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This Week, Science Uprising Is Coming to Facebook; Here’s How You Can Help

Science Uprising

Earlier this year, Discovery Institute premiered a provocative new YouTube series titled Science Uprising that was a bit different from the science documentaries we had done previously on or our own or in conjunction with Illustra Media. Our regular readers and longtime members and subscribers responded enthusiastically and the series went viral garnering nearly a million views over the summer. Now we are rebooting it so to speak, on Facebook. More about that and what you can do to help in a moment.

The series is aimed at the fast growing number of “nones,” people who don’t identify with any traditional religion, often younger people. Instead, they are being introduced to materialism by a slew of its popularizers such as Bill Nye the “Science Guy,” Sam Harris, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Richard Dawkins. And it doesn’t stop there. Materialist ideas are presented in schools, on TV in sitcoms, in movies, in graphic novels, in music. People are inundated by these ideas and receive a steady flow of celebrity affirmations that these claims are backed up by “science.”

Even so, Science Uprising is premised on the idea:

that a majority of us share a skepticism about the claims of materialism — the claims that people are just “robots made of meat, with a really sophisticated onboard guidance system,” lacking souls, lacking free will or moral responsibility, having emerged from the ancient mud without purpose or guidance.

Science Uprising counters these corrosive trends with a hopeful, accessible message in a fast-paced style, about meaning in the cosmos and in life. That stylistic technique is important, according to the series’ creative director, Jonathan Witt:

Each Science Uprising video is six to eight minutes long, fast-paced, and produced by filmmakers with extensive experience in the television industry. Each episode begins with a masked host who appears to hack into TV and Internet feeds around the country to offer a contrary perspective. One moment people in restaurants, classrooms, living rooms, Times Square, etc., are watching science popularizers like Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson peddle a vision of man and nature as mere matter in motion. The next moment, the hacker host has replaced them onscreen to question their claims and introduce the episode topic.

That is an approach that appeals to younger viewers, and the hope is that the style will attract new viewers who might not otherwise pay attention to traditional science related documentaries.

The Backstory

Science Uprising is the brainchild of cinematographer David Arabia and Center for Science & Culture Senior Fellows John West and Jonathan Witt, working with a network of young professionals and cinematographers in the TV industry who have worked on productions for the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Wild, Animal Planet, and other media outlets.

Many of these young filmmakers viewed this project not just as a job, but as a mission. They wanted to use their talents to challenge materialism head-on and expose members of their generation to the overwhelming evidence of purpose in nature. An editor on the project commented: “This is one of those projects, that if my career concluded right now, I could finish satisfied.”

That’s pretty powerful stuff. Obviously, it presents an opportunity to change the culture in a direct way, and you can join us in doing that.

By relaunching the series on Facebook we’re hoping to reach viewers in their thirties and younger who have grown up with social media. These “digital natives” get much of their impression of the wider world from the Internet. So, we’re bringing Science Uprising to where many reside online, Facebook.

How to Help

Each day this week we’ll be posting one of the episodes on the CSC Facebook page. Here’s what you can do right now to help us start a Science Uprising across Facebook.

  • As soon as each episode is published, watch it on Facebook and post a comment.
  • Share the episode with family and friends and ask them to share with their friends.
  • Post to your Facebook page and share with Facebook groups you interact with.
  • Be sure to follow, like, and share each episode and announcement about Science Uprising this week.

Thanks for your support!