Belief Or Understanding?

[@storytimewithunclekumaran5004]

Critical thinking is my secret weapon.............................. I love the scientist in you.. I find reality soothing... math and the scientific method soothes my mind..

[@rootzero]

Thank you, Fran ♥️

[@mcy1122]

I found insightful your comment that in contrast to the past, there’s a lack of deference to expertise and education in accepting an explanation. As an educator, I encounter confident statements completely untethered to knowledge of a subject. The confidence to question is marvelous -when within the scientific method. Without that, your point is dead on: it becomes a debate about religious beliefs that’s not productive. Thanks for the great content!

[@Paxmax]

"I reject your reality and substitute my own!" -Every Flerf ever.

[@pablogrande8971]

Well said. Thanks Fran.

[@scottthomas3792]

A little investigation goes a long way, sometimes....my grandfather investigated an abandoned " haunted house" . It turns out the " ghost" was an old oven door viewed through a window that was somewhat wavy. On a moonlit night, you could see what looked like a face.... This was something you could easily try yourself. Despite this easy to do demo, a fair number of people in that area considered the house to be haunted...

[@Perfectflight-i3f]

Ovens are people too.

[@mikebarushok5361]

Some of B. F. Skinner's students accidentally set up a group of Skinner boxes cross wired in such a way that the subjects (chickens) received the reward when another chicken pecked the correct lever. Essentially rewarding any random behavior that consumed enough time. Several chickens developed rituals. This explains much superstition. In a world of random reward and punishment, the brain creates a narrative to "explain" the meaning behind the randomness. If the chickens could speak, they could insist that their "independent research" had established empirically that hopping around a circle and pecking on each lever created the food.

[@juanmacias5922]

HAHA I think you hit the nail on the head, the shear misunderstanding of causation vs. correlation along with the Dunning-Kruger effect. xD

[@dunravin]

cool story but that never happened and they used pigeons not chickens

[@retirwdaed]

I love this video. A simple bit of philosophy and a deeper glimpse into you and the channel. Thank you!

[@mikaeleastman5210]

Took the words out of my mouth!This is why I'm a subscriber! Thank you Fran.

[@clintfisher]

Thanks for this! I've coined a phrase of my personal philosophy regarding this: "I believe in Love. Of all else, I have varying degrees of understanding"

[@peterlaycock917]

Thanks

[@FranLab]

Thank You Peter!

[@tedmich]

Great video Fran! Some of my best scientific education came from very well established scientists at the top of their field. One I asked about a specific model he had championed for decades, about recent experiments that called it into question. He was totally at ease " then we'll discard that model" There was no ego, no "turf protection" no combating critics "unto death" just an intense desire to get closer to accurately describing reality. It was a bit unsettling at the time, but wonderfully clarifying in the long run. It was precisely this scientific uncertainty that ENRAGED laymen about Faucci. He was doing science, they wanted certainty.

[@edxr12]

Your explanation of the “vacuum” of space as just being less pressure relative to being on the surface of earth would reminds me of how hot and cold is really a human idea. Relative to the sun, a camp fire is cold. Things either have more heat (energy) or less heat. Also, color red is colder than the color blue but humans relate blue to cold and red to heat. Thanks for the video Fran. :)

[@fxm5715]

Amen.

[@haraldlonn898]

Thank YOU.

[@JohnCarroll-f9s]

I completely agree with you. People have a similar misunderstanding regarding cold as not being a thing. There is only a diminishing quantity of heat energy until 0 deg K. So maybe they should vizualize a vacuum as a diminishing level of pressure. I'm not a scientist but have always loved science and thank you Fran

[@SiteSpecialistsLLC]

I believe you've touched on something my friend refers to as the constant struggle against "confirmation bias" in everything you read or look at or discover.

[@Janokins]

I think the key to scientific thinking is just being able to keep an open mind

[@WolfandCatUnite]

yes

[@KraftyCatMusic]

Yes

[@dougr.2398]

Wrong. It is the ability to make fact based deductions and inferences.

[@Janokins]

@@dougr.2398 So you think scientists should be close minded? :P

[@dougr.2398]

Not worthy of the time refuting it.

[@fburton8]

Such good points, really well articulated. Thank you!

[@joshuamacdonald4913]

So much of what you have said has been on my mind recently. I wish so much to just "run away" as I feel it sort of closing in all around me. My only saving grace is the knowledge that I don't know everything. There are days I question my own intelligence, my perceptions and my observations. But I also want to build a semi exclusive community of for lack of a better term since minded people. Scientists, engineers doctors... It would be a welcome change.

[@KeritechElectronics]

Always keeping Socrates' words in mind: "I know I know nothing."

[@carlosgaspar8447]

or descartes, i think therefore i am.

[@KeritechElectronics]

@@carlosgaspar8447 "If I didn't exist, I wouldn't be able to think."

[@carlosgaspar8447]

@@KeritechElectronics i was thinking the same. what came first, consciousness or intelligence.

[@CathyS_Bx]

The word "believe" is not in my vocabulary. Uncertainty is a lonely but fertile place to be and I feel less lonely today, thanks to your video. "Teach thy tongue to say 'I do not know', and thou shalt progress." And all that.

[@davidxbeats]

same. I stopped using the words "believe" and "beliefs".

[@andre0baskin]

Defining the limits of your knowledge is critical. However this applies to belief systems as well which often contain an element of mystery.

[@Capt.Marco-Hawk-L.L.A.P]

I have a Scientific mind but I've meet many scientists are are close minded and some are very aggressive with it, you need to be open minded to discover new things and understand there are many new things yet to be discovered and you can always learn new or old things. I know there is life in the universe as we are all proof ,to think that we are the only world full of life is crazy. The question should be is life from a different place coming to earth, many would say yes and if yes why and how, well humans love to explorer why wouldn't others (far to many answers for this question). they could be a million years more advanced that us, so traveling across the stars would be like child's play. I've also seen U.A.P's or U.F.O's depending how to want to say it.

[@juanmacias5922]

8:26 I believe that's what's happening, before the "village idiot" was alone, but now as they congregate together in echo chambers, there seemingly are more of them, but in reality, they have always been there, they just might be more emboldened. But, just as the world has as many bad moments going on at the same time, as good moments. I truly believe our experience is molded by our perception, if we stare into the abyss, it will stare back. So I rather look into the future with hope.

[@stevenpeck5949]

"Most people are either average or below average, and the smartest person I know stuck his hand in a running snow blower. If you expect the above average from people, you will be disappointed" from "Don't call me stupid" by Steve Peck

[@sesra5076]

I sometimes wonder if this behavior in people is partly connected to the self-centeredness of people. Ego... 🤔 The "everyone gets a trophy" type of upbringing we have, I would theorize, has an influence on our ability to consider other points of view, or even other information. There is an absurdity to the notion of a flat earth, in such a wealth of evidence to the contrary, that is not just imbecilic, but incredibly egocentric. I would also add, that it seems to me that there was a time in our culture when such kind of stupidity was more openly and harshly shunned. ... of course, then there is that thing you mentioned at the end. Freedom of Broadcasting that we have today, and how we all get a voice to say whatever we want. Excellent video. Thank you Fran.

[@lorensims4846]

My Astronomy professor, the chairman of the department, taught us about black holes, but admitted that he didn't believe such things could be real. Yeah, the math works, but that's just too far. This was in the mid-'70s before we started getting physical evidence that suggested their reality.

[@PeaceJourney...]

Good tangent. I called it my inner elephant's child, reading encyclopedias, dictionary almanacs etc. To just learn something new everyday. It is beyond irritating to have someone's confidence in what they're saying be bigger than the pile of facts that disprove them.

[@hectorpascal]

I think you underestimate the number of people who truly believe that being anti-science and "contrarian" greatly promotes their public image. This is usually because they KNOW they don't have the mental capacity to understand the science and are desperately trying to hide that fact.

[@JuhaLaiho]

Thank you, teacher.

[@amphibiousone7972]

Once in awhile Fran, you amaze me. Peace Profound 💜🙏🫡

[@danielcruz8347]

Affirmative. Absolutely! 👍

[@kevinking8303]

Excellent thoughts, thank you!

[@tollutollu]

i get filled with happiness every time I see fran in my subscription box

[@wade8130]

Yeppers. Thanks, Fran! It's good to be open-minded, but never abdicate your intellect.

[@richardtaylor5904]

I still remain hopeful that now so many people have such easy access to information everyone is getting at least a little smarter every day.

[@MySynthDungeon]

Well said,Fran! Cheers!;-)!

[@whelkshuffler]

it's all very exciting!

[@goofyrulez7914]

People do not think... for instance, they will still say that rockets get propelled by the gas coming out the nozzle, pushing on the air. ????? How does that work in a vacuum? LOL! Rockets work by the gas atoms hitting and bouncing off the front end of the combustion chamber. It's very simply but they will come up with all this "pressure" silliness.

[@petemclinc]

I always thought it was because for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction...

[@goofyrulez7914]

@@petemclinc - Each atom that is moving "forward" hits the top of the combustion chamber and is bounced back, therefor applying thrust. The atoms in any of direction are allowed to escape so as to not apply force in the wrong direction. Newton at work.

[@hoboroadie4623]

☝️ Don't always believe everything that you think.

[@Djoodibooti]

oh?

[@KeritechElectronics]

"I don't necessarily agree with everything I think" --Andrew Eldritch

[@brooklyndrive]

Good explanation of a vacuum

[@cindythorn3212]

Love your channel ❤❤

[@artstrology]

There are more people learning more things than ever before. Who are you ? Where are you ? and What are you doing ?

[@senselessinductor7921]

The internet has taken all the town idiots, and given them their own town online. Now they are able to find greater volume. Now they drown out all intelligence, and teach uncritical beliefs, and outlier quackery BS to the masses. People do not know what they do not know. Teach them a thousand falsehoods, and make them believe them true. And they will not know the truth. They will fight to maintain their false views of the world. Misinformation is a form of authoritarianism.

[@hugohugo37]

So bang on! I think there are a couple of factors. One is that people's perception of "wokeism" on university campuses has led them to reject higher education as a necessary or beneficial thing. While, sure, poly sci departments or sociology departments can be "liberal" in some sense, math, physics, bio, engineering etc are just trying to get to the bottom of things using a rigorous, logical approach for the most part. The fact that some radical professor somewhere made some lefty comment translates to, "No virologist is going to tell ME what to do." The other thing is the rise of the internet. I have my PhD in math and that made me realize how much I DON'T know. High level scientific research is HARD. I can't even understand most math papers because it's a field I haven't studied. I know I don't understand messenger RNA because I haven't spent the years necessary to have the background. But if people don't understand what it takes, if they don't have the concept of spending years on one topic, then they think they can search "Why are vaccines bad", read three opinion pieces and feel like they are at the same level as epidemiologists. The common right wing warning of "do your own research!" is so dangerous. Sorry, Joe Blow doing google searches in NOT the same thing as scientists in the lab. It just isn't. We have to acknowledge that there are people who know more than we do and we have to trust people who know more than we do. We used to respect and honor scientists. Now we live in an idiocracy where "liberal academics" are out to get us and Alex Jones has the truth.

[@ZylonFPV]

Enjoyed this video! I never thought of the people who believe in whacky things are ones who can’t bear to live in a reality where there are unknowns, but that really makes sense.

[@MrsG7swr]

i am so glad i watched this. thank you for the other videos of yours i learned a lot, i also transitioned last year ,,, that bit about rockets wow it is one that does sound logical so i can see why folks fall for it, i like how you described a vacuum really enlightening

[@petertrebing6875]

Danke!

[@goofyrulez7914]

In science, you never "assume". Everything can be checked and re-checked and verified.

[@skippytheaustralian9438]

Isn' math a science There WE have assumptions. Example: 1+1=2

[@goofyrulez7914]

@@skippytheaustralian9438 - That's a good question. I don't know but there are things so fundamental that they are called a "given facts".

[@DustyMagroovy]

Thanks Fran that was very good.

[@sonic2000gr]

People become cynical as they age. They just want to "be right about something" that's different from what others think. That's why they defend irrational things.

[@MrBlueSky2112]

I am a science educator and sometimes it is quite overwhelming trying to explain that techbros and charismatic cult leaders aren’t magical beings with red pills and blue pills that will open some portal to understanding.

[@danharold3087]

While we are learning about the brain we are still in early days. My message is that we can make our brains better but is mostly be ensuring the brain has everything it needs to operate at its best possible cognition. Starting with enough salt and water. I just erased a page of chemicals, nutrients, do's and don't that can help cognition. It included a long list of medicinal mushrooms benefits as described by the NIH. Search for the NIH publication "Medicinal Mushrooms: Bioactive Compounds, Use, and Clinical Trials" I have taught introductory CS at the university level as a visiting profession and at the local HS for several years. You have my admiration for your dedication.

[@pgrvloik]

Unfortunately we're increasingly in the realm of Idiocracy. Kind of modern dark ages, when we yet have the tools to educate people globally.

[@mikegLXIVMM]

"Idiocracy" is a documentary.

[@camilosoveral7294]

Excelente, já dei like!

[@georgespiese7388]

I agree with you, and enjoy watching your videos. I think most people are very delusional.

[@roblloyd1879]

Same here, I lust after knowledge. I have a science and engineering background and an open mind. Sadly I have lost faith in most scientists whose conclusions rely on money or their political masters. One also has to take into account the different types of human mind. So many scientists have a one track mind and will ignore or lie about data that does not support their hypothesis. Bit like a religion really. Then we have the scientists who are career minded and have no choice but to support the latest mantra. Finally we have the true scientist who analyses data and his conclusions are based on the available data but can change at any time as new data comes along. His mind is totally open! Retired so I have the time to research and with 77 years on this planet I have an extensive recent historical knowledge in many areas.

[@paulbyerlee2529]

You have to have an open mind but not so open your brain falls out.

[@tiga31]

"I'm not gonna be different, I'm not going to change" 🥰 that right Fran ! keep our mind curious and busy !! that's the most wonderful thing you give to us ♥

[@robmckennie4203]

It's hard to find an example more apt for the metaphor of explaining water than to a fish than explaining the nature of pressure to a flat earther, particularly because many of them do have the intellect of a fish

[@ZylonFPV]

I’m very interested in your experience of a UAP - what happened? If you mentioned it in a previous video then I must have missed it.

[@thedriver02]

ha wow, so much flat earth stuff popping up recently. When I saw the title I'm like oh what's this another flat earth video? You didn't disappoint! Its actually quite an interesting topic.

[@Davejust451]

When you're getting flac, you know you're over the target. Dave H. HSC of 1984

[@GeoDelGonzo]

Thanks for having coffee with us this morning, Fran! ☕ (😮Moments later: Notices the Korg Chaosolator.. I HAVE ONE IN PINK!! 😁)

[@filepz629]

❤️‍🔥

[@renolyons4339]

dammit FRAN..you're right.

[@IslandHermit]

Looks like you've got tea in that mug. Shouldn't it be absinthe? ;-)

[@TheGreatAtario]

Back when Carl Sagan was fighting the good fight against the forces of irrationality, the big cultural force on that side was horoscopes. They've fallen out of favor (or fashion), seemingly replaced by something that never really was a thing before: flat earth. Used to be the horoscope people just claimed they were doing something meaningful with no real perceived need for evidence. These flat earthers, though, are convinced they _have_ evidence, even though their own experiments keep showing them wrong.

[@chrispomphrett4283]

The dullest minds have no active curiosity. Massive part of the population is like that unfortunately.

[@mr.zafner8295]

You seem like a very interesting person

[@youdontknowme5969]

I get tired of the "I believe in [some wild thing that they really don't understand] therefore I'm just better than you" type.

[@0ii076]

I really wish I knew what you were talking about lol😅 ...

[@wendalwarren6131]

Would love for you to dig into the UAP phenomenon more deeply. There is a ton of literature and credible testimony out there waiting to be analyzed from the scientific method.

[@simon_a5745]

I struggle to blame the people who distrust science when I see the insane number of people with a phd talking about things they barely know about, either because they barely heard about those at uni or because they worked on it like 30 years ago. Those are the people who need to be called out.

[@simon_a5745]

Everyone respond positively to "I know this because of this and that", but nobody do and should accept any statement backed by a Cartman's "respect my authority!" argument.

[@ZylonFPV]

I think we should take all the people who don’t believe in a vacuum up into space and take them for a space walk without a suit. They will surely grasp through concept of a vacuum then, but briefly 😂

[@raktoda707]

Well said People are just plain Goobers

[@smalcolmbrown]

Absofuckinglutely IMNSHO I believe translates to I do not think or I refuse to think.

[@dunravin]

Special relativity seems like a belief system very much like the flat urf belief system just transposed to a higher scale of intelligence.

[@aldntn]

A vacuum might actually exist in some brains.

[@skippytheaustralian9438]

And with one Tube (double-triode) You can make a flip-flop.

[@wimwiddershins]

It's especially difficult to apply logic and rational thought on people who have emotionally founded beliefs, their beliefs were built on emotional experiences not a logical or rational process. Unfortunately, emotions don't solve engineering problems and get us rocket engines, computers, technology...

[@NickNorton]

Flatters are just troublemakers. They seek attention and this is what they like. Now is the time these troublemakers were heavily fined or jailed.

[@ZylonFPV]

Why doesn’t nasa/spaceX round up a bunch of “leading” flat Earthers and take them up into space? Surely that would change a their minds. I’m of course failing to mention the cost.

[@bonaldisillico]

Brava!

[@McTroyd]

The Earth can't be flat. The world's cats would have pushed everything off the edge by now. 🤪

[@edmaster3147]

The believer cannot prove the right, the disbeliever cannot prove the wrong, as far as it concerns religion. We live in a time where sciency seems to be the disbelief which appears to be a belief. Personally I understand that being a human involves being not capable of understanding the universe.

[@hawk6dm7]

I agree with you. I seek objective truth. Some things won't be known or understood in our lifetime. Maybe in the future. With that said, Objective truth is always in a state of flux. We may think we undrstand something, but in the future, we may find out that what we knew is wrong. But then the truth is changed to what we learned.

[@ZylonFPV]

You despair of the comments section sometimes. I wonder if people with whacky views are more prone to leave comments than those who are more grounded and scientific?

[@danirizary6926]

I thought the whole flat earth thing is tongue in cheek, with perhaps only a statistically insignificant number of individuals that kinda believe it.

[@AmandaBrecc]

You're an awesome individual. I'd give ya a shout out but it may not be the attention you desire. LOL. Not a flow goer. I wonder about the guys you speak of here and question the validity of the work. It could be that it is merely for some to get the views, on both sides of the argument. Tag team event. Prolly on the phone discussing how they will work the next bit. Not outside the realm of possibility. It is the nature of this platform or beast. Control both sides of the narrative. I have other things I want to know. Those unknowable things. Beyond physics.

[@abigguitar]

I understand that it can be difficult to grasp abstract concepts, such as the vacuum of space… which can’t be easily explained. For these people, holding an out of place belief can be understood. What cannot be excused or understood is people who choose to willingly ignore what they are seeing and hearing to, instead, strictly believe only the words of proven liars as “gospel.” Anyone who chooses to willingly believe lying liars over provably true visuals definitely has screws loose.

[@alanhall2795]

more science news please

[@skippytheaustralian9438]

The City of Bielefeld does Not exist!

[@thedriver02]

Interesting, I just saw something about this yesterday. Guess I found me another rabbit hole to go explore!

[@skippytheaustralian9438]

@@thedriver02 Yes, world-famos Bielefeld. It's the German aerea 51.

[@mina_loi]

i have yet to encounter a flat erffer that wasn't using biblical rhetoric to support their belief, even tho the most diligent bible thumpers i know irl laugh and scoff at the premise of flat earth theory; my dad specifically was a topographer for the united states military, who went all over the earth, and scaled landscapes for maps that were used by the military until satellites surveillance was operational: _he_ very much believes all other premises that defy logic found in the bible, and will always refute the passages flat erffers use to assert that belief as a misguided, uneducated, and ignorant conclusion.

[@reyluna9332]

Fran, you should move away from there. You can hear police sirens in nearly every video now. It must not be very pleasant or peaceful.

[@FranLab]

That's Philly!