Posts tagged Science
Lack of Science Comprehension
Nov 29th
Fossilized bacteria in the Allan Hills 84001 Meteorite, originally announced well over a decade ago, has now been verified to really be fossilized bacteria. I remember the controversy back then, with scientists being split over whether it was really bacteria or simply natural crystal formations. I so wanted it to be true that we really had evidence for life on Mars. But that’s not what this post is about.
What struck me about the article more than the news itself was some of the comments. We live in a world increasingly affected by science. It touches nearly every aspects of our lives. And yet, so many know so little about it. Even worse, many people are simply either unable, or unwilling, to comprehend it. The best known example is, of course, the whole manufactured controversy between creationism and evolution. But it goes well beyond that.
Consider this enlightening set of remarks from one Drew W.
Give me abreak – these buffoons have been coming out withthis speculative tripe for years!! They start with conclusions and then try to prove them.
It feels increasingly that NASA is nothing more than an ‘anti-God, we must find some way to prove he doesn’t exist’ club.
I actually find it all quite amusing.
Human nature is intrinsically stubborn anyway and starting with conclusions and working backwards is pretty normal behaviour for human beings anyway, so this is nothing new
My introduction to the Scientific Method came in elementary school. Even at that age I could understand the difference between a hypothesis and a conclusion. And I was able to comprehend which one comes first in the process. And that the evidence doesn’t always support the hypothesis, sometimes leading to the conclusion that the hypothesis was wrong. This is yet another example of an average person misusing science terminology, akin to the ridiculous it’s just a theory line of attack against evolution.
You might say that it doesn’t matter. But it does. Ignorance breeds ignorance. You can see it in the declining quality of science journalism, where articles are often dumbed down for the masses to the point that they are no longer wholly accurate. You can hear it in the speeches and sound bites put out by politicians around the world, particularly in America. Sarah Palin, anyone?
Or what about this guy, Kevin Flanagan:
I am not comfortable with the idea of life “lurking” beneath the surface of a meteorite;It sounds like a microbial ambush waiting to happen.
I want to say that he probably didn’t read the article, since it says quite clearly that they are talking about fossilized, not living, bacteria. But, if that’s the case, then he still went way off track with his interpretation of the title, which reads, Evidence of life on Mars lurks beneath surface of meteorite, Nasa experts claim. Poor Kevin made the leap from evidence lurking to life lurking. That may be a strike against his overall reading comprehension rather than his understanding of science, but either way it’s a strike against the education system he went through.
I also counted three conspiracy theories, one regarding UFOs. I won’t get started on those.
On any science related article you can find a number of horribly misinformed comments. The thread on this article isn’t so bad, yet. There are a number of well-reasoned remarks, both positive and negative, from people who show some basic understanding. But shouldn’t we all have at least a basic understanding of general science? Absolutely, we should. Enough so that journalists can be accurate in their reporting without dumbing things down. Enough so that people understand what a hypothesis is, how experiments are generally conducted, and why a theory is not a blind guess. Enough so that when misinformation does get propagated through ignorance, the number of people who can recognize it as nonsense is high enough that it dies a quick death rather than becoming urban legend.
Really, in today’s world, we ought to have an understanding of what’s going on around us. Ultimately, better understanding can help us to have more informed people in leadership positions, making better decisions to keep us safe and healthy. And average citizens won’t be led around like mindless sheep, believing whatever tripe the powers-that-be decide to put out from one day to the next.
You Can’t Embarrass a Republican
Jul 26th
An article at the Guardian, Birthers embarrass the Republicans, starts off discussing the now infamous incident at a town hall meeting hosted by Republican Congressman Mike Castle of Delaware, in which a lunatic lady waves her birth certificate around in a plastic bag while ranting that Obama is not a citizen. The author, Thomas Noyes, goes on to list other outrageous theories the audience brought up at the meeting.
The nutty theories didn’t end with the birth certificate. Members of the crowd told Castle that global warming is a hoax and just a theory like evolution. You can’t tax carbon dioxide, he was told, because “trees need CO2 to make oxygen!”
The session got even nuttier. Castle listened as one audience member insisted that the swine flu virus was engineered in “a small bioweapons plant outside of Fort Dix”, and that a big vaccine company was “caught sending Aids-infected vaccines to Africa”. This speaker continued: “You think I’m going to trust you to put a needle full of dead baby juice and monkey kidneys? Cause that’s what this stuff is grown on, dead babies!”
Apparently, Castle is planning a run for the Senate. Noyes describes him as “the kind of centrist who kept the Republican party relevant in this increasingly blue state.” But with the Republican party moving ever farther to the right, Castle may be in a sink or swim situation. Noyes concludes,
But Castle must be wondering whether it would be worth enduring this kind of nuttiness to crown his long career with a campaign for a Senate seat.
I’m sure that’s a problem for most centrist Republicans. And they are probably the segment of the Republican party Noyes had in mind when he titled his article. But increasingly, the idea of moderate or centrist Republicans is becoming something of a novelty in terms of perception. No matter what the reality is, the Republican party seems to be more identified now with the far-right lunatics who are so vocal, and whose nutty ideas continually garner media attention.
I’ve talked on this blog before about the level of stupidity in America and the dangers of an uninformed public who are easily manipulated by political talking points. Unfortunately, it appears that this is a problem that may never go away. One study published last year found evidence that our tendency toward conservatism or liberalism may be rooted in biology. Further, another study found that conservatives are susceptible to The Backfire Effect. Meaning that the more evidence they are presented with to refute their claims, the more strongly they believe them. The backfire effect was not found among liberals.
If one’s political ideology really is strongly influenced by biology, then a right-wing nutjob will likely always be a right-wing nutjob. And if showing a right-wing nutjob evidence that he is wrong only makes him more certain that he is right, it would appear that trying to debate the merits of any given position is self-defeating. Perhaps that’s why the lunatics are taking over the Republican party. Decades of being presented with facts and evidence against their lunacy has only made them stronger.
Whatever the causes, it would seem that America is in a conundrum. Rational members of the Republican party must either speak out against the extreme elements (sink), or take advantage of the ignorance surrounding them and go with the flow (swim). With the media continually giving voice to these outrageous claims, it would appear that the minority who believe them, or who profess to believe them, is growing. How do you overhaul a system that is rotting from the inside out?
In order to prevent the spread of stupidity and misinformation, we need a mainstream media that is focused more on fact and less on controversy. Unfortunately, controversy sells and, like so many other things in America, the media is corporate-driven. As long as that’s the case, controversy will win out every time. The only way it can change is through government regulation, reversing the deregulation that allowed so much media consolidation through the 80’s and 90’s which got us into this mess in the first place. But that’s not in the interests of any politician is it? Politicians have people who are very skilled in crafting messages to generate favorable controversies. A media that really is fair and balanced, that doesn’t spread outrageous controversies, that really tries to hold people accountable to the facts, make it more difficult for a politician to get elected.
No, our country isn’t going to change through anything short of a citizen’s revolt. The corporate interests are too entrenched in too many industries. But the will for a revolt isn’t there, except among the right-wing crazies who are imagining all sorts of conspiracies afoot while a black Democrat is president. But their idea of revolt is secession and armed insurrection. In otherwords, the wrong means to the wrong ends and not at all what we need.
What I want to know is, why aren’t the rational majority speaking up more? I still believe that the majority of Americans are not as crazy, ignorant, or stupid as perception would lead one to believe. That’s the revolt we need. People of sense, who are informed enough not be misled by nonsensical claims, taking to the streets en masse. They need to be flooding email inboxes and phone lines in Congress, the White House, and media centers across the country. They need to make it known that the politics of fear and misdirection, the coziness of politicians and corporations, the fleecing of America, will no longer be tolerated.
So where are they?
A Must Read
Feb 19th
It’s always fun to read or watch a Discovery Institute member getting smacked down with, you know, logic. PZ has posted a debate request the DI sent to a University of Vermont professor, along with the subsequent response.
Useful Gifts for CERN Researchers
Sep 11th
Some time ago, I posted advice for the CERN guys in Lessons Learned From Gordon Freeman. It seems the Redditers have gone a few steps better, actually shipping essential equipment to CERN. The kit includes a crowbar, a training headcrab, and a copy of the Half Life Strategy Guide (follow the link for pics). They included a note, “Get this to Gordon Freeman. He’ll know what to do.” One of the CERN people, AlpineKat, promised to send pics of the gear in use. I suppose references to Gordon Freeman in relation to CERN will go on for a while yet. h/t to Steve Streeting.
Oh, and if you’ve never heard of AlpineKat, the Reddit blog contains the second reference I’ve seen to her this week (the first being over at Pharyngula). Specifically to her hit rap vid (if the embedded video isn’t working for you, follow this link to see it):
Large Hadron Collider Soon Operational
Sep 6th
Next Wednesday, CERN’s Large Hadron Collider will finally get busy. I’ve been looking forward to this for a while. It was supposed to get going last year, but has faced a couple of legal challenges apparently. Those involved in the project are quite certain they’ll find new discoveries. The only unknowns are what and when, though there are some ideas concerning both. We could start reading about them as early as next year. What an exciting time to be alive.
One thing I’m hoping will come from this is irrefutable evidence of how this thing we call reality got started. Something like that could turn some of the more sensible of the religious away from their fantasies once and for all. The kooks among them will never be persuaded of their kookiness, no matter how much evidence you heap in front of them. But it would certainly be a good beginning to the decline of lunacy. This all assumes, of course, that the religious kooks in the Middle East and the United States don’t wipe us all out first in their zealousness to establish a global caliphate, to bring about the second coming, or whatever it is that drive them on.
Then again, there are some out there who believe CERN is acting recklessly and endangering our very existence. They are concerned that the LHC could do something like create a large black hole that would rip the Earth apart. I’m sure there are some who might be worried that the thing could open up a door to another dimension, exposing us to some sort of alien invasion. In preperation for the latter case, the scientists involved would do well to heed the Lessons Learned From Gordon Freeman.
Exposing Expelled
Apr 15th
PZ is recruiting bloggers to help stamp out the idiocy propagated by Expelled and instead promote a web site that counters it. If you think science and reason should take precedence over superstition and stupidity, follow that first link in the previous sentence to find out how you can help expose Expelled.
Less Informed Minds
Jun 18th
Last year, the Council of Europe put forth a motion for a recommendation extolling the “dangers of creationism in education.” Essentially, it asserts that creationism and intelligent design are garbage, are not recognized as science, and have no place in modern education systems. My favorite section is item 4, regarding attempts by creationists to discredit evolution and promote their own stupidity:
4. Such an approach has no credibility among the scientific community but has succeeded in raising doubts in less informed minds, including persons with high political responsibilities, mainly in the USA but also in Europe. Some schools are now forced to teach creationism. The middle path of providing equal time for both merely offers a middle way between truth and falsehood.
I suppose “less informed mind” is the PC term for moron now. But the meaning behind it is clear. American politicians who subscribe to creationist idiocy are looked upon as the idiots they are by thinking members of the Council of Europe. And so should they be.
I found this via PZ Myers. Item 4 gave me a good chuckle, but the whole thing made my day. With all of the stupidity in the media lately, it’s nice to see something that makes sense.
Of Colds, Clerical Soccer, Fanatical Atheists and the Relativity of Wrong
May 7th
The past few days have not been pleasant. Saturday, I awoke to find my $600 cell phone lying submerged in my dogs’ water dish. Then I came down with a cold that had knocked me flat by Sunday evening. Monday was a bit better, but I did spend the time between my morning and evening classes snoozing on the sofa. As I write, it is early AM Tuesday here in Korea (almost 2:30) and I’m feeling quite a bit better. Still not 100%, but noticeably more well. My only immediate problem is that the cold medicine has made me drowsy (the OTC drugs in Korea are usually more potent than those back home in the USA). I’ve spent enough time sleeping over the past couple of days and don’t really care to do so now. But, I likely will snooze for an hour or two before my first morning class.
Since I haven’t felt much like doing any programming, blogging, or holding a book up to read, I’ve spent the majority of my few hours of consciousness browsing for reading material online. Over at the Richard Dawkins site there were a couple of great articles reposted from elsewhere. The one about the clerical soccer match made me chuckle. On the one hand, it’s a serious issue as it’s yet another demonstration of the regressive nature of religion. But reading about religious folk acting the fool always brings at least a giggle.
What really perked me up, though, was Dan Gardner’s article that takes on the ‘atheist fundamentalist’ stereotype. It’s one of the most well-written articles I’ve seen on the topic. As one commenter posted:
I really think the simple essays like this one are the ones that have a
chance of making a difference. It’s hard to imagine reading this and
not thinking to yourself “Hmm…in that light, my faith looks kinda
silly.”
That was my first reaction as well. When it is put like Gardner puts it, it seems impossible for a believer not to slap himself in the forehead and exclaim, “What a fool I have been!” Then I snapped back to reality. People of faith have faulty logic circuits, so they’ll miss the point entirely. This will only register as yet another attack on religion. But I very much enjoyed reading it.
I read through quite a bit more and then Stumbled Upon an Asimov essay, The Relativity of Wrong. I love Asimov’s fiction, but I also enjoy reading his nonfiction as well. This one, published in a 1989 issue of The Skeptical Inquirer, I had never seen. In response to a criticism he received regarding another essay, Asimov explains how he sees ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ as fuzzy values rather than absolutes. He uses the refinement of man’s understanding about the shape of the earth to explain. But near the end of the article he has a tie-in to the creationism vs. evolution farce:
Again, it is because the geological formations of the earth change so
slowly and the living things upon it evolve so slowly that it seemed reasonable
at first to suppose that there was no change and that the earth and life
always existed as they do today. If that were so, it would make no difference
whether the earth and life were billions of years old or thousands. Thousands
were easier to grasp.But when careful observation showed that the earth and life were changing
at a rate that was very tiny but not zero, then it became clear that the
earth and life had to be very old. Modern geology came into being, and
so did the notion of biological evolution.If the rate of change were more rapid, geology and evolution would have
reached their modern state in ancient times. It is only because the difference
between the rate of change in a static universe and the rate of change
in an evolutionary one is that between zero and very nearly zero that the
creationists can continue propagating their folly.
Sort of makes you wish evolution had sped up a bit, doesn’t it? If it had, we’d be living in a time free from religious quackery (assuming, of course, that the religious quacks hadn’t gotten us all killed).
Belief in Evolution Leads to Pornography Addicition
Mar 27th
I once spent 9 months in Kentucky. Now, I’m glad I’m far, far away from it.
A new museum is under construction in Boone County, Kentucky. With a price tag of $27 million, it is expected to see 250,000 visitors in its first year. But it is not a museum of art, nor is it a museum of history. It’s a museum of fantasy, fairy tales, and outrageous stupidity. It is designed by fools and morons, intended to turn the youth of America into the fools and morons of the future. Take a look at a few of the things it teaches:
Tyrannosaurus rex was a strict vegetarian, and lived with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
There were dinosaurs of every kind aboard Noah’s ark. Some dinosaurs managed to hang around until just a few hundred years ago. The legend of St. George slaying the dragon? That probably was a dinosaur.
The world was created in six, 24-hour days, some time between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. Humans appeared on Day 6, and they didn’t evolve from anything.
The museum has a planetarium. But its programs, unlike those at other planetariums, will say that the light from the stars we see did not take millions of years to get here.
There also is a reproduction of a portion of the Grand Canyon. The message there is that it was created very quickly, from the waters from Noah’s flood. The fossils in rock layers there and in many other places around the world are of animals that drowned in the flood, the museum says.
Madness. But it gets worse. The senior pastor of a Lexington church, Rev. Bill Henard, had this to say:
“I think people will enjoy … being able to see a different side from what some scientific findings have shown,”
What a brilliant display of ignorance. What “different side” is there to scientific findings? Someone needs to teach the good Reverend that science is based on evidence, not flights of fancy. Might as well make a museum that claims lightning is caused by Thor’s hammer and call it a “different side from what some scientific findings have shown.”
If the idea that dinosaurs boarded Noah’s boat isn’t enough of the other side of science for you, try this one:
There also will be an exhibit suggesting that belief in evolution is
the root of most of modern society’s evils. It shows models of children
leaving a church where the minister believes in evolution. Soon the
girl is on the phone to Planned Parenthood, while the boy cruises the
Internet for pornography sites.
How about that? All of these years we’ve believed that the interest young boys express in pornography was a hormonal thing. How could science have been so wrong? It was belief in evolution causing it all along. Gee, what about all of those god-fearing boys and girls who don’t believe in evolution? Those boys aren’t looking at porn at all, of course. And the girls aren’t having abortions out of fear of what their fathers will say or do. No, not at all.
If you are planning on visiting Kentucky any time soon and are looking for an afternoon of comedy, the Creation Museum should be a good source of it. We all love to laugh at stupidity. Then again, I wouldn’t want to spend any money on admission to such a place. No sense at all in contributing to the ignorance of our children.
Moron of the Week #5
Mar 17th
Finally, someone with a theological career is willing to publicly acknowledge that homosexuality may be proven to be based in biology. Sounds like a wonderful thing, right? Finally, one of those wingnuts is actually getting it. Yeah, well, not so much. While other conservative Christians attacked him for going against the party line, homosexuals were none to happy with him either. Here’s the deal:
The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and one of the country’s evangelical leaders, posted the article on his personal Web siteearlier this month.
Mr. Mohler said in the article that scientific research “points to some level of biological causation” for homosexuality.
That suggestion offended fellow conservatives, Mr. Mohler said. Proof of a biological basis would challenge the belief of many conservative Christians that homosexuality, which they view as sinful, is a matter of choice that can be overcome through prayer and counseling.
But Mr. Mohler said he was criticized even more strongly by supporters of gay rights, who were upset by his assertion that homosexuality would remain a sin even if it were biologically based, and by his support for possible medical treatment that could change an unborn child’s sexual orientation.
I’d be willing to give the guy credit for giving up the idea that people choose their sexual orientation, but then he had to go on with his support for genetic engineering. I suppose that once enough Christians finally get educated in reality, any perceived immorality surrounding genetic engineering will be irrelevant to them as long as they can cull the world of those horribly sinful homosexuals.
So upon the Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr I hereby bestow the honor of Moron of the Week, the fifth person to have earned the honor. Rare indeed is the blessed among us who can manage to piss off his colleagues, homosexuals, and supporters of human rights at the same time. Congratulations, Mr. Mohler, for your one step forward and two steps back. I suppose it goes against nature for Christians to make too much progress — they wouldn’t be conservative anymore if they did.
