Hi kids,
I have no idea if any of you have Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. If you haven't you should. Written about ten years ago Sagan bemoaned the this culture's love for psuedoscience and superstition. Sagan's nightmare is coming true.
As science comes under attack more and more we move farther and farther away from making any real progress in this country. Intelligent design is now a valid alternate lesson plan to teaching evolution in Ohio. Teaching intelligent design is not mandated in Ohio thankfully. Fox can air an hour of psuedoscience about how we never actually went to the Moon and people just sit home and absorb it. Tom Cruise goes clear goofy on the Today show attacking psychiatry and the media sits silent. People still flock to psychics and fortune tellers and read their horoscopes dutifully.
But science is hard. Why should you understand all that mumbo jumbo you say? You don't need to know the atomic weight of gold or the speed of sound at 25,000 feet to use science in your everyday life. What you need to understand is how science solves problems. Science is merely the use of research and experimentation to gather facts. Once those facts are gathered one can draw a conclusion. Now this conclusion might be a fist to the jaw because you were not expecting that particular conclusion. It's ok though. Relax. The truth isn't always as calming or as reassuring as delusion, but it'll be ok. Because if you reach your conclusioon with cold hard facts your arguement is airtight. If you argue from half-truths and superstition, you're on your own.
I bring this up because much like Rufus in the movie Dogma, I would like to see the population have more ideas than beliefs. Believing some things is fine. But when it comes to politics and other social matters you should believe no one. You should demand facts. If you not sure have an idea baout something but please do the research and come to some conclusion. Do not accept the word of the President, Senator, celebrity or me for that matter as dogma. Look where it got us in Iraq.
Until next time.
I have no idea if any of you have Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. If you haven't you should. Written about ten years ago Sagan bemoaned the this culture's love for psuedoscience and superstition. Sagan's nightmare is coming true.
As science comes under attack more and more we move farther and farther away from making any real progress in this country. Intelligent design is now a valid alternate lesson plan to teaching evolution in Ohio. Teaching intelligent design is not mandated in Ohio thankfully. Fox can air an hour of psuedoscience about how we never actually went to the Moon and people just sit home and absorb it. Tom Cruise goes clear goofy on the Today show attacking psychiatry and the media sits silent. People still flock to psychics and fortune tellers and read their horoscopes dutifully.
But science is hard. Why should you understand all that mumbo jumbo you say? You don't need to know the atomic weight of gold or the speed of sound at 25,000 feet to use science in your everyday life. What you need to understand is how science solves problems. Science is merely the use of research and experimentation to gather facts. Once those facts are gathered one can draw a conclusion. Now this conclusion might be a fist to the jaw because you were not expecting that particular conclusion. It's ok though. Relax. The truth isn't always as calming or as reassuring as delusion, but it'll be ok. Because if you reach your conclusioon with cold hard facts your arguement is airtight. If you argue from half-truths and superstition, you're on your own.
I bring this up because much like Rufus in the movie Dogma, I would like to see the population have more ideas than beliefs. Believing some things is fine. But when it comes to politics and other social matters you should believe no one. You should demand facts. If you not sure have an idea baout something but please do the research and come to some conclusion. Do not accept the word of the President, Senator, celebrity or me for that matter as dogma. Look where it got us in Iraq.
Until next time.
posted by Eric at 9:52 AM
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