I had a very cool opportunity to speak via Zoom with a leading biologist and science popularizer, Sean Carroll. Sean B. Carroll is an American evolutionary biologist, author, educator and executive producer. He is Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland and Professor Emeritus of Molecular Biology and Genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society (2007), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Carroll was an executive producer on The Furthest, a film about the Voyager program that won the 2018 Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary Feature on Science and Technology. He was also executive producer of All That Breathes, an Oscar-nominated documentary that won the Best Documentary Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Below are some of my favorite moments from my conversation with Sean Carroll. These are the things, words of wisdom from the leading scientist, that have stuck with me and that I will certainly return to in the future.
You know, I often think that there are so many things that give meaning to our lives. For some people it might be writing books, painting, while others find great inspiration in creating monuments, majestic architectural structures that will continue to delight people long after their creator’s death. What gives meaning to your life? What does life mean to you personally?
That’s a good one. I would like to pick up on the idea you expressed in your question. The quote that really struck me when I first read it in the work of Albert Camus (French philosopher, writer, Nobel laureate — ed.) is about our urge to create. I believe that the creative impulse we feel when we carve wood, paint, write, compose music or make scientific discoveries is of immense meaning and value. I think that creating is the real key to life, whatever it is. I mean, whatever you are passionate about, I think creativity is a very, very important activity in life. And like I said, whatever you do, my wife, for example, is very talented in art, photography, knitting and so on. And she is just in a great space when she can do that, and when I am thinking or writing, I am just feeling incredibly happy.
My friends who spend their time building things, gardening, they also get a lot of pleasure from that. When you create something with your own hands or with the power of your mind, when you bring to life something you have worked on for a long time, it gives you a very good feeling. It’s the way that you express that innate desire for creative impulse. That’s why I can confidently say that happy people often have one thing in common — they have a way to express their creativity.
I also like the way Camus describes life: you know, when you realise that life is finite, then you just live out your adventure. And so I’ve adapted these words in talking to my children because I think that creating is one thing, but it’s also trying to have good adventures.
Again, whatever that adventure is, whether it’s exploring, doing something new, joining up with people, whatever that might be. And people who might think, for example, that either fame or money is what you want, well… Let’s be honest, you can’t control whether you become famous or rich. It all depends so much on luck, but I think you can have some say over the adventures you have and with whom you have those adventures.
So, yeah, I think it’s just having that little spirit of like, “Well, I don’t know where this is going to go, but I’m going to do it. This will be my adventure. And I really love that word ‘adventure’.
Yes. There is so much to do in our lives. Especially for me, because I’m quite young (laughs).
Well, in spite of this, you are already asking big questions.
They’ve always excited me.
And I also want to encourage you, just you’re asking these questions now… Do you feel that you’ve always been asking these kinds of questions? Can you remember that as a 10 or 12 year old, you had thoughts in your head about what are we doing here? Why are things the way they are? I suspect that this has always been part of your thinking.
Yes, that’s right.
Well, then I think that’s also a recipe for an interesting and rich life. Because you are going to be asking yourself where do I get meaning, and how can this person experience a meaningful life?
And then we also have the stories of millions of people who lived before us. That’s the great thing about reading Camus or something like that, it’s wisdom through the ages, you sort of collect these pieces of wisdom through the ages, and maybe your job is to collect these pieces and put them together in a way that makes sense to you.
Yeah.
As I’ve done. And I’m still at my age, still collecting these bits. It never ends.
Yes, absolutely.
After we finished talking, I received an email from Sean Carroll that touched me deeply and will always stay with me:
