At the Exploratorium and the Tech Museum, 2 Views of Science - New York Times

SAN FRANCISCO — It is a hot day at the Palace of Fine Arts, but no one is bending down to take a promised drink. The spout, gleaming with polished chrome, looks like those on many new water fountains. The problem is that it is mounted on the rim of an open toilet. “A Sip of Conflict” reads the explanatory sign, for this is an exhibit at the Exploratorium, the astonishing science museum here. Judging from the grimaces and giggles of visitors, the point being made is clear. We may know something to be true — that the water is clean and cold — but sensory experience conflicts with reason. In this conflict, guess which wins? Compare that exhibit with another, at the Tech Museum of Innovation in nearby San Jose. You sit at a computer monitor and select elements of a roller coaster ride — track length, loop shapes, cart speeds — constructing a rudimentary track. Then you walk over to a roller coaster cart, where your custom bit of track is simulated: a screen shows the cart’s motion over the track, while the cart rocks and thrusts as if it were really moving through your self-constructed ride. Could the approaches be more different? The Exploratorium exhibit has almost nothing to do with technology; the Tech exhibit celebrates it. The Exploratorium exhibit is almost deliberately old-fashioned; the Tech exhibit aspires to state-of-the-art effects. The Exploratorium display is modest, and succeeds; the Tech’s is ambitious and seems less spectacular than its promise. The exhibits even reflect two different archetypes for the modern science museum. While the Exploratorium focuses on experiment, the Tech focuses on sensation. The Exploratorium has the aura of a science fair, the Tech the aura of a sci-fi fair.