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News Gathering vs. Confirmation Bias
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[S]cience is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.
The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.
— Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (New York: Ballantine Books, 1996) at p.32.
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[S]cience is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.
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Tag Archives: government
“…or you can believe the Senator with the snowball.”
Scientific American’s ’60-Second Science’ podcast for March 2, 2015: Climate Skeptic Senator Burned after Snowball Stunt Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe carried a snowball onto the Senate floor to insinuate that climate change was not real, after which Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse torched Inhofe’s argument. Steve Mirsky reports “You can believe NASA and you can […]
NOVA: Rise of the Drones
NOVA’s “Rise of the Drones.” Amazing and terrifying. Available to stream on Netflix.
Also tagged documentary, politics
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AP: Gay Marriage Ruling Already in Use in Other Cases
Interracial marriage still was illegal in 16 states in 1967 before the high court outlawed race-based state marriage bans. It is rather amazing — and shocking — to read accounts from the 50s and 60s regarding interracial marriage. What’s most shocking is the realization that the arguments used, and used effectively – for decades, by […]
WSJ: NSA Monitoring Includes Three Major Phone Companies, as Well as Online Activity
Honestly, I don’t know why so many people are getting so upset about this. Let me rephrase that: I honestly don’t know why so many people are just now getting so upset about this! Unless you’ve been practicing willful ignorance — for political or other reasons — then you’ve known full well about (or at […]
Also tagged bullshit, opinion, politics, reason, skepticism
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Reason: How Even a ‘Well-Trained Narcotics Detection Dog’ Can Be Wrong 84 Percent of the Time
So even a dog that is very good at finding drugs in a “controlled testing environment” will generate a lot of false positives when sniffing randomly selected cars. Again, forensic “science” (with the exception of DNA) largely isn’t science. The U.S. Extreme Court is WRONG.
Also tagged crime, reason, science, skepticism
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How reliable is the science behind forensic science?
Fascinating PBS: FRONTLINE show from April, “The Real CSI: How reliable is the science behind forensics?” So it turns out that the Forensic sciences (with the notable exception of DNA) are no more “hard science” than Creation “science”, social “science”, or Scientology… Most have no scientific basis at all, and those that do rarely reach […]
The Myth of the Clinton Surplus
There’s no denying that the most robust economy we’ve seen in the last 50 years was under President Clinton, and that both sides of the political aisle take credit for and use the Clinton economy as a yardstick. But, were the Clinton surpluses really surpluses? I came across this interesting article at the Libertarian Party […]
Also tagged budget, national debt, politics, taxes
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Ohio Senate Puts End to ‘Heartbeat’ Abortion Bill
Associated Press: COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The leader of the Ohio Senate put a stop Tuesday to a bill that would have imposed the most stringent restriction on abortions in the nation. The chamber doesn’t plan to vote on the so-called “heartbeat bill” before the end of the legislative session next month, Republican Senate President […]
Also tagged constitution, freedom, health, politics, religion
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Science and Anti-Science in Washington, D.C.
Two recent tweets from Joanne Manaster (@sciencegoddess) which I found particularly interesting: The most pro-science presidents in American history. fb.me/1HwqvhFSB Antiscience Beliefs Jeopardize US Democracy. Great article worth your time by @ShawnOtto at @sciam fb.me/1Q271rMCK Of particular interest to me was being reminded that Ronald Reagan was not anti-science, but was — not completely, but […]
Your vote counts. Your opinion matters.
Danny de Gracia writing at The Washington Times Communities, “Ron Paul and Gary Johnson’s supporters are not a ‘nonfactor’ in this election”: WASHINGTON D.C., October 10, 2012 – America has fallen a long and terrible way from George Washington’s farewell address in which the first U.S. president warned “I have already intimated to you the […]