10.
Science Caught on Film
The
Science of Evil,
Planet Earth, and
March of the
Penguins.
The National Geographic’s The Science of Evil directed by Tony Gerber is a thought provoking documentary that explores the science behind evil. It focuses on several different studies and events that all have evil at their core.
Why are we evil? In 1971 nine people volunteered to be the subjects of Stanford’s prison experiment. It’s purpose was to study how the conditions of jail affect people. By day five the prisoners, people who had no criminal record before hand, held a prison rebellion. Even the guards began to become crueler and crueler with every passing day. And eventually Dr. Philip Zimbardo, the director of the experiment found himself a participant. He saw himself caring less, and when he lets his colleagues see the experiment they made him stop it. In the end Dr. Zimbardo’s hypothesis was; with the right situation we are all capable of evil but we are also just as capable of being equally great.
I thought this part of the documentary was the most interesting. It was incredible how quickly the prison conditions changed totally sane people. The fact that the person performing the experiment eventually became part of it was scary. It makes you wonder how you would react if you were put into a situation like that. Would you be able to just sit and watch someone torture another without a care?
In another study the documentary covers a scientist says, “Evil is a construct of the human moral mind.” In the study they make ordinary people respond to situations that test their moral judgement. We have an natural intuition to help others, but it does not work the same if the said other is a faceless child on the other end of the planet.
In this study I learned more about myself. I realized that I am more likely to make a decision based off logic than emotion. Though this part of the documentary didn't speak so much about evil and more about moral decision making, it did give new insight to why we make the choices we do. It is amazing to know that every thought and verdict we come to is just the result of neurons firing in our brain.
I was amazed to hear the terrible things that go on in Congo. Being on the other side of the planet you do not tend to give much thoughts on the events that happen there. However, the documentary makes sure to give the full ugly picture of how life in Congo is.
A hurricane kills millions of people yet we do not consider it evil. This is one example the documentary The Science of Evil gives you to help you form your own opinion on what is villainous. Even though the forty-five minute show fails to tell what the real science of evil is, it brings new perspective and allows you to take a better look at your self.
“Pole to Pole,” the first episode of Planet Earth, in which it shows evidence of our natural world going through global warming and of course the world is changing faster than we all repopulate.
In the episode a wolf captures a caribou; a snow leopard eats a deer; and a seal falls prey to a shark and more. Also in jungle an elephant calf trudges following its mother’s tracks in the wrong direction in the Kalahari Desert and we know sooner or later it will die. In the south male penguins won’t see light for four more months and even through our planet seems vulnerable a few newly penguin start to hatch. This episode shows us what in the future awaits us.
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In the documentary "March of the Penguins" I experience how harsh the weather was in Antarctica and how it effected the penguins. During below zero temperatures penguins would freeze and not all survived. Biology is about the study of life and this movie taught me a lot about how penguins thrive in Antarctica. I would recommend this to a friend and children above the age of seven because it is very educational. They would be grateful about their life.