Conversation With a 7-Year-Old: Aspirations Edition

A: Guys, I reeeeallly want to be an inventor! Like, so much!!

Dad: Well, that's good, you could do that. You'd have to work hard in school, and probably go to university. Lots of inventors work making new kinds of machines and things.

A: Like Leonardo da Vinci.

Dad: Yes, Leonardo da Vinci was a pretty amazing inventor.

A: I think I want to be an even better inventor than Leonardo da Vinci.

Dad: Well, you can certainly try for that.

A: Because you know what Leonardo da Vinci never invented? Animals.

Me: And you want to invent new animals?

A: Yeah, making new DNA!

Me: Well, you know, there's a whole lot of scientists out there that do exactly that. They work with animals, making changes to DNA, mostly to help with medical science. There's a pretty famous court case called the Harvard mouse case, involving a new kind of mouse.

Dad: That the lawyers found a way to make money on.

Me: Hey!