Nibbles Ninja

Nibbles Ninja

Nibbles & bits from Alan Fahrner

All posts tagged Science

Yes, You Probably Have a Religion

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Nibbles

Note: This post appears to have been stuck in draft mode…not sure when I originally composed it.

The article below is worth a read. Mentally, I think we tie “religion” to systems of belief hinging on the supernatural, but the Merriam-Webster definition shows it is far more inclusive:

Definition of religion

“a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.”

Your “religion” might not be supernatural…nor may it be politics as Leighton Akira Woodhouse discusses below…but I would suggest you almost definitely have a “system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.” Woodhouse discussed how previously politics brought people together in compromise, but the religion of politics does just the opposite.

Final comment (of my own): Worldviews that accept the supernatural are just as worthy of being in the public square as those that reject it. Let each make its case for each issue at hand and trust people to make a decision. Blind dogmatism and ideology are the issue, not a belief in there being more than what our five senses can measure.

”Trust in science” is a religious statement, not a scientific one. True science doesn’t trust anything. 🙂

Fanatics
Politics has become a religion.

P.S. Lest it come off otherwise, I trust science (or, rather, the scientific method), since it fully recognizes its limitations and encourages questioning, refining, etc. What I don’t trust are scientists, who are no more perfect than the rest of us humans.

Tiktaalik

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Nibbles

Although a lot of the article was “could be’s” masquerading as facts, it was interesting nevertheless:

NYT article

Started Out as a Fish. How Did It End Up Like This?
A meme about the transitional fossil Tiktaalik argues that although we did come out of the sea, we aren’t doing just fine.

And here is an example of a Tiktaalik-inspired meme:

Meme
From knowyourmeme.com

Inconvenient Truth

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Nibbles

Since I am poking the accepted narrative in the eye today :-), how about this about global warming?:

Nearly 140 Scientific Papers Detail The Minuscule Effect CO2 Has On Earth’s Temperature
As of 2016 this list had only 50 papers on it (as indicated by the web address). In less than 6 years the list has grown to 137 (as of today).

As I said in my post just before this one, we are not following the science.

Adding to it this time…

We are not following the science, we are following ideology.

What If God Is Messing with Them?

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Nibbles

When I read this article:

Is the Great Neutrino Puzzle Pointing to Multiple Missing Particles? | Quanta Magazine
Years of conflicting neutrino measurements have led physicists to propose a “dark sector” of invisible particles — one that could simultaneously explain dark matter, the puzzling expansion of the universe, and other mysteries.

 

Which discusses how neutrinos just don’t want to behave the way we expect :-), I had a humorous thought:

What if God is thinkin’, “So, you think you are so smart you can figure out anything, try this!” (and then he makes a bunch of neutrinos disappear).

No, I don’t honestly think God is messing with scientific experiments…but considering how arrogant we humans can be with our finite knowledge, it’s a funny idea…and would be justice at some level. 🙂

There is a great line from professor Janet Conrad in the post:

I want nature to talk to me; I don’t want to tell nature what to do.

Although Conrad might disagree with where I would take that, it aligns with my view that true science follows the evidence wherever it leads; it does not presuppose any preconditions or limitations. (For instance, that there is no supernatural.)

The linked article isn’t a short read, but well worth your time. I cannot help but wonder if the issue with unexpected nuetrino behavior is because we cannot prevent interference with certain quantum measurements. I get a sense of scientists flailing a bit to explain what’s up, and appreciate that there are those trying to keep imaginations in line:

The challenge now is how to access the hypothetical dark sector given that it’s, well, dark. Inventing undetectable particles, Pauli advised, is something no theorist should do.

“Inventing undetectable particles” does seem a “wave of the hand” appeal to magic, eh? 🙂

What if It Is not There?

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Nibbles

What is it is not there, because God created everything His way?

A key part of the Big Bang remains troublingly elusive
Physicists still don’t understand what happened in the instant after the Big Bang and a leading theory continues to be called into question.

P.S. BTW, I don’t see the Big Bang at odds with a traditional Christian view of creation.

Leaving Room for Doubt

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Quotes
Book cover
Image from Amazon.com

I was listening to a Richard Feynman audio book on the drive to Goodland, Kansas today, and this gem came over the speakers:

I would now like to turn to a third value that science has. It is a little more indirect, but not much. The scientist has a lot of experience with ignorance and doubt and uncertainty, and this experience is of very great importance, I think. When a scientist doesn’t know the answer to a problem, he is ignorant. When he has a hunch as to what the result is, he is uncertain. And when he is pretty darn sure of what the result is going to be, he is in some doubt. We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress we must recognize the ignorance and leave room for doubt. Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty–some most unsure, some nearly sure, none absolutely certain.

That description should help you distinguish between someone applying a scientific approach versus a political or totalitarian one.

Bonus: I enjoyed this earlier quote too:

I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy–and when he talks about a nonscientific matter, he will sound as naive as anyone untrained in the matter.

Think about it. It is far more applicable than just with scientists…

 

Whiny Baby

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Nibbles

Maybe some of Amazon’s complaints against SpaceX are legit, but they sure seem like a whiny baby:

Amazon slams SpaceX, tells FCC that Musk-led companies are rule-breakers
SpaceX insults competitors and acts like “rules are for other people,” Amazon says.

My question for Amazon: What is SpaceX doing that is preventing you from launching your satellites?

Creationism is White Supremacy?

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Nibbles1 Reply

Given this article, I am more scientific than Scientific American:

Denial of Evolution Is a Form of White Supremacy
As museums reopen let’s introduce ourselves, and our children, to the original Black ancestors of all human beings

Allison Hopper damns creationism. It’s not that people have an honest, religious belief. Instead…

I want to unmask the lie that evolution denial is about religion and recognize that at its core, it is a form of white supremacy that perpetuates segregation and violence against Black bodies.

At it’s core, Christian religion is about Jesus, nothing more, nothing less.

Later, the author writes:
Read More

One Wise Fellow

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Nibbles

ZUBY’s thread is worth reading:

Hat tip: Not the Bee

P.S. This is a good reminder that we are all human:

And that just ‘cause we aren’t that way, that doesn’t mean we should discount how evil our leaders might be:

Et tu LinkedIn?

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Nibbles1 Reply

Update: Kudos to LinkedIn for reinstating Dr. Malone’s account. Also, my son’s reaction to the second shot turned severe.

Original post:

I post this as my 13 year-old is dealing with, luckily, a relatively minor reaction to his second Pfizer shot yesterday:

Big Tech cracks down on Robert Malone, mRNA vaccine pioneer who warns about their risks
“To censor and silence scientists under such circumstances can lead to many unnecessary deaths,” says previously censored Harvard Med professor Martin Kulldorff.

LinkedIn zapped Dr. Malone’s personal account without explanation.

Since they have not explained, there is no way to know for sure, but it’s likely because he thinks that right now the risk/benefit ratio for children isn’t there and said so on the platform. What is ridiculous about the push-back he’s been getting is that he was the inventor of mRNA vaccines (or, at least, significantly involved in their invention).

There are real-world consequences to stifling the conversation.

“Open debate is especially important during a public health emergency when many important public health question[s] do not yet have a known answer,” [Harvard Medical School epidemiologist] Kulldorff wrote in an email. “To censor and silence scientists under such circumstances can lead to many unnecessary deaths,” which is why LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube should “restore all suspended accounts.”

If you think Dr. Malone is wrong, prove it, but without falling to the argumentum ab auctoritate (appeal to authority) logical fallacy. (E.g. using “consensus” or “the CDC says” would be appeals to authority.)

Final note: My wife and I weighed the pros and cons of my son getting vaccinated, and felt it was worth it. Trying to prevent us, however, from having all the information available for that decision is, frankly, evil.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Hmmm…

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Nibbles

I’m interested in people’s thoughts about this discussion of studies that were the genesis of microaggression discussions:

How ‘Experts’ Abused Science to Saddle America with the Microaggression Mania — The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
The need to combat “microaggressions” has recently saturated America. In higher education, business, and government, programs and policies have been implemented to deal with a supposed problem that almost no one recognized until a few years ago. Microaggressions are statements by non-minority indivi…

Please base your responses on the article’s merits, not whether you believe microagressions exist, are harmful, etc. I don’t think the post is attempting to argue one way or the another about that.

The scientific method is important to defend.

Aliens?

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Nibbles

Aliens?

Probably not…

I study UFOs – and I don’t believe the alien hype. Here’s why | Mick West
This month the Pentagon will release its much-awaited UFO report. Extraterrestrial buffs think they’ll be vindicated - but they’ve gotten a bit ahead of themselves

 

Scientists Are Human Too

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Nibbles

This tweet is a good reminder…

…that scientists are human too.

And if you argue that somehow the scientific method is “self-healing,” thus impervious to a systemic level of corruption, you are creating a new priestly class, ignoring the impact of outside influences, and ignoring the obvious lessons of the evidence otherwise.

“Science” (or the scientific method) itself may be “pure,” but its practitioners are not. “Christianity,” I would argue, itself is “pure.” But, how long did it take for children abused by priests (its practitioners) to get some modicum of justice? Did Christianity’s purity result in self-healing, or was protecting those evildoers institutionalized? Would anything significant have happened if outside forces hadn’t pushed the Catholic Church, ultimately in court?

You cannot tell me that a system whose practitioners often deny God is somehow more immune to humankind’s evil than one that supposedly was based on listening to a loving, Absolute Moral Authority.

Especially when current “science” appears to embrace one of the most effective corrupting forces ever created by mankind:

Politics.

Update:

Leighton Akira Woodhouse’s article, which I just found, is more eloquent and comprehensive than mine:

The New Clerisy
Faith in science is an oxymoron.

A small excerpt:

“I believe in science” has come to mean, “I do not question expert authority,” which is as antithetical to the scientific spirit as you can get. The more gravely the line is intoned, the more Orwellian it becomes.

Okay, now a longer one… 🙂

The scientific establishment, like the political establishment, is a human institution. It’s not an impartial supercomputer, or a transcendent consciousness. It’s a bunch of people subject to the same incentives and disincentives the rest of us are subject to: economic self-interest, careerism, pride and vanity, the thirst for power, fame and influence, embarrassment at admitting mistakes, intellectual laziness, inertia, and ad-hoc ethical rationalization, as well as altruism, moral purpose, and heroic inspiration. Scientific experts deserve the respect due to them by dint of their education and experience, and they deserve the skepticism due to them by dint of their existence as imperfect actors functioning in complicated and deeply flawed human networks and organizations. If you “believe in science,” you don’t bow to their authority.

“Review: Most human origins stories are not compatible with known fossils”

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Nibbles
Review: Most human origins stories are not compatible with known fossils
In the 150 years since Charles Darwin speculated that humans originated in Africa, the number of species in the human family tree has exploded, but so has the level of dispute concerning early human evolution. A new review looks at the major discoveries in hominin origins since Darwin’s works and ar…

Sweet!

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Nibbles
Farm Robot Zaps Weeds With High-Powered Lasers, Eliminates Need For Toxic Herbicides
“AI and deep learning technology are creating efficiencies across a variety of industries, and we’re excited to apply it to agriculture.”

“CU Professor says much of climate research ‘untethered from the real world’; cites misuse of scenarios”

Posted on Author AlanPosted in Nibbles

Please note that she is not saying there isn’t climate change, global warming, etc. Instead, it is a call to scientific rigor, even if you conclusion is correct regardless.

CU Professor says much of climate research ‘untethered from the real world’; cites misuse of scenarios
”Evidence is now undeniable that the basis for a significant amount of research has become untethered from the real world.”-- Roger Pielke Jr.