297-What If Science Could End War? Feat. Zafra Lerman

Dr. Zafra Lerman uses science diplomacy to unite Middle Eastern countries in conflict, demonstrating how collaborative problem-solving can transcend political boundaries and foster peace.

• Founder of the Malta Conferences bringing together scientists from all Middle Eastern countries including Israel, Palestine, Iran, and others
• Creates equality among participants by having Nobel laureates give plenary lectures so no country appears favored
• Uses innovative teaching methods incorporating art, dance, music and theater to make science accessible
• Helped homeless students understand complex scientific concepts through creative expression, with some later earning PhDs
• Risked her safety smuggling scientific materials to dissidents in the Soviet Union
• Believes critical thinking skills are essential for evaluating information in an era of misinformation
• Demonstrates how ordinary people can make extraordinary differences through persistent, focused action
• Emphasizes that everyone can contribute to making the world better through small, intentional acts of kindness

All proceeds from Dr. Lerman's book "Human Rights and Peace: A Personal Odyssey" support the Malta Conferences and their peace-building mission in the Middle East.

Follow Zafra Lerman at ...

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zafralerman/

Her book

https://www.amazon.com/Human-Rights-Peace-Zafra-Lerman/dp/9815129724/ref=sr_1_1?sr=8-1

Her website

https://zafralerman.com/

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Dr. Zephra Learman
• 7:10 Science Diplomacy in the Middle East
• 16:10 Human Rights Work in Conflict Zones
• 26:10 Innovative Science Teaching Methods
• 37:00 Critical Thinking and Education
• 46:00 Closing Thoughts on Peace Building

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

welcome everyone to politically I tech. With your host, elias, I have such a wonderful newcomer. I tell you, this woman really deserve her own autobiography. The fact that I don't see the temp it's a big criminal. I could be wrong. I don't mean jump the worst. It's a big criminal, I could be wrong. I don't mean jump the worst conclusions here, but people like this should have more fame and definitely more mainstream recognition. Let me just be clear about that, because what this person did, this new guest and feel free if I mispronounce, feel free to correct me if I mispronounce your name Zephra Learman, you know, know, she has accomplished a heck of a lot.

Speaker 1: 0:46

The fact that these people don't get mainstream recognition to me is criminal. We need to be focused more on this instead of just, you know, these countries bombing each other, the hatred and even, if I'm going to be honest, downright stupidity that's being spread and there's just so much misinformation. A lot of people like to blame cable news for that, but I also blame social media and sometimes, if you want to think about it, social media can get you trapped faster because the content is much shorter and quicker and people gravitate towards something that's shorter and quicker and easier to digest, especially my generation and the younger generations, the Gen Zs, the Alphas and the ones that formula right now the betas. So we're the ones that have been driving the social media content, the consumption of it okay, and a lot of people get their news from social media. It's both a little bit scary. But before I continue my long rambling, let's talk about the accomplishments.

Speaker 1: 1:40

While something positive, something that is possible some that mainstream media I love to bash mainstream media. They don't want to talk about this. This is not interesting to them. They love conflict. They love driving you crazy. They love the fear-mongering I don't care if it's left-wing, right-wing, even center news, like news nation. You and I've generally praised them, but I also criticize them for being fear-mers as well. That's all the news does. It doesn't matter what partisan orientation you lean on. This is what they do. So we're going to talk about some that I'm sure most news coverage coverage is going to talk about. So listen to this podcast right here and forget about all the others. So I'm going to run through some of her accomplishments. This is just me scratching the surface. Yeah, it's a lot. It's so much to get through, but you know what? I'm going to get through it, because this just needs to be recognized more often.

Speaker 1: 2:38

Okay so, zephyr Lamas she is a scientist, educator, humanitarian. She holds a PhD in chemistry, so she's obviously a very smart woman. Okay, so if you want to challenge her intellect, good luck. But this is where she gets very interesting. She's not a boring intellect, you know, because she uses art, music and dance, animation, even rap, to make it accessible. So she has character. She adds character pizzazz into the science. Okay, she mixes them together. I don't know who was crazy enough to come up with it, but it seems, you know, it's working. Okay, and she has worked with even homeless students. Okay, I mean, she's traveled all over the world, all over, okay, okay, I mean, she's traveled all over the world, all over. Okay, she's been to places where, let's just say, you know, that's not friendly towards the us for geopolitical reasons. Okay, she's been, she's went through so much stuff. She, she, she's done a heck of a heck of a lot.

Speaker 1: 3:39

And her reward, her awards, forget it. It dates back to 97 and she's been nominated multiple times for nobel peace prize. I don't know why she hasn't won it yet recently. I think that's a crime onto itself. All right, yes, I'll be a little dramatic. She's accomplished a lot. Let's give her the darn award already. Stop, stop with the nonsense. Stop with the nonsense. We could definitely use more female war. You know females winning the award here OK, you know, that's been increasing, but we can improve on that even more. Ok.

Speaker 1: 4:10

And she's like she's done a lot of human rights cases OK, and you want to list the case? You want to list the countries that she's in? This is a difficult country. It's not the easy ones, like the United States OK. Soviet Union you know, formerly Soviet Union Russia, china, guatemala, cuba, peru, south Africa, iran. You know it's difficult to do human rights. That takes a lot of courage, ok. And some say she has guts. I want to use the word guts, I've used the other term, but it's going to refer to a certain gender's genitalia. Not going to do that. So you know what that is. I'm not going to say it. You're a smart audience, okay. And look, she risked her life. Okay, this is not. This is not a. You know a person who just does a lot of work in America and they get awards Okay.

Speaker 1: 4:58

And then since 2001,. She's used a science diplomacy to bring Middle East countries together Okay, and these are the ones I argue among each other on several things. You think the Arab nations get along with each other. No, they don't. There's Bahrain, egypt, iraq, iran, of course, the Jewish state, israel, jordan, kuwait, lebanon, oman, palestine, qatar Well, palestine is happy to be listed here Saudi Arabia, syria, turkey and United Arab Emirates. And these are not just scientists. They also got people who are, you know, got the Peace Prize Award, and even politicians, because, look, building these relationships based on geopolitical issues already creates that mistrust.

Speaker 1: 5:45

So this is not easy. This is definitely not easy stuff. You know she could have just I don't know she could have done something else. That was far simple, but she chose a very difficult path, okay, and I left some things out on purpose, because it's a lot to give. She's very accomplished, okay. She continues to do work today, uh, and so she's a scientist, educator, humanitarian I'll even dare throw it in there. That's what it really is, if you want balled out to it so that there goes. In short, I'm not gonna say what year she's born, what country. I'm gonna have you figure that out. Listeners, use the comment section to figure that out. Okay, you figure it out. If you get it right, you're not getting a prize. I think I'll just discourage you. Oh well, all righty, then anything else you want to add to your intro. I'm zephra. Before I continue, hello, yeah, hi, um, do you want to add anything to the um intro?

Speaker 2: 6:36

it was such a long intro.

Speaker 1: 6:38

If I will add to that, your audience will run away look at that, see, she got character already for some of the deep scientific background. A lot of them sound so boring, so robotic, so rehearsed, that they will naturally either sleep or run away. So she definitely got the character, ok. So she's not a boring person. So all righty, then we'll get. We'll get to the first question, which is something I would like to know how do you get all the scientists for these conflicting nations, particularly the Middle East, together in the same room scientists, politicians and other?

Speaker 2: 7:13

accomplished figures. It's not an easy task. It's a very complicated task from a lot of point of view. Let me first explain what the Malta conferences are doing. It's bringing under the same roof for five days, scientists, science ministers, from all the countries in the Middle East, with no exception, with several Nobel laureates in science, not in peace. In science, no accompanying members, so they will not dilute the interaction. Chemists know that if you have a solution and you want a reaction to happen, if you dilute it too much, the reaction will be very slow. We don't want to dilute, so we leave the spouses and significant others and everybody at home.

Speaker 2: 8:03

In order to be successful in the Middle East, everybody has to be equal. I learned it many years ago when I was in the Albert Einstein Peace Prize Foundation 1982, after Israel and Egypt signed a peace agreement but it was more a no-war agreement than a peace we decided, albert Einstein, that we would like to have a project where the Egyptians and the Israelis will have to work together. Now, the Nile River used to flood every year for miles and the Niles had a lot of nutrients, so the agriculture in this area was wonderful. But the Russians built the Aswan Dam and with that the Niles stopped flooding and all became arid land. So the idea was to bring together Israeli and Egyptian agronomists to develop an agricultural settlement like a Moshav in Israel. Israel has two kinds it has a kibbutz that is a complete commune, and it has a Moshav where everybody is separated but everybody brings the produce to the same place and this is joined. So we plan to have a Moshav.

Speaker 2: 9:28

And when the Egyptians arrived, I befriended them and there was a very smart person there. He was an MD, phd. He was President Sadat's health minister and he told me if you tell everybody that if they want to be successful, everything has to be equal, this is how you will be successful. Not that we are going to teach you, we are going to show you. No, let's see what we can learn from each other. And this got very stuck in my head because there was a lot into that. So the Malta Conference is built on everybody equal. There is no rich country and poor country. We paid for all of them to come, so they are all equal. There are no geniuses and less geniuses, great scientists Everybody's equal, everybody's in the same hotel, but the plenary lectures are being given by Nobel laureates, so it will not be that this country has great scientists to give a plenary and this country doesn't have. So we let Stockholm decide who gives our plenary lectures.

Speaker 2: 10:44

Now, the first one was very tough. You start from scratch. It was after September 11th and because I traveled all over the world and I had colleagues, scientific colleagues, from different international conferences that I lecture. So I just contacted them in the different countries and asked them to recommend people that will be willing to come and participate in the Malta conferences. The Nobel laureates are a big asset too, because it's a very high concentration per Nobel laureate. Usually we'll have one Nobel laureate in a conference with 15,000 scientists. Here you have several Nobel laureates with 100 scientists. The first conference, every country was sitting separate at the table for dinner and I walked around and tried to mix them up so they will talk to people from another country. But after that it was so natural that you don't know really who is from which country, and we had already 10 conferences like that.

Speaker 2: 11:59

We had the Middle East. The countries are very close to each other and all the borders there are just arbitrarily put there, mainly by the British. But science, the environment, nature doesn't recognize these borders. So, for example, water, the Equidox. They go through several countries because they don't know that the British suddenly put a border there in these different countries. So if you want to solve the problem and water is a big problem in the Middle East you must have collaboration between the nation and therefore we have workshops on issues of water, energy, food security, nexus. We work on climate change, we work on curriculum for science education. The differences are huge in science education and we develop friendships that overcome the cousins of distrust and intolerance.

Speaker 2: 13:01

If you would be in a conference like that, at the end you would think that it was a family reunion. People have tears in their eyes to say goodbye, people hug, people kiss. They don't know who belongs to which country. But to put a conference like that is not easy. First, to raise money to pay for all these people. There are billions and trillions of dollars. To build weapons of mass destruction For peace. There is no money. This is one problem. The other problem there is no country that wants all the cars. This one doesn't want this country and this one doesn't want this country. So to be able to get a visa for all the people to come is harder than climbing the Everest. It's really, really a big problem. I have in my book and this is my book, as you can see, human Rights and Peace, a Personal Odyssey a whole chapter on all the methods I have to use in order to get the visa for everybody to come, and it gives examples. I'll just give example. I'm talking now, before the last war in Gaza or war in Iran, before the wars.

Speaker 2: 14:23

What does it take to bring the scientists from Gaza to Malta, where the conference is? First, you have to get a visa from Malta. Malta gave the visa, but Gaza has two borders, one with Egypt, and this is always closed. They cannot go to Egypt. The other border is with Israel. That is never quiet and it's where the rockets are going through, this it is causing. So the only place they can really fly from is Amman, jordan, but they don't have a border with Amman. So it takes months to work with the Israeli forward ministry to allow them to enter Israel and cause the whole country, from the south to the north, to move to Jordan. So this takes months till the Israelis approve security and all that. And then I get a note. There is this window between midnight and three o'clock. Tell them to be there in the crossing and a car will wait and take them from Irish Crossing in the south to Allenby Bridge in the north where they can cross into Jordan. But then we need a visa to Jordan. So many times it happens that Jordan says we don't need a visa for Gaza, so just for the scientists for Gaza. It's months and months of working.

Speaker 2: 15:47

This is just one example of our world, how hard it is for people that want to get together to get together because all the obstacles exist. And we already had it 10 times really in person and during the pandemic we had it virtually. Virtually is not like being in person in this situation, but it's just to keep the momentum. Last year, during the war, we could not have it in person, so we had another virtually and everybody attended, and we hope to have now one in person and this is how we bring these people. But the visa issue is overwhelming. I'm listening on saying we will move all the people from Gaza to where no country will give the visa. I know what it is to do because, to be honest, I managed to get my scientists from Gaza out when the war started. It was very hard.

Speaker 2: 16:51

I got help from my Malta participants in Egypt and they are in Egypt. But Egypt doesn't want anybody to stay. They want to be a transition. Therefore, in the beginning they allowed only people with dual citizenship to stay. They want to be a transition. Therefore, in the beginning they allowed only people with dual citizenship to live. Now they want them to live, but they don't have to live. But I have a young family with children in school. They cannot sign up their children in school. They don't let them, so the children cannot go to school. I worked with high-level people in the Arab countries, in the European countries, in the American left that is supporting the Palestinians, but could not bring one family to live in Egypt so their children can go to school. So this shows you how complicated the world is in order to try to achieve peace.

Speaker 1: 17:49

Oh yeah, that's just one example of so much complications. You see, what she just laid out. I think a lot of us Americans, including myself, to be honest, we cannot grasp that difficulty. So we displace, have your home destroyed and even though you temporarily live in another nation, they want you gone, they want you to settle. That's why they want the children to sign up for school. Once you have children signed for school, that gives you know, the family, a reason to stay. And I'm not saying it's right, I think they. I personally, I think they should be accommodated.

Speaker 1: 18:22

But I'm just a guy with a mic, I'm not part of the Egyptian government, so I can just say my opinion. You know, and you know so far, based on what I noticed, is something you already summarized I think no one wants these displaced Palestinian families. You know, and it's heartbreaking. I cannot wrap my head around that. It's heartbreaking, I cannot wrap my head around that your home, village, neighborhood, leveled, destroyed by your ain't no whole people, the IDF, the Israeli army, and they're fighting Hamas, but sadly a lot of innocent people died along the way. I'm not going to pick a side here, but these are the facts. And it's very devastating what happened to Gaza.

Speaker 2: 19:11

I think most of Gaza is destroyed based on what I last heard about, which is quite sad. The whole situation is very sad. It's very sad. What happened on October 7, that people that helped the Gaza people, the people in this kibbutzim, are the people that were driving sick people and sick children from Gaza to the hospitals in Israel. These were the people that volunteered to do it and these were people that, in their sleep, were murdered, burned, kidnapped, and 1,200 people were just murdered in a few hours, just in a few hours. What happened then?

Speaker 2: 19:51

Gandhi once said eye for an eye will make all the world blind, and this is the problem that it's all the time. Eye for an eye, all the time. Eye for an eye. Smok is making the world the way we is. Should Hamas murderers who takes babies and burns them in ovens in front of their parents and videotape it so they can show home how heroes they are? So they documented all that. Who does it? But now the attack back is killing more innocent people. More children are paying with their life, and where is the end to that? As Gandhi said, the whole world will be blind for it.

Speaker 1: 20:41

Yeah, that is very wise. You just said very wise people. So you're not going to get this kind of commentary. Mainstream media you hear one defending Israel to see you're going to get the other one defending Palestine to see, he said, to conflict the nation is true.

Speaker 1: 20:54

October 7th, I condemned that attack. It was a very horrible attack. I'm not giving a pass to. Hamas did monstrous things, no doubt about it. And anyone who wants to justify that you're sick and who wants to justify the IDF's overly aggressive tactics, I won't support that either. Me, I personally, I would want a two-state solution, you know, and something you know recognize palestine state, you know, have that and have peaceful people get rid of the violence of both sides both sides, you know, not just hamas and even, even, even the war hawks in the israeli government I might be labeled anti-semite in that, I don't care. Am I criticizing all of jewish people? I'm just criticizing just a portion of the government that are amplifying this. They are the ones who become blind and they are any of these that rage just to commit mass on ill destruction. Of course you know hamas.

Speaker 2: 21:46

They did their horrible attack, which this is a domino effect the problem with hamas that they are horrible to their own people, and this is a very, very big but I want this war to end tomorrow. Release the hostages, finish the war and everybody go home already. It's not that Israel doesn't have casualties. Israel has a lot of casualties every day. So for what are people dying? Because we cannot.

Speaker 2: 22:18

If you see all these people in the conference, they come from these countries. You know the purpose of the conference is to give the people a platform to see what unites them, not what separates them. To give them a platform to stop demonizing the unknown other. When the Iraqis came the first time, they came with tears in their eyes and they said all our lives, we learned, we were taught that the Israelis are monsters. They don't even look like us. They are the worst in the world. And here we meet the most wonderful people, the greatest scientists that we want to collaborate.

Speaker 2: 23:04

Why are governments like People to people? You don't see them that. The people are from different countries. They all belong to the human race. They see that they are the same. You can discuss they are, but the people don't have problems with each other.

Speaker 2: 23:23

And this is what is so sad in the situation Russia and Ukraine. It's the same. And you know, somebody asked me how will we have peace ever in the world? I said when we will not have politicians, then we will not have wars. And it's a very sad situation and usually this causes a lot of problems. People are killed, people are wounded, people are arrested and we have human rights abusers.

Speaker 2: 23:56

I worked a lot in the Soviet Union where human rights abusers were unbelievable. And I would get into the Soviet Union with a group of scientists this was the cover up and during the day we were guests of different universities lecturing. And then at dinner I would tell one of the people that looked to me reliable and I said I've said, if I'm not here tomorrow morning for breakfast, call the American embassy and after midnight I would go in dark alley with dissidents that we planned before and then we collected a lot of dissidents like that. What was illegal to do for me? Then we would go to a dark attic and I would distribute scientific material. Because it was illegal. They prevented the dissident from even reading scientific material. Then I would give a seminar it was illegal and I risked my own life with that and then I would take their CVs and resumes so we could work here on their behalf and on behalf of dissidents that were in Siberia and hard labor and bring them back.

Speaker 2: 25:17

And there are a lot of people that I meet now in conferences that tell me that they owe their freedom to me. And this is a great pleasure that you have when you know that people are free and safe because you decided to help them. So you never met them and you don't know who they are, but you believed in the values to fight for human rights and all that is described in my book. It's really called Pro-Action because it shows if one woman can change a lot in the world. Many people together can make the world a better place for humankind.

Speaker 1: 25:58

Oh yes, if we have a lot more of you, I'm sure the world will be a much better place, and I like that idea. It's a radical idea. No politicians, because I bash every politician, I don't care if it's Democrat, republican. Even some of the global leaders yeah, a lot of y'all are the problem. I agree. And I do one piece. Let me just be clear, and you know Israel has suffered, you know they all want all their houses to be released. Let me just be clear about that. The more, the quicker we get this done, the better. I want it to be done yesterday, so I'm probably a little more radical, as we've done a chapter and he'll rebuild, and you know. But I agree, politicians is a big, big problem. Doesn't matter if it's from the Western world, Eastern world. They all tell their people oh look, the other side is the enemy. They're ugly, they're this, they're going to kill you, they're monsters. And American media doesn't do that much better either.

Speaker 2: 26:50

American media is meanwhile dividing us within the US, within the US, the other side is dangerous. We don't have to go outside of the US to start hating each other.

Speaker 1: 27:03

Yes, alan, you're right. And someone like me who's an independent mind, it gets attacked from both sides of the aisle. Sometimes I get praised from both sides of the aisle, depending on the issue. I say, oh no, you're crazy, that's not going to be done. Oh no, and I was called OK First. I was called OK because I was called left wing, right wing, whatever. So I don't care, You're, you're, you're crazy, you're crazy people. And after a while you just got to stop engaging with those people because it's not going to get anywhere. Engage those who are rational minded people, people who are rational. You know they bring those who don't got a lot. That's just going crazy in there. You know a lot of activity in there. They're not right in their mind. Don't argue, because you're going to be pulled down by the time a stranger sees an argument, they're going to see two idiots.

Speaker 1: 27:46

Yeah, you'll be the idiot arguing with the idiot. The idiot is good at bringing you down.

Speaker 2: 28:02

But this is why, you see, I'm pushing so much for science education, because science education teaches you critical thinking and logical thinking and I think that if everybody will develop critical thinking, we'll have less nonsense around and therefore, the half percent of the people that will become scientists, they will become scientists if they have good teachers, bad teachers, they know from very young age that they will be scientists. The 99.5 percent that will not become scientists must have a background in science, must have a background in science to understand even what the media is talking. What the media is talking about, the enrichment of the uranium in Iran, what does it mean? All this nuclear bomb, what are they discussing? You have to have some understanding. But the critical thinking. My students imitate my accent and they always say the most important thing is critical thinking. They are imitating my accent when they talk about critical thinking and I have former students that are extremely successful in Hollywood and I even attended the Emmy Award because one of my former. But he said to me my success is what I learned in your classes, not the trade I learned to be able to do the animation, but the critical thinking that I developed. This is where my success. Therefore, I want everybody my success. Therefore, I want everybody, every child, to grow up with a knowledge of science.

Speaker 2: 29:47

One problem is science and I'll admit to that that is taught in a very boring way and sometimes by bad teachers. I hated chemistry in high school. I had a very bad teacher. I hated it, but therefore, when I developed the methods, I told students in my class there will not be multiply choice test. You will show me your knowledge in any way you want, because I said I hate the test. I did not want in one hour that maybe I'm not feeling well this hour to show all my knowledge suddenly. So I said you can show me your knowledge in any way you want, if you want to dance it or sing it or draw it. All the time that you explain what it is, it's fine. And in order to show that it's really a high science, I persuaded the chairperson of chemistry at Princeton University that he was in my human rights committee and I persuaded him that we should go together with a grant and the chair of Indiana University to the National Science Foundation and we will develop the same class for non-science majors in all the three institutions with my methods of teaching, and the National Science Foundation called it their flagship project because it was after doing research at Cornell and Northwestern University.

Speaker 2: 31:20

I built a science institute at Columbia College, chicago that most of them, a lot of the students, were from the inner city. So we developed the class and in order to show that my students can be second to none, every year they flew to Princeton for a joint symposium. Now, for my students it was the first time to be on a plane and going to Princeton and in a symposium with the Princeton. All the media used to come and they used to call it the meeting of two cultures. It was the meeting of two cultures, there's no doubt, but while we were there, they showed them and my students were excellent by showing their knowledge. Like they wrote.

Speaker 2: 32:05

A theater student did a project on the chemical bond, the ionic bond that forms table salt from sodium and chlorine, but they wrote it all like Romeo and Juliet. Sodium fell in love with chlorine and they got married and the science was so accurate that people just could not believe it. There was another group of theater that did the Bonfather and the Chemical Bon. Like the Godfather, they followed the Godfather and the homeless kids that I taught. Cnn came and did a program on them and they showed through dance how they visualized different concepts in science and most of them went to college and two went for PhD in biochemistry from learning in a dance studio, even not in school. So when you invest and you, it became very.

Speaker 2: 33:18

I adopted Soweto. Soweto is the only town that the Nobel laureates lived in, one street. Bishop Tutu and Mandela is in South Africa. Just in case somebody doesn't know where Soweto, I adopted their school district and taught all this method. I taught reasoners that became successful and got, as a result of that, a master's degree and continued to a successful life after that. So because they really flourished that they could learn science this way and use their talent, Wow, that is just not just brave, it's creative and innovative to mix that together.

Speaker 1: 34:02

I watched some of the videos. Whoa, I want you as my. I wish I had you as my teacher.

Speaker 2: 34:09

This I hear thousands of times when I look around the world.

Speaker 2: 34:14

If I could learn chemistry like that, I would have taken chemistry. This is the reaction and I describe it all in my book. So I gave a talk about my book. There were hundreds of people and then we had a book signing and I talked about the education, the human rights and the peace, and then I asked if the people had questions. There's a ton of questions, as you can understand. But one woman said to me I cannot see in my eyes how you could teach people concepts in science through dance. I said you cannot see it. She said no. I said okay, I need 15 volunteers all going to choreograph the dance on the depletion of the ozone layer. She was one of the participants in the dance and then she said now I understand it, but it was very funny. She said I cannot see it. I said I'll show you, come here, we'll dance it. So they danced the depletion of those aware and understood how it happened.

Speaker 1: 35:20

Listeners and viewers, do you wish you had her as your science teacher, chemistry teacher, right? I mean she, you know, she uses a student's strength and interest just to express or prove that they have actually learned scientific concepts. I mean, you know me, when I first read that autobiography I had to make sure I was reading it right. So wait, art, dance, music with science. I would have had a similar reaction to that lady. I'm going to be honest, how the heck he combined it together? But by the time I saw a few videos, it's just something. I guess. Correct me if I'm going to be honest how the heck he combined it together, but by the time I saw a few videos, it's just something. I guess. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Speaker 1: 36:01

You have to see it to believe it, kind of thing. You got to be a part of it just to make it click. Because if we have an experience, if we can't see it mix, we just can't see it. That's our blind spot. It's especially something like art, drama, theater with science. I mean, I'm sure it's possible, but you achieved it. Obviously I was curious about how the heck it was possible. That's my framing of it, because I mean this is the positive thing, if your science teacher was not boring, would have you become a scientist or biochemist or whatever other hard science? I'm not talking about soft science. Political science doesn't count. I'm talking about being a chemist, bioengineer, nuclear engineer. I'm talking about those kind of jobs, you know, stem kind of jobs, not humanities. Now, I'm not going to humanities, my skills are more humanities.

Speaker 2: 36:54

Humanities are important too. Everything is important too.

Speaker 1: 36:57

Everything is important I said, but if you would have had her, what your trajectory will your career change? That's my question, if you would have had her? Now, that's a comment section activity I have for you um, yes or no, and give a reason why. Just, I don't want to, I don't want just a yes or no answer. Put at least a few sentences in there. A few, I mean about a few, probably two or three. I cannot control you, but all I can say is just, if you would have had a dynamic, creative, innovative science teacher would have your career changed. Or will you be more interested in science? I might say yes, for me definitely the interest part. I'm not sure about career, but I had to learn critical thinking the hard way, by working, and that's sadly a lot of people. Jobs don't tell you this. But being a problem solver through critical thinking is very essential and that's part of the real world and sadly I believe that schools don't teach you that.

Speaker 1: 37:55

Let me just hone this point in. You know she's already saying why. You know why science education should be a human right. I personally will take it a step further Quality education should be a human right. That's my position on education. I don't care if I'm labeled left-wing, right-wing. I promise I wasn't going to say it on there, but I changed my mind there. I think quality education should be a human right. I'm going to put a position out there because the more we have this, not just education and I love what you said critical thinking, because that has critical thinking has been dying.

Speaker 1: 38:24

Critical thinking we got to think beyond what the media says or what people tell you or not. Just accept things, everything as fact, because a lot of things thrown at you is misinformation. A, you know, go beyond the headlines. That's why, at me, I had to learn critical thinking outside of school, because I didn't have it. I was good at memorizing information, so I would have loved the multiple choice tests. Okay, easy, a, I do this. Associate a couple of information. Bam bam, bam, bam, done, I master it to the next scene. That's why she went multiple choice, because there is a bit of a shortcut to that, and I learned that as a young kid I thought I was the smartest person in the world. Until reality hits you hard, it will humble you. Problem solving actually proves your intellect, not you know. Acing tests you know, and you'll be more valued as well. So I had to learn that the hard way, but I'm happy I learned it. I wish I had learned the hard way, but I learned it nonetheless.

Speaker 1: 39:28

Critical thinking, problem solving, is far more important, especially in jobs, because that's what's really important. That's how you even get promoted to. You know thinking creatively to solve problems. It doesn't matter what job you have, even something as simple as or medial as cleaning. If you can problem solve it, great. You ain't paid to solve the problem. So that's all I'm going to say about that and I'm making it more adult. And she just teaches kids. She teaches prisoners as adult population, most of them, I'm assuming. I'm sure it could be some young teens in there, sure it was adults that really became successful.

Speaker 1: 40:06

So even as adults, you can become successful. I'm highlighting these points just because you can still turn it around. Maybe in your late 20s you can turn it around. Some very successful people turn it around later than you think. One example I'm forgetting his age now, but I know he got a little late. I don't like the, the one who owned the kfc. He ain't got success until I think it was in his 50s or 60s I gotta double check that but he ain't getting in his 20s and 30s. A lot of people expect to hit success by now. Some people don't become very rich until you know, when you hit a certain age and we get I mean, we set up that that time crunches of pressure ourselves and that you know. I think that really ruins our self esteem and all that. I'm not going to get too deep into that, but that's the reason why I'm highlighting these points.

Speaker 1: 40:54

We definitely need to, definitely need to bring back critical thinking and bring back well, they already have STEM and all that, but we need to definitely, definitely teach to the homeless. She's a living example of that. She's not a hypocrite, she's not just talking a good game, she lived it, she done it and she don't need to show you proof. Well, there's plenty of proof. Go to her website. You'll get a lot of proof there. I'll tell you that much Especially mixing dance, a theater with science. Watch much especially mixing dance, a theater with science. Watch the video. I'm not going to tell you, just watch the video. You're going to see it. Okay, go to ZephyrLehmancom, okay.

Speaker 2: 41:36

I will put the link in the description and for her book as well. Read the book because it's all discussed very in detail in the book, even the teaching. With example, she chose the dancing and it describes how they did it. So the book came out just now in paperback and it's on Amazon and you will see how everybody can contribute to make the world a better place.

Speaker 2: 42:04

I used to tell my students always every night before you go to sleep think if you did one good thing for somebody else, not for yourself, and if you did a good thing for somebody else, you had a very good day. And this is important because I managed to get out from hard labor and from places like that. People by working very hard on their behalf and everybody can do it. If there is the will, every one of us can make the world a better place Instead of falling into fighting and misinformation. The misinformation world is again. Critical thinking helps you to see if it's misinformation, but for people that didn't develop critical thinking it's very hard. They believe everything they read on social media and the misinformation there is atrocious atrocious.

Speaker 1: 43:03

It is horrible. I mean, look I, I could tell you the small difference between me having critical thinking skills versus not having it. Simple example I used to believe the news telling me certain stupid things like your ring finger must be longer than your index finger to pass english exams. I used to believe something as silly as that. Critical thinking gets you to question that headline how the heck they came up with that? Is it even true? Well, we got the internet to research that. Is there any scientific studies that supports this? We all know the answer to that if you don't think very hard.

Speaker 1: 43:41

But critical thinking will get you to investigate what the heck the media is telling you. And I'm using more traditional media example. But this also applies especially to social media, because when I read a post, for example, I can already see misinformation. I said, no, that's not accurate. That's not accurate and I could debunk it very easily. If you know they post some's not accurate and I could debunk it very easily. If you know they post some false information, you can either debunk it with a, with a gif or attachment, having the accurate information. These are just basic examples, but this is why critical thinking is just very important, because everything you're being told is truthful, and train your intuition as well, not your primal instinctual gut, I'm talking about your spiritual gut, okay, and that's all I'm going to say about that. I mean, this episode could be easily listed as political, even developmental, because we emphasize in critical thinking again. But I don't mind doing that again, because I just believe that skill is just too important.

Speaker 1: 44:41

Sometimes it needs a repeat and not everybody watches every episode. So I caught you the second time. If you missed the first one. I'll put a little link to that one with another professor from Europe that she talked about critical thinking as well, even though that was more later on, just like this episode. I'll link. I'll link as well Another, another smart professor, but they she, you know she dealt with some of the, so I'll link her.

Speaker 1: 45:08

Vivian um vivian, I think keeper is her name. I might butcher it, but the the program notes will have the accurate information because she's another one that's about critical thinking. Another smart woman. There's a pattern here. Not that I'm not saying men are dumb, let's not jump that conclusion. It's just a pattern. Happens to this podcast. Okay, don't read into it. I know how some of you think, so you think I'm being vicious, or mean you could think that you're entitled to be an idiot, but you're not entitled to the truth. Okay, now, this is me being a little nasty. Now you can say I'm being a little nasty, but anyways. So for wrap up, is there anything you want to add, zafra?

Speaker 2: 45:45

I want to call on anybody to try to do something good for the world. Start thinking differently, not complaining about what the administration is doing, what the world is doing, but think what can I do to make the world better? What can I do to make one person happier because something happened to them and they are not happy, and you will be much happier if you will feel that you did something for somebody else. This is my message and this is my message in my book.

Speaker 1: 46:23

You know, ironically, it also applies to spirituality as well. You do good for others, you feel good as well, so that thing, a little spiritual component there. We usually mixed up the three, the three, three main pillars the current of the, the geopolitics, science, which is technological, normally. But we can include science this time, which I don't normally cover as I used to. I would love to cover it. I just talk about AI too much. This is refreshing.

Speaker 1: 46:49

I'm stepping away from AI. This is a big break. I already beat you to death with AI if you've been a loyal listener. How AI could do this? Ai could do it. That was last season.

Speaker 1: 46:58

Ai is a secondary character now, not the main character for the tech, while I, while talking about ais, it's not as much because I think I. To me that's like a dead horse. I'm already being a dead horse at this point. I think I covered so many angles, unless something new pops up. And then there's the development, which is critical thinking and spiritual. Do kindness, make a world a better place. Nothing gets as simple as that when it comes to development, because that's improving humanity. Okay, so just take that message, people. I agree.

Speaker 1: 47:28

I've joined more organizations and I'm part of two groups that are trying to make America better One on the national level, more on the local level. Because if you don't do anything, the world's not going to get better. You know you could complain about the government, the world, the news, whatever, but it's going to just drain you. You're wasting your time. Just try to do something about it. Gather people who have done the work like her. Contact her. Her social media will be there. She does have a LinkedIn and when I dig a little deeper, there's even a Twitter and a YouTube channel, but all that will be in a link in the description. So, get her book. Get her book.

Speaker 1: 48:07

People, come on, contribute. Help someone who's doing a good one. Help someone who's doing the action. Okay, don't help a celebrity that are just doing stupid stuff. Forget about that. Put the money here. It's much cheaper. Okay, they're supporting those celebrities. I want hundreds of dollars for their concerts. Don't get me wrong. They're a bit fun, but you just feel good and then you're going to go back to being miserable. I'm sorry. What were you going to say before I got passionate?

Speaker 2: 48:31

I just wanted to say if you get my book, please write a review on Amazon, so the algorithm will help, because all the proceeds from the book are going to support the Malta Conference. I don't take a penny out of it. It's all to help to bring peace to the Middle East. With that it will be peace for the world, because the Middle East is the most active plant of the world. So by getting the book you help the effort of the Malta Conferences.

Speaker 1: 49:03

And Noah, and that's a reminder for me. I want to definitely get this book because I'm trying to put peace. Put your money where your mouth is, wonder why things are chaotic and yet you keep paying for silly things? Put your money where your mouth is. This is a way of supporting peace. Okay, since I know that for a fact, I'm going to definitely get this book and hold me to an account, hold me accountable. So, oh, I need proof. You got the book, I'll show you. Pressure me, feel free to pressure me. Ok, I'm saying it right now, live. I normally don't say I'm going to get a book live, because I'm normally iffy about it. Normally I'm skeptical, but to me this is easy. I buy a book or I just support destruction. Doing nothing, you're indirectly supporting destruction. Yes, I'm going to make you feel a little guilty. So support peace by getting the book. Okay, and I definitely want to know more about those teaching methods and all that. That story got me very curious.

Speaker 2: 50:00

The book is explained very well and if you want more, my email is safrasafralermancom. Easy for you to remember if you know my name.

Speaker 1: 50:10

Yep, exactly All that's going to be in the episode notes and description, all that information. Okay, so now let me do my little shameless plug-in. If you enjoy this episode, like, subscribe, share and, if you want, I call them donations. I donations, if you are generous or if you can, it's all right, it's fine with me, but I would, but, if possible, give Apple review. If Apple review, I don't care about Spotify. Give it on Spotify, I don't care, I'm just going to ignore you. I want an Apple podcast. That's the only one I pay attention to. That's the one I take very seriously. Give a review. Give an honest review. Don't just say, yes, it's great or this episode sucks. Give me a reason why this episode is great because of ABC, or this episode sucks because of A, b and C. Okay, I prefer honest, constructive review Rather than positive or negative, I don't care as much. Don't just say, oh, stupid show or fantastic show. Yeah, even compliments, I'll just reject with no meat to it. All right, so, and one more thing.

Speaker 1: 51:15

This is the final, final part. I'm going to be having my website set up. I'll probably give it a couple of months so you go directly to my website. This goes to the podcast. They're going through these hosts and all that, and especially if I get canceled by youtube for some reason, because at times I'm sure some of the content I post or can be controversial. And I don't mind controversy, I really don't, because I'm all believe in freedom of speech. That's, that's all I to say. So enough of me yammering, we all got other things we need to do. So once you complete this audio or visual journey, you have a blessed day, afternoon or night. Bye.