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News Gathering vs. Confirmation Bias
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Science
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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: crime
Remember Chain Letters? Hackers Do
Ashwin Seshagiri, New York Times’ Tech Roundup: The victims have a choice […] Pay the hackers a ransom of one bitcoin, a digital currency worth roughly $2,365, in exchange for regaining access to the computer, or try to infect two new people on behalf of the attackers. That sucks.
Also tagged computers, technology
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45 years later, FBI closes books on ‘D.B. Cooper’
The last time anyone saw D.B. Cooper, he parachuted out of a Mexico City-bound airplane with $200,000 in ransom strapped to his body, vanishing over the Pacific Northwest and initiating one of America’s greatest manhunts. Forty-five years later, the FBI is closing the books on this unsolved case.
Also tagged history, law enforcement
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All are equal, but not all are treated equally
Rabbi Shai Held writing at CNN: If you’re white and you don’t believe that white privilege is real, talk to an African-American parent about “the conversation,” in which they teach their children to be cautious and tentative around officers of the law.
Also tagged freedom, government, society
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Stabbing Rampage at PA High School
Another tragic school stabbing.
Also tagged news
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Batkid completes San Francisco mission; hero’s welcome planned
The story of Batkid is unbelievably heart-warming. Bravo, San Franciscans! Coordinated by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Miles’ escapade was complete with donated Lamborghinis that were turned into Batmobiles, a personal call from Police Chief Greg Suhr asking for help, and a live television broadcast kicking off the adventure.
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 government, 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 […]
Also tagged education, government, reason, science, skepticism, tv
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Essential Rules of Gunfighting Everyone Should Know
(You may someday have to apply one or more of these…) 1) Bring a gun; when possible, bring at least two guns, all of your friends that have guns and FOUR TIMES the ammunition you think you could ever need. 2) Guns have only two enemies: rust and inexperience. a) Practice. Practice reloading one-handed and […]
Romney = Akin?
Ok, let’s just recap the events of the last few days. First, Missouri Representative Todd Akin, running for Senate in that state, made statements to the effect that a woman’s body shuts down when she is legitimately raped and that this prevents pregnancy from occurring. These statements are patently false, and are so very far […]
Also tagged constitution, government, health, medicine, politics, reason, religion, science
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MacDonald Murders +42 years
On this day in 1970, the wife and daughters of Army Green Beret physician Jeffrey MacDonald were murdered at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. This is a fascinating, if terribly sad, case. If you’re even slightly into “true crime” you couldn’t pick a better case to read about. And, if you think you know about […]
Also tagged government, history
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