Interviewer: Today on our show I am happy to present you a well known marine scientist, Jack Carey. Welcome, Jack. It's good to have you here with us today. Now, tell us, have you always been fond of adventure?
Jack: Good afternoon. I have always been addicted to adventure. And as a young boy, I would rather look outside the window at the birds in the trees and the sky. Then look at that two-dimensional chalky blackboard where time stands still and even sometimes dies. My teachers thought there was something wrong with me because I wasn't paying attention in class. They didn't find anything specifically wrong with me. The thing is, they didn't test for curiosity.
Interviewer: Curiosity? What do you mean by curiosity?
Jack: Curiosity to me is about our connection with the world, with the universe. It's about seeing what's around that next tree and learning more not only about our environment, but about ourselves.
Interviewer: Where does this curiosity take you?
Jack: To the bottom of the ocean, as you know. We've only had about a dozen or so scientific labs at the bottom of the sea. There's only one left in the world. It's nine miles offshore and 65 feet down. It's called Aquarius. Aquarius is an ancient lab chained to the bottom. It doesn't have much time left before they close it down. I realized that my time was short if I wanted to experience being an aquanaut.
Interviewer: Did you go down to Aquarius then?
Jack: Yes. I spent 31 days underwater in this lab. When we swam towards it after two years of preparation, it seemed like a new home. And the point of going down to and living at this lab was not to stay inside. It was about giving us the luxury of time outside to wander, to explore, and to understand more about the ocean.
Interviewer: Sounds really exciting. So this was quite an adventure of a lifetime for you.
Jack: Now, this wasn't just about adventure. There was actually a serious note to it. We did a lot of science, and again, because of the luxury of time, we were able to do over three years of science in 31 days. We were able to study animals such as sharks and huge fish in numbers that we've never seen before. We could even commune with animals that are much larger than us, such as this endangered huge group of fish. But the point of adventure is not only to learn, it's to be able to share that knowledge with the world. One of the most precious gifts that we had underwater was wi-fi, and for 31 days straight, we were able to connect with the world in real time from the bottom of the sea and share all of these experiences. Quite literally, I was skyping in the classroom with one of the six continents and some of the 70,000 students.
Interviewer: Amazing. I can't believe you had wi-fi underwater with such a good connection that you could videoskype to students. Technology has really taken us far beyond our wildest dreams.
Jack: Do you want to know my own wild dream?
Interviewer: Sure. Is it to live in an underwater city?
Jack: Right on. I dream of the day that we have underwater cities. And maybe, just maybe, if we push the boundaries of adventure and knowledge and we share that knowledge with others out there, we can solve all sorts of problems. I've thought about this my whole life. Nothing is impossible. We need to dream, we need to be creative and we all need to have an adventure in order to create miracles. And whether it's about climate change or giving back to future generations, what we've taken for granted, it's about adventure. And who knows, maybe there will be underwater cities and maybe some of our students will become aquanauts.
Interviewer: Thank you, Jack. Let us always dream big.
