Do you ever wonder if poverty is genetic or whether the ocean actually thinks?
Morgan Freeman thinks about these things a lot. He doesn't just ask, "When did time begin?" as many of us do. He considers time and wonders, "Does it even exist?"
"I don't think time started until after life began on this planet and I don't think there is time anywhere else," Freeman told The Huffington Post.
"Almost all of life deals with time: the movement of the tides, the movement of declinations of the sun, the phases of the moon. Life, in all phases, deals with time."
As co-executive producer and host of Science Channel's "Through the Wormhole," Freeman guides viewers through provocative topics that challenge the audience's basic belief systems.
"We're exploring subject matter that people find interesting if you could put it to them in such a way that it makes any sense -- things having to do with the universe," Freeman said.
"One of the things we're most proud of with the success of the show is how popular it is with young children. People tell me all the time how their son, daughter, nephew loves the show. When I ask them how old the child is, they say, 12, 9, 8. That is really gratifying."
Topics covered in the show's fifth season -- premiering Wednesday night -- include genetic poverty, oceans that think, zombies, the concept of time, a shadow universe and could humans become as powerful as God?
Isn't it possible that these very heady subjects might be a bit over the top for youngsters?
"I think that's a big mistake we make in our assumptions about children and their thought processes," Freeman says. "If you put it to them, if you open a subject up to them, they are amazingly receptive and responsive.
"That's why, as a society, we need to stop doing what we're doing in terms of education. Children are so far ahead of us that we have to go back to catch up."
Freeman's co-executive producer, James Younger, told HuffPost that "Through the Wormhole" is "a show about frontiers, of knowledge, and the limits of human possibility."
"People are innately interested in that -- they want to dream a little bit, so we're not just reporting on new gadgets or iPhones. We're saying, 'Here's what we know and the limits of what we know -- and here's what could happen to us.'
"I also think it's a demanding show," Younger said. "We require people to stop and think, and people actually quite like that we ask something of them. So, we get a loyal audience that looks forward to being engaged and challenged."
Freeman offers an important conviction shared by everyone on the "Through the Wormhole" team.
"One of the mantras we have on the show is 'Ask questions.'"
"Through the Wormhole With Morgan Freeman" premieres Wednesday night, June 4, on Science Channel at 10 p.m. Check your local listings.
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