December 24, 2003
The Importance of Science
Posted by tomo at 02:58 AM in science . | 4 Comments
Fantastic article about the importance to democracy of a scientificly literate population. In a system where each individual basically holds the same amount of power (well, most of us) to make decisions in courts as juries and in politics as voters an uninformed or misled majority undermines society as a whole. Unless we do something drastic such as weight that individual power based on some measure such that education directly leads to more representation we have to just try to educate everybody or at least enough of us. Bad legislation comes from an uninformed, ignorant, and easily misled majority and the politicians they choose to represent them.
Science helps us to be free of gross superstition and gross injustice.
A recent Eurobarometer poll revealed that 60% of Europeans believe that ordinary tomatoes do not contain genes while genetically engineered tomatoes do, while 50% believe that eating genetically modified fruit can cause a person's genes to become modified.
Comments
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Science is important. Someone should tell Charles K. Johnson. He thinks the Earth is flat. Posted by: villageidiot at December 25, 2003 1:43 AM |
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Johnson's beliefs are firmly grounded in the Bible. Many verses of the Old Testament imply that the earth is flat, but there's more to it than that. According to the New Testament, Jesus ascended up into heaven. "The whole point of the Copernican theory is to get rid of Jesus by saying there is no up and no down," declares Johnson. "The spinning ball thing just makes the whole Bible a big joke." This reminds me of the religious playground that the Grand Canyon is turning into. "Grand Canyon: A Different View, for sale in park bookstores and museums. The book, written by Tom Vail, claims that the Grand Canyon is really only a few thousand years old, developing on a biblical rather than an evolutionary time scale." They are selling this there. Right next to books based on facts and logic. What kind of bullshit are our government's park service supporting? [news] Posted by: agent1073 at December 26, 2003 6:44 PM |
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religious playgroud that the Grand Canyon is turning into? Why don't you try opening your mind...buy a copy of the book, take a river trip and try to think beyond the THEORY of Evolution, that is presented as fact, and has taken over our schools and contributes to the Post-Modern Worldview. Isn't it interesting how this one small book can cause such a reaction in the scientific, athiestic community?? Posted by: Anonymous at January 7, 2004 12:27 AM |
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Theories are theories because they've been formulated from logic and have stood up to the test of time. All of our mathematical and physical systems are theories, but they are no less applicable. Theory is just the term we use. The theory of evolution gets no special treatment in our schools. It's exactly there where it belongs, right beside our theories of numbers and chemistry and rocks and plant life and gravity and so on. What's this crap about the "Post-Modern Worldview" conspiracy? The reason that book has caused controversy is because it's bullshit and, like other fanciful Creationist tales, doesn't belong next to ideas that have been backed with logic and science. Posted by: agent1073 at January 7, 2004 2:19 AM |