Things We'll Never Understand

By | July 29, 2008
3 Comments

Although it’s difficult to choose among absolutes, perhaps the most silly and annoying moments in this summer’s M. Night Shyamalan mega-flop occur very near the beginning and end of the film. In one of the opening scenes, a high-school science teacher asks his class to suggest theories as to why bees have been dying off. The kids dutifully suggest disease, climate, and other plausible causes — all of which the teacher (Mark Walberg) refutes. None of the explanations the students come up with seem to fit the facts.

So far, so good. But then one boy raises his hand and gives Walberg the answer he’s looking for:

“Maybe it was an act of nature that we’ll never understand.”

beeshot.JPG

The kid is moved to the head of the class and given the proverbial gold star. Later, towards the end of the film, a “scientist” on a news show says almost exactly the same thing. So according to Shyamalan’s view of science, the following would be all-too-typical of a scene:

Eureka! I’ve got it now, ladies and gentlemen. At last. What we’re observing here is an act of nature that we’ll never understand. You get those in science sometimes, and that’s when you know it’s time to pack it in. I’m closing down this entire operation as of right now — you can pick up your paychecks on the way out.

  • The Chad

    Physicists like that drive me nuts. Astrophysics and quantum physics are so theoretical, and yet, they treat these theories like fact. Like world-is-flat fact.
    But it really is theory, in fact it’s theory built on theory built on theory built on theory. They start treating all these theories as fact to create new layers of theories. I hope Mills knocks down their house of cards.

  • https://www.blog.speculist.com Stephen Gordon

    It’s possible that Randall Mills is onto something but that he’s completely wrong about why it works.

    It wouldn’t be the first time we exploited something we didn’t understand. We used aspirin for many years before it was understood.

    Glass has been used for 5,000 years and its still not really understood.

    But we never give up trying to understand. “Something we may never understand” is a stupid philosophy – particularly for a science teacher. It was just lazy storytelling on Shyamalan’s part.

    Oh, and its also quite possible that this BlackLight thing is just a big fat hoax. But I hope not.

  • http://www.cruiseanswers.co.uk Matt

    Scientists will continue to refute Mills’ quantum claims, offering alternative explanations as to how his fuel cells produce power, and explaining that we need to better understand how they operate better.