired of walking anytime from one-quarter to three-quarters of the way through our walks. At that point he'd asked to be picked up and carried the rest of the way, which isn't so easy with a toddler in the mid-20s weight range. With the stroller we can push him the rest of the way home.

At the beginning of the walk, he likes to push his stroller himself. Even more than that, he likes to collect specimens of mulch, sticks, leaves, etc. in his stroller. Presumably he wants to take them home for some comparative analysis. From previous walks, we have quite a number of individual specimens by the front door and the garage door (where we ask him to drop the mulch, stick, etc.). Angie just discovered a specimen in the downstairs bathroom on the previously unused cup holder. It's a nice reddish piece of mulch, probably from the neighbor about eight houses down. He always collects a sample from that yard. I wonder how many other samples are scattered throughout the house...

Jacob has not disclosed what he is planning to do with or find out about the collected specimens. Also, his plan is somewhat foiled when we put him in the stroller because we clean out the seat before letting him sit. He still has one specimen in his hand usually, so it is not a complete loss.

We'd like to know what he is planning. It is hard to imagine what it will be, especially in our mentally weakened semi-zombie state. As a side note, Jacob tried to turn his cousin but she didn't stay long enough to succumb to his powers. See the attempt early on the morning of July 4 2009:


Let this be a warning to other friends and relatives who visit! In the words of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, "You're next! You're next!!"

Scientific Progess Isn't That Great

Jacob has resumed his experiments in zombie forming this week. He's woken up a few times the past couple of nights and is getting up before 6 a.m. again. When I got home last night from Tae Kwon Do, Angie was dozing on Jacob's floor. She must have been trying to soothe him to sleep and did too good a job. She was her own collateral damage.

Jacob has made some other scientific progress too. Specifically, he has discovered doorknob technology. The first door knob he opened was the bathroom door--not when the bathroom was empty, either. Poor Angie, lucky me. He has not opened other doors yet, but it is only a matter of time and practice. I guess we'll be up for another round of babyproofing. This time, it's door knobs.

Now that he has access to the bathroom, he is making use of the facilities. No, he has not self-potty trained (though that would be totally awesome). He decided some of his little stuffed animals need to be cleaned. No, he didn't use the bath tub or the sink. He put them in the toilet. We've fished out the poor animals (ironically enough, none of them were fish) and run them through the laundry machine. I guess we have to babyproof the toilets too!

I no longer believe that scientific advancements are always a good thing. Someday, I'm sure Jacob will make a helpful discovery. I don't need a cure for cancer or the common cold, I'd be happy for vacuuming or lawn mowing.

Why do philosophy?

I've read Josef Pieper's In Defense of Philosophy for our philosophy club. The next meeting is on "Why do philosophy?" so the book seems a natural fit. In order to get my thoughts organized, I'm using the blog to come up with a summary of the ideas in the book.

The object of philosophy is the totality of things, that is, all of objective reality. One is tempted to say it shares its object with science, but philosophy includes not only the observer with his faculties, flaws, etc., but also thought, history, art, religion, faith and many other intangibles that science does not touch upon. It includes all of human experience. Moreover, science usually focuses on understanding more and more about one particular object or phenomenon, excluding distractions and irrelevant data. For the philosopher, no datum is irrelevant. If something happens that is not accounted for in a person's philosophy, it cannot be rejected.

The method of philosophy is different from that of science. Science is done through a systematic application of a method; philosophy comes from an existential disposition. Scientific method can be taught in school; philosophical reflection is caused often by some shock or trigger like facing death or confronting Eros in the classical sense of a passionate love and wonder (not a sudden sensual desire).

Above all else, science seeks practical answers and practical results. How can we harness the energy in the atom to light up our cities? What is the value in keeping the great variety of species alive on our planet? And so on. Men and women work together on problems to solve them and contribute to the betterment of mankind. Philosophy does not seek to build a better mousetrap. There is no absolute certainty or achievement in philosophy as a system because it is the act of an individual. Since it depends on the individual's openness to reality, progress is hard to measure and each generation rediscovers the wonders of reality. In trying to comprehend all of reality, success is not guaranteed. In fact, the better one is at philosophy, the more one realizes how little one knows about the totality of things.

Which is not to say that philosophy results in frustration. Pieper makes the distinction between the useful and the enjoyable. Philosophy looks at its object, not with a useful end in mind, but contemplates it and accepts what it receives as good because it is true. Philosophy looks to the good as such and is thus meaningful for human life. When a person knows reality (even in a limited or incomplete way), he or she takes possession of it the most immediate and intense way. It is the "a-ha!" moment, the light bulb that goes off over the head, that is the experience that philosophy grants. Philosophy can give sublime moments of satisfaction.

Since man is not a purely spiritual being, he cannot spend all of his time in contemplation. Even so, he should seek opportunities to retreat and reflect on things. It leads to true fulfillment.