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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: reason
Roger Ebert: Self-help books are bullshit.
Simple wisdom from Roger Ebert in April 2010: Self-help books are bullshit. Read a good book. That’ll help you. Indeed.
R.I.P. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert, writing in 2011: I do not fear death: I will pass away sooner than most people who read this, but that doesn’t shake my sense of wonder and joy
Also tagged entertainment, history, movies, personal, rip/remembrance
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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, government, 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 crime, education, government, science, skepticism, tv
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AP: 12 things to know about the end of the world?
Cute video. Covers several of the major apocalyptic theories (Talk about “just a theory”!!!), as well as a number of previous (and obviously, incorrect) end-of-days predictions. I truly appreciate that the AP includes in their coverage of the Rapture an important point that most Christians either never knew, or conveniently forget: “The Bible records Jesus […]
Also tagged fear, freethought, history, religion, skepticism
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Steinberg: Mourdock’s mistake is speaking for God
Neil Steinberg, writing at the Chicago Sun-Times, gets it: This flies by some Republicans, and they trip over it. Particularly when it comes to abortion. They are so lost in their own religious belief — that a fetus is a baby, that God is against abortion, contraception, often sex itself — that the idea that […]
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 […]
Also tagged government, politics, science
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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 […]
Also tagged government, opinion, politics
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Let Gary Johnson Debate!
Gary Johnson is polling at 10.6% in the “battleground state” of Ohio. No wonder “the system” is so afraid of letting Gary Johnson debate… Jesse Ventura knows about polling low and winning elections, and he says, “Let Gary Johnson Debate“! When Jesse ran for Governor in 1998, he was polling at 8%… UNTIL he appeared […]
Also tagged government, opinion, politics
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Why I Refuse to Vote for Barack Obama
Conor Friedersdorf writing for The Atlantic: Why I Refuse to Vote for Barack Obama — The case against casting a ballot for the president — even if you think he’s better than Mitt Romney I don’t see how anyone who confronts Obama’s record with clear eyes can enthusiastically support him. I do understand how they […]
Also tagged government, libertarian, opinion, politics
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