Will America’s disregard for science be the end of its reign? | Big Think

Will America’s disregard for science be the end of its reign?
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From America's inception, there has always been a rebellious, anti-establishment mentality. That way of thinking has become more reckless now that the entire world is interconnected and there are added layers of verification (or repudiation) of facts.
As the great minds in this video can attest, there are systems and mechanisms in place to discern between opinion and truth. By making conscious efforts to undermine and ignore those systems at every turn (climate change, conspiracy theories, coronavirus, politics, etc.), America has compromised its position of power and effectively stunted its own growth.
A part of the problem, according to writer and radio host Kurt Andersen, is a new media infrastructure that allows for false opinions to persist and spread to others. Is it the beginning of the end of the American empire?
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TRANSCRIPT:
KURT ANDERSEN: Americans have always been magical thinkers and passionate believers in the untrue. We were started by the Puritans in New England who wanted to create, and did create, a Christian utopia and theocracy as they waited for the imminent second coming of Christ and the end of days. And in the South by a bunch of people who were convinced, absolutely convinced, that this place they'd never been was full of gold just to be plucked from the dirt in Virginia. And they stayed there looking and hoping for gold for 20 years before they finally, finally faced the facts and the evidence and decided that they weren't going to get rich overnight there.
So that was the beginning. And then we've had centuries of 'buyer beware' charlatanism to an extreme degree and medical quackery to an extreme degree, and increasingly exotic, extravagant, implausible religions over and over again from Mormonism, to Christian science, to Scientology in the last century. And we've had this anti-establishment, "I'm not going to trust the experts. I'm not going to trust the elite," in our character from the beginning. Now, all those things came together and were supercharged in the 1960s when you were entitled to your own truth and your own reality. Then, a generation later when the internet came along, giving each of those realities, no matter how false or magical or nutty they are, their own kind of media infrastructure.
We had entertainment, again, for our whole last couple 100 years, but especially in the last 50 years, permeating all the rest of life, including presidential politics, from John F. Kennedy through Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton. So, the thing was set up for Donald Trump to exploit all these various American threads and astonishingly become president. But then you look at this history and it's like, "Oh, we should've seen this coming."
TYSON: The power of journalism: A mistake becomes truth. The print journalism is taking what I said and turning it into an article, so it has to pass through the journalist, get processed, and then it becomes some written content on a page. One hundred percent of those experiences, the journalist got something fundamentally wrong with the subject matter. And just as an interesting point about the power of journalists, I had people read the article and say, "Neil, you must know better than that. That's not how this works." They assumed the journalist was correct about reporting what I said, not that I was correct and that the journalists was wrong. This is an interesting power that journalists have over whether you think what they're writing is true or not. That was decades ago. In recent years, what I think has happened is that they're more journalists who are science fluent that are writing about science than was the case 20 years ago. So now I don't have to worry about the journalist missing something fundamental about what I'm trying...
Read the full transcript at bigthink.com/videos/anti-scie...

[@bigthink]

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[@Dominancelogistics]

You should not have “tackled” this one. Science uses a snapshot to push a narrative. It’s pathetic that people can monetize a scientific narrative. Just because they have a PhD at the end of their names.

[@sandralaganworth7614]

Since when is Bill nye a legit science guy?

[@fourorthree2]

George Soros, Chinese Communist Party, Big Tech, Big Pharma, IMF, UN

[@fourorthree2]

@@Dominancelogistics exactly!!

[@fourorthree2]

@@sandralaganworth7614 Since he wears a bow tie and looks like a scientist :)

[@bipqrslef]

We pay lawyers more than teachers. This indicates to me that we value the ability to bend the truth more than the ability to pass it on.

[@soggycereal8626]

Very good way to put it.

[@incasolja1]

Just being a stickler for things teachers and public attorneys are paid by taxpayers and both are paid poorly. The lawyers youre referring to are private lawyers with partnered law firms and we dont pay those lawyers as a society. Still like youre end point analogy though

[@billlawrence1899]

What in ever loving hell makes you think teachers are in the business of passing along "truth"?

[@travcollier]

The British Common Law the US and quite a few other places inherited is actually related to science at a fairly deep level. Both are "disputation areas" (as David Brin puts it) where arguments made following some particular rules are used to determine correct vs incorrect. Both build heavily on precedent, but have mechanisms for overturning precedent. Unfortunately, the way law is setup, "right" ultimately comes down to the argument which convinces a relatively few random people. With science, an experiment can disprove anything... Objective reality gets the final word.

[@soggycereal8626]

@@billlawrence1899 Teachers are responsible for making sure our children get educated. The truth, from what the main commenter was referring to, is the basic ideologies we want to see in citizens.

[@wabio]

“It's hard to win an argument with a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person.”

[@funkster2009]

unless the stupid person brings out their guns to shoot anyone they dont understand lol. Thats what we are up against...

[@c.i.a.932]

*Groups of Conspiracy theorists who believe the government is against science

[@inorite4553]

They are all really good at moving the goal post

[@alpineglow8848]

Never argue with an Idiot. They'll just wear you down, then beat you with experience!"..

[@sdwone]

@@alpineglow8848 I always try and get into interesting debates when I can, even if we end up agreeing to disagree. But I have noticed more and more that, online, this is a rare thing! And now, rather than get flustered and angry when arguing with retards, I default to sending emojis instead... Hoping that maybe the pretty little pictures might cut through the BS. Stupidity is like the Borg Collective! You just go along with the Hive Mind mentality because thinking for yourself is too bloody hard!

[@rabbit251]

I'm an American who has lived in Japan for the last 20 years. Japan is a country that believes in the science and so it is difficult to belief what America has become. I no longer talk to my family in the US anymore. Their logic is not that we can agree to disagree, their logic is that they should have freedom to say what they want regardless of how wrong it is and not be corrected. Basically, they can say what they want and I can't. My freedom of speech infringes on their freedom of speech. My brother literally told me that I had to decide if I wanted to be part of the family or not. It was an easy decision.

[@enderawesome4521]

F

[@JustnCase]

I’m half Japanese 😂 made in Japan but delivered in America! 10 public schools in 12 years😂 I believe that I fell through the looking glass! 😅 my country wants to make biracial illegal again! Half can stay yay 😢but half has to go back to china? Mom was Japanese? ID10t error 😮

[@dr.jamesolack8504]

I know what you mean, Dee.

[@forrestlee6435]

are you talking about America or Communism China under cultural revolution?

[@timschultz1928]

@@forrestlee6435 oh he’s talking about America… I’m in Florida and certainly can’t speak my mind because most around here get offended and deny my expression… of course it has nothing to do with free speech.. most don’t even understand what free speech is about it’s become so twisted

[@will9001asd]

Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Those who learn from history are doomed to watch in horror as others repeat it.

[@jstnsmutek]

Stupidity is no longer looked down upon it's just seen as a different way of thinking

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

"differently abled"

[@michaelcollins7192]

Alternative facts

[@007liammurphy]

Alternative thinking

[@jstnsmutek]

@@z.t.500 I think the left is a different issue. I believe that is more of common sense not entering the equation

[@jamesmurphy9105]

You wonder why China and the Soviet Union had Re- Education

[@michaelcristel3060]

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” - Isaac Asimov (1980)

[@NebraskaGonvilleJones]

I have cited this quote many times. The only responses usually are bots and bad faith pundents. It is amazing it’s from 40 years ago it just keeps growing into its own truth

[@unadultratedtrini]

Controlling knowledge and understanding gives the persons in control greater control over population. This is seen in despot rulers and is highlighted a tonne in assassins creed. The video game.

[@JohnusSmittinis]

Tocquiville’s “Democracy in America” expands on this point.

[@evilparadigm]

The 80s also happens to be when Exon Mobile decided to ignore the finding of their decades of ice cores and climate data, and instead fund a massive disinformation campaign against climate change and science.

[@brucefrykman8295]

*RE: “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” - Isaac Asimov (1980)* You endorse the concept that government is the fountainhead of knowledge in spite of what you see in front of your own eyes?

[@Alister222222]

This has to be viewed as a quirk of culture combined with a related failure in education. I live in New Zealand, which has plenty of its own problems, but is nothing like the US. I work in education. A colleague of mine who was from California was utterly confused when I said that you couldn't opt kids out of science education in New Zealand. She had lived here for many years (and has two kids here) but she just wouldn't believe it was true. We eventually worked out that science education in New Zealand is a mandatory part of the curriculum; it requires you learn science. As a teacher I can (and in fact kind of have to) say to kids 'climate change is real and human-caused'. Or 'vaccines protect you'. Simple as that. I can't have parents come to me and complain that it contradicts their magical thinking, because if it's science, it's science. America needs that level of shift in their education at the barest minimum if they are going to address this problem, and it will sadly probably not even shift things in the country for decades as the older generations of magical-thinkers have to die off. It is scary as hell to think that the most powerful country on Earth is also the (among) most deluded.

[@zerrorogue]

Once upon a time, they used to be THE most powerful country on Earth. Now, can pretty much consider them 2nd or on its way to becoming a 3rd world country. Nearly every aspect of life there is down the drain. From the very Top to the lowest of Bottoms, its only a matter of time before another Civil War breaks out, or something else that finally breaks the camel's back. And when that happens, the Whole World will either be poorly effected or will rejoice that a country who has destroyed humanity and life on planet Earth is finally dead and gone. Just hope we, the ordinary citizens can get through the harsh times that is to come.

[@brucefrykman8295]

When I was in school in the 50s and 60s general science was part of the standard curriculum for ages 11-13. Thats enough for many. I took biology, physics and chemistry as electives. While biology was primarily rote memorization physics and chemistry required far better than average IQ with a very good mathematics background in order to compete. Unless you are going into STEM fields there is no point in teaching kids with average intelligence to take chemistry or physics. If properly taught it would only drag the rest of the class down. The issue is one of problem solving. That is to take a word problem, organize the knowns and the unknowns, and then organize a path to a solution by using known formulas and equations and then modifying them to suit the current problem, often involving meta state solutions to finally arrive at the requested answer. Maybe 5% to 10% of students can pull this off. The rest simply bluff and get by with passing grades meaning they learned next to nothing. The most powerful nation on Earth was one raised on risk taking and tossing the books away. Much of what is called science today is junk indoctrination (global climate change needing to be "solved" being such an example) Any science suffixed by "science" or "studies: falls into this category. (social science, environmental science, women's studies etc) Americans (using Nazi rocket-men) put Americans on the Moon with sliderules, not computers. Today NASA could not do it and in one sense they never did; they instead relied solely on private contractors to build all the pieces of the kit using their own methods of doing so. In a real sense the moon shot was just complex engineering, not science. The science pieces had been worked out by Kepler, Newton, et al. In the end, the US will remain innovators possibly because of our terrible public education, not in spite of it. New Zealand will continue to give us bargain butter and lamb chops no matter how well educated you are.

[@ErutaniaRose]

The biggest reason it won't happen is that science has been politicized and teachers are not allowed to be political or they threaten to lose their jobs--which is ironic given the amount of nationalism in the curriculum.

[@brucefrykman8295]

@@ErutaniaRose *RE: "The biggest reason it won't happen is that science has been politicized"* If you don't want science politicized, then get the government out of the science business, the way it used to be before the tax man began raping the productive class. Don't you remember Ike's famous farewell address where he warned us all of the unwarranted influence of the government science complex? *RE: "teachers are not allowed to be political or they threaten to lose their jobs"* And rightly so, should I collect your money to foist my ideology on you or your kids? If you want to peddle ideology get off the public payroll. Do you have anything other than your opinions to offer? *RE: "which is ironic given the amount of nationalism in the curriculum."* If we are not a nation, can I send my tax payments into the UAE or Bermuda instead? (They have no income taxes) You pedagogues don't have much contact with the thinking world do you?

[@MH-be6hr]

Won't work cuz the Christians and other magical thinkers indoctrinate their kids at home, often home schooling them, and at church! 🤔🙄😒💔🇺🇸

[@kenmacleod7225]

I once read a book called 'Anti-Intellectualism in American Life". It's a hell of a good read that lays the situation out pretty clearly. Though it was written in the early 1960s, it holds up well. Just about everything he wrote about can be found in everyday life today.

[@justinratcliffe947]

The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan is a great one too

[@TheRecklessMetalhead]

What about "The Age of American Unreason in a Culture of Lies" by Susan Jacoby?

[@brucefrykman8295]

The height of anti-intellectualism is expressed in people who demand others "believe in" something or another. This is not a uniquely held American characteristic. We do suffer from an appalling government sponsored educational system spreading ignorance far and wide which wasn't always the case.

[@TheFlutecart]

"How to spot bullshit" should be a middle school class required in the USA. Commercialism oozes the stuff.

[@my2cents49]

The USA isn't the only country with a commercialism problem.

[@qjtvaddict]

@@my2cents49 it has the worst one

[@0IIIIII]

Commercialism? Commercialism spreads fake news? Maybe on the right wing,

[@j.f.fisher5318]

Except 1/3 of the country would insist that how you spot bullshit is if facts are used in communication.

[@colleenclement474]

It's called don't automatically believe sources that don't have an accurate bibliography

[@Dan-ud8hz]

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” ― Isaac Asimov “It is necessary to take what is common as our guide; however, though this logic is universal, the many live as if each individual has his own private wisdom.” ― Heraclitus, Fragments

[@Dominancelogistics]

Do realize that you do not live within a democracy. Benjamin Franklin summed up democracy in a perfect way.

[@Dan-ud8hz]

@@Dominancelogistics The US is a usurped democracy

[@DonnieDarko1]

🙁 ❤

[@AlexBrown230]

True knowledge is ackowledging you know nothing.

[@fourorthree2]

Democracy is a two-way street, Isaac!

[@beausheffield1895]

It's sad that the only people this will reach are those who already believed in Science and understand the peril that we find ourselves in.

[@NCR-RANGER-223]

You believe in theories, that's all you believe in is a theory, and you can't question your belief because your just as ignorant as the people you call ignorant, saying trust the science is like saying don't question it.

[@debra1363]

Yeah,you can't reach the folks in la-la land with logic.I've tried and it's hopeless.

[@dedhampster4730]

The part about analyzing literature got me. I only have a BA in english, but consumption and contemplating of literature, fiction and nonfiction, is a significant hobby of mine. I think the problem is deeper than just the post modern way of coming to personal conclusions about a text. I think it is a illogical rise in individualism thinking and a lack of empathy in thought. In the early 00s a few of my college lit classes ignored the historical or the author's biographic context and instead focused on only how the work impacted each student. Most students couldnt see farther than their own personal experiences. And this way of thonking has permeated in our current politics and sciences.

[@DNX3M]

Use personal experience to describe how people over rely on personal experience. Subject is infected and starting to show symptoms.

[@cpt191021]

@@DNX3M

[@ContentMadame]

@@DNX3M 🤣 Well played!

[@fastemil123]

@@DNX3MYea well your reading comprehension is lacking, he’s saying there seems to be a egoistic attitude, without appreciation for an expanded concept of experience informed by others experience. How else is he going to observe this than through his experience anyways?

[@phild8095]

It isn't just science that is disregarded, it is politeness, knowing history, even the concept of "bettering oneself" is now anathema to the popular culture.

[@phillipjordan3013]

Yes agreed. I'm 44 and I was working a job with a dude that is 27. When I told that I liked to read books he seriously was appalled and told me I was stupid. Just one small example

[@BAVidmar17]

People lash out at what they don’t feel comfortable with. Most people now have issues with being wrong. This causes people to defend the indefensible because the alternative is uncomfortable

[@Gingersnaps_the_pumpkin_kitty]

@@phillipjordan3013 okay we have people who think the world is flat, that covid is a myth, and that nobody but them should have basic human rights therefore nobody else is worthy of respect. *And THIS is your big moment?? Something that has most definitely happened before now??*

[@JoaoSoares-rs6ec]

Agreed

[@kimobrien.]

@@JoaoSoares-rs6ecLiberals have been lying though their teeth about capitalism and now you wonder why you have the problems you do.

[@lynnjacobs9885]

"People [Americans] don't want to give up their cherished beliefs that they find comforting." That pretty much sums up the main reason for the dilemma we find ourselves in.

[@rfresa]

It's interesting to me because my parents are scientists and Christians who have somehow found this balance in their minds where both can be true. My brother and sister and I have all left the church we grew up in and see it as a comforting fantasy that we've outgrown, like Santa Claus. Fortunately, our parents still love and accept us, and don't pressure us to go to church, and we're willing to do things like say grace at family meals, just as a family tradition, like we still celebrate Christmas because it's fun.

[@lynnjacobs9885]

@@rfresa Yes, very interesting how people can hold two vastly different, opposing sets of beliefs at the same time -- and seemingly somehow actually believe both. I have a friend who's both an astronomer who loves science and a fundamentalist Christian. He can't coherently explain how both can be true at once, but he sure seems to believe them both. My mother (especially), my three siblings, and I all spent our formative years as Christian believers, but for the past few to several decades have been atheists.

[@grahvis]

Is that why I wonder, that Prager U, claims atheists should teach their children about God, in other words lie, because it will comfort them when things are not good in their life. They ignore the fact that the least religious countries have the happiest populations.

[@ArachniusWebb]

Exactly, people keep screaming and crying about racist voter ID but don't realize that you need an ID to get a vaccine. African Americans aren't very likely to get the vaccine. So laws forcing people to get the vaccine or lose a lot of rights are the modern equivalent of Jim Crow. If voter ID is racist, it's racist to require ID for vaccination card, and it's racist to ask those people (who apparently can't get IDs) for their papers to make sure they made a personal medical decision

[@rfresa]

@@ArachniusWebb Actually, you don't need ID to get vaccinated. It's supposed to be free to everyone regardless of immigration status. While most vaccination sites will ask for ID and insurance information, they are supposed to still administer the vaccine without them. Still, there are isolated incidents where staff members have disobeyed the official policy. If you know of someone being denied the vaccine because they don't have ID, don't have insurance, or are being charged for the vaccine, tell them to be persistent and speak up about it.

[@newt702]

This has been my thought for years. We need better science education. Science is such an amazing tool to understand, it serves u so well to be able to think like a scientist! Seeing our country right now is insane. :( 🇺🇲

[@robertt9342]

Actually I think you need better teaching of critical thinking and combine that with putting a social importance on becoming educated, especially in science.

[@dudono1744]

How does one teach critical thinking ?

[@AnnoyingAllie3]

@@robertt9342 I'm a junior in high school, :/ it's not by any means perfect, but I've realized how the teachers all attempt to teach critical thinking, and I'm in a rural area

[@brucefrykman8295]

@@dudono1744 *RE: "How does one teach critical thinking ?*" it cannot be taught, if it were it would be called indoctrination. Critical thinking skills are learned (not taught) and they all involve problem solving abilities of all kinds, not only in the realm of science and engineering but also in the realm of human interactions, art, crime and punishment etc.

[@brucefrykman8295]

@@AnnoyingAllie3 It's like birds asking crocodiles how to fly.

[@ChrisCooper312]

I think the Millennium Bug was the event that showed where the big problems were. It had everything. Experts saw a real issue that was approaching and suggested how it could be stopped. The media jumped on it and turned it into a much bigger issue than in was (planes falling out the sky, nuclear meltdowns etc). Industry jumped on it as a way to make money, either selling solutions or wanting extra money to implement solutions to a problem that either wasn't there or wasn't as bad as made out. The majority of critical fixes were implemented through, and there were few problems. In the aftermath of the expected literal and figurative meltdowns that didn't happen, the small problems that did occur went largely unnoticed. People then began to blame the experts for worrying people and costing money for a problem that wasn't there, when the reality was the experts were right and have saved the world from big (but not as big as the media made out) problems. In particular those who stoked fears to take advantage of them (including selling newspapers) were quick to deflect blame onto others.

[@grahamprice3998]

Too True I was a communications tech at the time and spent 6 months upgrading firmware, eproms and software so that nobody would notice a thing, Now if someone says it was all fake they are in for a lecture.

[@BadgerCheese94]

I been into science since I was a little kid in the late '90s... and you can thank shows like Magic School Bus and Blues Clues for that... and its disheartening to me now over 20 years later as an adult seeing the anti-science ignorance in this country. We live in a time of unprecedented information and still choose to stick our heads in the sand.

[@SloppypapiBeefboi]

It’s not only people being uniformed, there is so much blatant misinformation. Al due respect but I don’t have time to listen about climate science from fat feminists who claim obesity=health.

[@BadgerCheese94]

@@SloppypapiBeefboi Who said anything about fat feminists? I dont think obesity is healthy either nor am I fat or a feminist. You are creating a strawman. Also, people can be right about one thing and wrong about another. Someone can falsely claim that obesity is healthy while also correctly claim that climate change is real and largely influenced by human activity.

[@kimweaver1252]

Similar story here, but my journey began in the 1950s, space program, developments in aerospace and aviation. I read all of the inorganic chemistry texts in our library by age nine. Remember BOOKS?

[@annemarietobias]

@@SloppypapiBeefboi The problem here Spencer is separating the pepper from the fly shit... Feminism is social ideology... a belief system that has exactly zero basis in science. Now alternatively, one could look at primates and the difference in patriarchal troops of baboons vs matriarchal troops, and possibly try to say something cogent and meaningful about the closely related primate Homo Sapiens, to which you'd get some pretty healthy pushback (and rightfully so.) And you'd be off to the races in a conversation grounded in science about primate behavior on a basis of gender. And you can bet it would no doubt be fascinating... By the way, if that conversation appeals to you, look of the work of Robert Sapolsky of Stanford, he did seminal work on stress related behavior looking at the social hierarchy of Baboon. It's great stuff, really interesting. Obesity is as much a conversation about life style, a mistaken focus on calories instead of qualities in our food, the replacement of active play with watching electronic devices, the insane amount of over processed food containing far to much sugar, salt, and a shockingly few products chosen for their industrial and economic convenience instead of their health impact on human beings. In other countries where food is sacrosanct, obesity is almost universally a nonissue. None of any of that has anything to do with scientific knowledge or the validity of a person sharing facts. Anthropogenic Climate Change is no longer debatable, just as we no longer question the fundamental validity of Relativity, Evolution, or Quantum Mechanics, we've pretty much nailed Anthropogenic Climate Change down and can say its a fact with about 99.999% certainty. The body of evidence, from now hundreds of separate and distinct scientific fields as disparate as meteorology, climatology, oceanography, chemistry, biochemistry, ecology, medicine, hydrology, geology, biology, astrophysics, thermodynamics, archeology, and anthropology, all pointing to the same conclusions, suggests very strongly, this phenomenon is a reliable fact about our world. Just because a person is obese and or has a political view, or might even be a rude or obnoxious person, doesn't in any way suggest they may not be knowledgeable in a specific field and have some important information to share with you. We all prefer to hear from people that don't grate on us, and I can appreciate your reluctance to listen to people you personally don't like. But you should think twice about that. If a fat, feminist was standing in the middle of the road waving madly at you to stop because you were heading hell bent for leather towards a washed out road, would it serve anyone's best interest to get yourself or some innocent bystander killed because you didn't like the messenger. Just a thought. Happy Holidays ;-)

[@jamestcatcato7132]

@@SloppypapiBeefboi your misogyny sticks out a mile? Self-awareness , obviously isn't your forte, is it?

[@liveecarbme]

The great irony is that the very fruits of science: computers, cellphones and the internet/"social media" are the harbingers of the denial of the scientific method and the decline of America as a world influencer and power broker.

[@aycc-nbh7289]

Though the USA still has the world’s largest navy by tonnage, the world’s largest economy by GDP, and the world’s largest contribution to foreign aid.

[@awhahoo]

@@aycc-nbh7289 and we still have the worlds fastest battleships :) Not in service anymore, but they are still afloat

[@burtan2000]

That's how I know it's gonna be our end. We've advanced science and tech more than any other modern civ. We really lead the charge into the digital age and its predecessors of TV and Radio. Cell phones, personal computers, internet, mass production of assembly line, etc. But we're a walking talking Greek tragedy. We will bring ourselves down. Only the US can destroy the US.

[@alissonlares2926]

Decline?! That is good to my country.

[@emuriddle9364]

Because it mixes with the ideas of Lassiez-Faire. Which only favors the impulsive people. Rather than those who are actually qualified to do the job. Don't believe me: Look at our Toilet Paper fiasco last year. Or people putting petrol into garbage bags....

[@TheTarrMan]

Perhaps I can explain. > * Idea/theory * > Successful people say it's wrong/dangerous. > They start suppressing it. (There's various ways this is done.) > The unsuccessful people see that idea/theory is being suppressed. > They start thinking "these powerful successful people are suppressing this idea/theory, the same successful people responsible for making my life hell (or at least ignoring our struggle)". > They get curious thinking maybe this is the key to their success. (Keep in mind they've been so unsuccessful for so many generations they're looking for any way out.) > They start finding each-other. > The successful start criticizing the unsuccessful basically reinforcing the unsuccessful idea/theory because "we must be getting close to the truth". > (Keep in mind : This has been going on while we've actively been POS's to each other in real time.) > Now there's this divide and it's TOO LATE TO SAY SORRY. > The idea/theory grows. Things aren't going to get better folks. We've ignored each-other for too long and it's everyones fault. If the regular citizens would've said something back when "the new world" was first founded rather than ignoring things such as slavery or the often forgotten indigenous people because they didn't want to pay too much for cotton and tobacco would've been much better off today. THE PEOPLE WHO IGNORE THE PROBLEM ARE THE PROBLEM!!! We don't deserved to be a first rate country anyways and we never did. The natural order of the universe (whatever you wanna call it) is simply balancing itself out. Time to drink the wine folks.

[@joephysics5469]

As a physicist physician I was appalled by many of the positions the government took during the pandemic that were 180 degrees opposed to what the science said they should be. Months later the science was once again proven to be right and it wasn't different this time. Never the less our leaders and the scientists who supported the bad science for all those months never admitted they were wrong. To this day they tell us to blindly follow what they say. Zero respect for these scientists who want to be in the public eye or get government funding and compromise real science for their gain. And it isn't only pandemic related issues I'm referring to either. This video features some of those people.

[@directingstaff8525]

Entirely. The science was completely corrupted, and many have lost faith in it. Science has done itself irreversible damage in terms of its credibility with a complete erosion of trust in the mainstream scientific narrative

[@joephysics5469]

@@directingstaff8525 The science is interact and still very incomplete. Those who interpret it are suspect.

[@RRaider]

THIS is why "Science" isn't trusted, because "Science" is bought by the highest bidder, reality be damned.

[@remy2968]

It's funny that ever since beginning grad school I realized how little I knew about science and how little I knew about anything. It's funny to see people so confident in what they know.

[@granthurlburt4062]

I taught in mostly US universities for 16 yrs, much of which time was spent applying for the next job. I wanted to express something along the lines of what u say in my teaching philosophy. That univ was to (a) give students an idea of human knowledge; (b) to understand that it is human endeavour that produced the knowledge; and (c) that this should include the sense there is so much more for us to know.

[@remy2968]

​@@granthurlburt4062 It seems like you're a great teacher! I sincerely hope you and people like you continue to be educators. We need people like you.

[@brucefrykman8295]

Much of science is way out over its skiis in regard to what it is sure that it knows that just aint so.

[@d-buck]

I remember being in grad school and thinking I was smart.

[@timwatts9371]

@@brucefrykman8295 Er.....no, it isn't

[@ThunderHOWL16]

when i was a kid i was so fascinated by science. it was my favorite subject in school and i loved shows like mythbusters, jimmy neutron, magic school bus etc. At the time my mom was really encouraging and supportive of my interests. but now when i explain to her how vaccines work or how climate change is happening for sure, she just says stuff like “oh those scientists don’t know anything” or “they’re getting paid to say that”. it’s very frustrating and i’ve pretty much given up on trying to get through to her. God damn these “alternative facts” peddlers. they’re rotting peoples minds.

[@newt702]

Yes!!!

[@LoveIXTC]

@@StellaLovesMusic25 "God says" lol i do not believe in god so no argument there

[@LoveIXTC]

@@StellaLovesMusic25 Satan is my Lord and Saviour, Hail Satan 🙌

[@eru_barth]

@@StellaLovesMusic25 religious fanatics like yourself make it really hard not to look down on others ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ especially when you don't even try to mask your hypocrisy

[@elinoradanma2196]

“Scientists just make stuff up to feel smart” is something I literally from someone. It’s bonkers.

[@JoaoSoares-rs6ec]

Every single civilization that turned from science to religion as lead to its downfall and collapse,

[@bluestrife28]

I remember during Covid Dr. Drew said something like “the media just needs to shut the hell up and mind their own damn business about this.” I love him for that. The news made my family act like friggin lunatics and I blocked many of them. Stupid is like a bad limb in the old days, tie it off and let it fall off.

[@brucefrykman8295]

If we had only listened to Dr Fauci and the scientists at the NIH we would have learned that once vaccinated we could not become infected with Covid 19 Opps _"Patients who took part in clinical trials at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) had no idea that scientists at the institutes received $8.9m in royalty payments and might benefit financially for the use of their discoveries by pharmaceutical companies and device makers, reports from Associated Press allege. This information was not made public until the press agency obtained the information after filing a request under the Freedom of Information Act."_ Opps _"The press agency has reported that 916 present and former NIH researchers received annual royalty payments averaging $9700 but could receive as much as $150 000."_ Opps _"At the same time, NIH researchers spent millions of taxpayers' dollars studying the treatments that they had developed that were licensed to drug companies, the agency reported."_ Opps

[@truecatholic8692]

True. Those us us who knew COVID was over-hyped and could not really be contained did not even say "I told you so".

[@roseannnichol2913]

Thus discourse ended.

[@freddygarfunkle8947]

@@truecatholic8692 but it wasnt overhyped

[@JM-md4ri]

What I’ve found is when I’ve debated the importance of science with people, they genuinely think they are disproving science. They are actually showing how uneducated they are.

[@jeehoonlee5150]

Also debates held at religious universities (you can find some famous ones on KZbin) are generally a waste of time. There is no real debate, the forum is used by religious apologists to hone their arguments and re-affirm their beliefs with their intended audience. Even if they "lose" they just adjust their arguments for the next round. This is inherently antithetical to a scientific or even a rational mindset, where debate should be a form of transmitting information and sharing ideas and forming a consensus based on the evidence not gotchas or sophistry. I admire people like Hitchens and Dawkins for doing the good fight but I think the only "gain" for them is perhaps to even enlighten a few in the audience and give them an "ah-hah" moment. That's the best one can hope for on debating people who inherently are not playing on the same field.

[@realniqqa101]

This is the most concise way to put it. A lot of the time people will misunderstand one scientific fact and try to disprove all of science theory and laws because of it. Even finding fault in a theory doesn't mean you disproved it. They can be critiqued and changed.

[@annalieff-saxby568]

I will never forget the chap who didn't believe in gravity citing, as evidence against it, the observation that all the little bits of peel didn't sink to the bottom of the marmalade jar. I mean, where to you even *start* ?

[@kma3647]

Ah, so they either agree with you or they're "uneducated"? I do like that bit of framing. You can never lose an argument! Arrogance means never having to admit someone else was right and you were wrong.

[@annalieff-saxby568]

@@kma3647 On matters of fact, yes. If someone tells me the earth is flat, then I'm not being "arrogant" in my assumption that they are, not just uneducated, but also stupid.

[@FusionDeveloper]

Intelligent people are always learning. Ignorant people demand stupidity at all costs.

[@slevinchannel7589]

The People have this CRAZY Idea that Scientists are one giant ‚Organization’ with a specific ‚Agenda’, so it just makes sense to hide Facts. But Reality just doesnt look like this. Get this comparison: Thinking Science has an Agenda is like saying Swim-Teams have a hidden Agenda, all united under the Wish to supress and fight Fire-Fighters. Why? SILLY QUESTION! It’s simply because Fire and Water are elemtary opposed to each other! Of course! And worst of it: The Fishes are in on it!!! Truth and fact is, Scientist are not 1 giant Unit and they do not fear the truth, they are literallly seeking it: Best evidend by people not getting the fact that a Scientist WANTS Evidence of him being Wrong IF such exists. IF SO, he WANTS to see it... Side-Note: I hope Big Think goes on TV with this Topic, as well as Radio, so it really rteaches People that Science is NOT anyones Enemy, DUH.

[@wj3186]

I'd almost say it's a little more complex than that. I think there are perfectly intelligent people who are demanding ignorance for others with the expectation of some benefit. Perfectly intelligent people can do what seems stupid. Everyone sees the world a little differently and it can be hard to accept what we may be wrong about, especially if we've invested ourselves in it.

[@loturzelrestaurant]

@@wj3186 Have you seen User 'Thomas Maughan'? He claims Atheism is a Religion. Lol much?

[@respectfulanarchist427]

This Brit agrees with your thought. I suppose that great thinkers in the USA are a voice that needs to be separated from the drone of ignorance (evangelist preachers). Best wishes

[@erik878]

If you are learning you must be ignorant by default of definition. Stupid people arent unilateral in their demands, some are content I'm sure. I am ambitious I write symphonies what did you do today

[@TheRockinDonkey]

I will admit that I don't have a passionate interest in science, but I accept the scientific consensus because I know these people are passionate about science and the scientific method, and I am appalled at people who dismiss them as if their uneducated opinions carry equal weight to the educated opinions of experts.

[@therealunklefreaky]

"The amount of energy necessary to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it." ~ Alberto Brandolini

[@milestoitaly]

The pre internet version: A lie has run around the block three times before the truth can get on it's sneakers.

[@janea4777]

We’re not doing a very good job as a democracy navigating away from fascism. It seems like making corporations people was a bad idea. Corporations don’t care who’s hurt as long as they profit and they’re the loudest voice in congress.

[@missi7196]

Omg yes. I scrolled so far to find just one comment mentioning the real problem. All these industries are powered by corporate greed and destroying the world with government approval. Tragic.

[@rachelcarmina3958]

Exactty!!!

[@truecatholic8692]

The USA has never been a democracy.

[@jimkirk4357]

I remember that happened under the Reagan administration. The Republicorporate party gained traction and began their reign of terror. An ignorant population is easier to manipulate.

[@wempletun8218]

@Silver They didn’t say we were in a complete fascist dystopia. Also, immediately resorting to derogatory comments is extremely childish.

[@randallthomas5207]

Carl Sagan said it was coming, Now we live it.

[@ChipmunkRapidsMadMan1869]

Ahh Carl Sagan, the saint in the church of scientism.

[@dreamervanroom]

Sagan said WHAT was coming? Context is missing. Or maybe I need to listen to the entire video to understand your "one off".

[@dreamervanroom]

@@ChipmunkRapidsMadMan1869 Do you even know the meaning of the word saint? ...died horribly and answers prayers.

[@Curry-tan-]

He's referencing Sagan's statements, especially in "The Demon Haunted World". The book warns against anti-science, and may be one of the best handbooks on rational skepticism.

[@randallthomas5207]

@@Curry-tan- I could have reference the book. But, since he saw fit to reply, before watching video, I thought there might be better odds of him actually watching the videos.

[@maxpowertastic]

Science has to ask questions. Can it still do so in a society where everything is political? If a finding goes against the narrative should it be exposed? Lately it seems like the answer is narrative above transparency.

[@directingstaff8525]

Look at the left in America who still wore face masks so they weren't thought to be republicans. Zero logic. And facemasks never worked in the first place

[@avp6730]

There are different narratives in politics too...

[@Abitibidoug]

I'm 62 years old now and, even as a kid I loved science. I was the kid who took things apart to see how they worked, as well as being interested in pure science like astronomy. My observations are that most if not all preteen kids are quite curious about everything. Something happens in the teen years where they lose this curiosity. It's as though you're supposed to shut up, don't stand out in the crowd, and assimilate. I found that odd, because in your teen years as you get more autonomy like your driver's license you have the means to satisfy that curiosity. I've still retained that curiosity even at my present age. I think more and better science education should be mandatory. How to change this loss of curiosity? I don't know, you'd better ask the learned psychologists, not anti science witch doctors. There's mention of this obsession with celebrity culture. I don't get it, never did, and never will. Personally I think government gave big tax breaks to TV stations to put this rubbish on. Why? So more people will leave the TV off, get outside, get more exercise, and be healthier. That way they put less strain on health care. I'm living proof, as I'm quite healthy and fit for someone my age. The problem is obviously not everyone got the memo. You are all correct that this disregard for science will erode the competitiveness of the United States. I live in Canada and am concerned because it will affect us whether we like it or not. I read an article today that said in the future oil will be priced in yuan rather than US Dollars. That's what's coming. I was taught that as a Canadian you should learn French, and if you're American your second language should be Spanish. The way the world is going, you'd better learn Mandarin Chinese instead.

[@lactobacillusprime]

What I find amazing is people willing to turn their backs on science and still want all the comforts of modern day living. I guess lack of insight and lack of education is what makes people do that.... We'd still be scared people living in the dark ages if it wasn't for science.

[@Paygelove]

Unfortunately ppl call things like the globe religion science when there is no scientific evidence at all. The scientific method must be followed to have science

[@JewTube001]

@@Paygelove if you actually bothered to use the scientific method then you wouldn't be a flat earther.

[@HG-ov1cy]

So true and also there alot of people in the usa that are absolute idiots that have their head inside of their ass hole. That rather believe in their political views and party rather than actual legit confirm science... GOP (republicans) has alot of said people in this category. Let's not forget the classic comman idiot people that believe the earth is flat and the anti-vaccine people and 5G will cook us alive people.

[@magooccna]

Example: flat earthers spreading bs that earth is flat on KZbin based on technology that we have satellite 🛰 going around globe. They drove around using satnav using cell phones. I have said it before, the shortcomings of democracy is giving everyone same vote, no matter how stupid you are. So we have a lot of stupid people that can vote and rule the smart ones. Dangerous time we live in.

[@Fomites]

@@Paygelove What's the 'globe religion'?

[@WalkerBohAus]

I'm surprised they didn't talk about the decline in verification studies due to lack of interest in reporting. They go halfway, talking about the importance of reporting on verified results rather than unverified claims. But seriously, journalism hurts science by encouraging unverified sensationalist claims but it also discourages the entire scientific verification process by refusing to grant attention which stifles funding.

[@nguyenquangminh4814]

Kill by silence

[@Illlium]

"I'm surprised they didn't talk about the decline in verification studies due to lack of interest in reporting." They did, it's called the celebrity culture. If there's no motivation to do science because it will not make first pages of newspapers something is so wrong it would be cruel to laugh at it.

[@timkramar9729]

Half the studies you read about a wrong (headline) "according to a study" (begins the story) This is a reason I'm skeptical of anything I don't have personal direct experience with.

[@yuvra649]

I doubt what you are saying verification decline is due to lack of interest in reporting. I think its more cultural, where people want to be fast to put a product out there for the money. We have not been taught to verify. If my small af thesis made a major way into product and the execs never bothered to verify it says its a bigger problem, they want to be first to offer and test it out on people

[@nenmaster5218]

@@yuvra649 All of your comment makes me think you would surely want want more science-youtuber, cause the Learning never ends. What do you think?

[@kato_dsrdr]

I once read on a quora forum, "Stupid people is one of the biggest threath in humanity."

[@bluestrife28]

Mr. Wizard was my childhood hero. And Mr. Rogers devoted his life to getting kids to learn and think. I too mourn this lost country.

[@mybrainhurts7950]

Now I feel like US was just doing great things in science to compete against USSR.

[@talmoskowitz5221]

And Intel pivoted in response to the inroads by Fujitsu in memory chips in the 1980s. Competition is bracing, it wakes people up.

[@donaldminkus7654]

nailed it. the abstract expressionist movement was even funded by the state to aid the US in the cultural conflict within the cold war.

[@bradpara]

Without the Cold War to provide a purpose beyond simple consumption, the US Stagnated.

[@maythesciencebewithyou]

That's the truth there. After WW2 the US actually wanted to go back to self isolation and cut down on the science projects that were ramped up to fight the Nazis. It was the Sputnik shock that resulted in the US investing so much in science.

[@thomasnaas2813]

Yes, unfortunate and ironic that tech advances throughout history have been driven by military applications, the process has only accelerated with time. I recall a point in the cold war where the US and USSR signed on to a document that proposed outer space be used for peaceful purposes only; now watch as the big three scramble for space supremacy.

[@liberallarry847]

Many in America: "My ignorance is greater than your education."

[@nathanscovell2895]

You have never ever at any time, met any American that thinks that.

[@rotschadel3574]

Europe:"NOOO. YOU WHERE THE CHOSEN ONE! YOU WHERE SUPPOSED TO BE BETTER THEN US, NOT REPEAT OUR OWN MISTAKES!" US:"I HATE YOU EUROPE!!!"

[@nemanjacvjetkovic5583]

@@nathanscovell2895 ofc bcs they are so ignorant that they dont understand how ignorant they rly are

[@isaiahkern9434]

@@nathanscovell2895 Actually I have. Not once, but twice. My own mother and my significant other's mother. I explain why "the illegals are out to take social secruity benifits" something my mom heard from the Republican party is bullshit. And I tell her it's impossible due to needing a social security card (not the number, I mean that but also the card itself) and a birth certificate. (and a lot of other additional information I'm likely forgetting to mention such as proof of address) Meanwhile always commenting on how smart I am. Seriously, it's insane. I love her, but is it so difficult to get the bullshit, untrue rhetoric out of her head. I've met my singifcant's other mother. They are normal, up until we talk vaccines, in which they are a anti vaxxer. Meanwhile commenting again, on how smart their kid is recently , when their kid is telling them that they are wrong and completely ignoring them.

[@hud86]

I spent 15 years working right out of highschool. Some people on the job sites that I worked with had the deepest, most profound life insights. I'm now in college, getting ready to graduate, and I haven't found one person who is actually deep and insightful. They all do what ever they're told to get good grades. The problem is we put intelligence on a pedestal and have devalued labor. Good luck living in an imaginary house, eating theoretical food. Action is needed for an idea to become reality and therefore proven science. We have a bunch of thinkers now and few people who do. things we took for granted 50 years ago, clean running water and electricity, are now unstable and people can't fix basic things, but at least there's lots of "smart" people around. What good is knowledge if it has no real life application?

[@cheesybits834]

I got bullied for trying to educate other people in school so now I’m an introvert

[@johnym1]

I honestly love science. I can think of when I was younger in elementary school learning about the planets. It was so fun. I don't think people are not following science, but I do think when you add politicians to the mix, it discredits the people that are scientists.

[@patrickwhite2719]

Quite a bit of the mistrust of science stems from the mistrust of both media (Slant/ Bias) and a mistrust of government. When time has shown repeatedly that governments lie to your face, and are found out 5-10 years later, the trust of most would falter. Science in a political vacuum is trustworthy, science in a political theater when being pushed by one side is inherently untrustworthy.

[@_nitin_69]

I'm not from USA, but seeing how so many of them are anti-vaccers, anti-maskers, flat earthers, anti-climate, etc. is just hilarious & sad at the same time.

[@jazznroll5]

I had the same view until i decided to look for the evidence and facts from both sides. Now i believe that there is more truth and science to the anti-something opinions than the pro-something.

[@Deady4u]

@@jazznroll5 Bruh

[@_nitin_69]

@@jazznroll5 i have looked at both sides. And anti-something is pure bs imo.

[@FaceFcuk]

the UK is just as bad.

[@python27au]

The western world it would seem. People have too much time on their hands.

[@huggysocks]

We went from the space race to flat earthers and climate change deniers.

[@mastersonogashira1796]

This argument doesn’t work, cuz moon landing is fake /s

[@paulvoas3328]

Slow boiling frog

[@amandap9332]

Loss of trust in our public institutions.

[@ChipmunkRapidsMadMan1869]

The irony of this is that flat earthers come in all shapes. Many people who who fall into the realm of flat-earthers, the definition many use, believe in a round earth well enough. But they will blindly follow the images put forth by their televisions, their social media newsfeeds, or the micro indoctrinations that they receive from subliminal pop culture influences like songs. Consider the narrative “Glacier National Park Will Be Ice Free By 2020.” Your tax dollars paid for the signs in Glacier National Park. They have since been removed and discarded quietly because the glaciers are doing just fine.

[@mastersonogashira1796]

@@ChipmunkRapidsMadMan1869 “flat earthers come in all shapes”. No, they all literally come in flat... Forgive me, I’ll see myself out

[@JamesAllmond]

There was a PSA when I was a child, it went like this "You think education is expensive, try ignorance." They still did not put more money into education, made college so expensive most simply can't do it and here we are. So, how does ignorance look? Really? All you have to do is look around.

[@nemesisurvivorleon]

"Never doubt the power of stupid people in large groups" -George Carlin

[@Maggot8944]

"Science doesn't care about your truth, science cares about the truth." -Someone way smarter than me with better looking hair

[@jw6993]

"Science" isn't a person or a god; it can't "care" about anything. Science is a mechanism by which humans can arrive at the truth. Personifying it, like NdGT does, is anti-science.

[@Maggot8944]

@@jw6993 if science is a mechanism by which humans can arrive at the truth, wouldn't that make anti-science either: not using a mechanism by which humans can arrive at the truth or using a mechanism by which humans cannot arrive at the truth? Is a figure of speech anti-science or just a simple way to explain something?

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@jw6993 Show how and when Tyson did as you claim.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@[unavailable] Nope. Peer review.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@[unavailable] Peer review is when claimed results are physically tested and verified. This is how Burt''s late work was discovered to be fraudulent. "i'm also certain that scientists follow in the footsteps of Sir Cyril Burt" Not at all. Burt was a failure. Why would any scientist want to be a failure? Also, the device and method you're using to spread your (false) opinion is the result of scientific research. I'm not your "bro."

[@hadara69]

"It is not the aim of science to open a door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error." -Bertold Brecht

[@nenmaster5218]

We can all 'fight' Anti-Science by recommending each other science-channel, I dare to claim. Know Sci Man Dan? Know Kozmo?

[@hadara69]

@@nenmaster5218 Agreed. -Potholer54 debunks Creationist and anti-vaxxer crap. -Aron Ra EXTENSIVELY explains science, mythology, and how Creationism twists facts. -"It's Okay to be Smart" explores basic facts. -"Science Channel" is an obvious choice. The best way to defend science is for Americans to do this OFFLINE, with their friends, family, coworkers who don’t know (or care) enough to be curious. It’s easy: Just ask questions. If said questions are obvious to you, they are exactly the ones you should be asking this person.

[@gabrieljordan8015]

I personally went from a young earth anti science creationist to full blown anti religion pro science atheist in about 15 to 20 years and I'm as stubborn as one can get. I wouldn't give up hope just yet.

[@PakkiNakki]

i’ve gotten rid of all my anti-establishment, anti-science and reactionary beliefs in only under a year. anything is possible

[@chickensandwich8808]

@@nemod.8310 it's never been about rationale it's been about power, sadly.

[@chickensandwich8808]

@@PakkiNakki it's a hard transition, good on you.

[@thesocialistsarecoming8565]

Is now a bad time to point out that atheism is essentially a religion?

[@gabrieljordan8015]

@@thesocialistsarecoming8565 If atheism is a religion then not playing football is a sport. You could argue a lot of atheists have formed communities and networks but I don't personally affiliate with them.

[@briellehunter7233]

A golden rule to detect liars is never trust the type that use ridicule, insult, or deflection, when asked questions.

[@gambler143]

When ignorance becomes an ideology, indeed, when it becomes a point of pride, that is when, IF we allow it to continue, we are all doomed.

[@DoggieNYC]

Gonna steal that.

[@GnarledStaff]

@@NUTZJ98 Wow... the quote is right, you are just awkwardly attacking the person saying it for no apparent reason.

[@lopoa126]

@@NUTZJ98 Anti-intellectualism is a favorite of conservatives today

[@bloodcarnage8285]

@@lopoa126 I'd say that liberals are anti intellectuals. Look at the policies they support except climate change . I think conservatives deny science only on climate change because they have to hold their position politically. But in a poll many conservatives actually support fixing climate change.

[@olivertaylor8788]

100% correct

[@jztouch]

I think the fact that we can no longer agree on a collective reality as we once did is what worries me most about our future. It reminds me of trying to be friends with a pathological liar. There’s no basis for relationship. It feels like the foundations of society are fracturing in totally new ways. It’s really pretty nerve-wracking!

[@mothertoaster5006]

That was never the case as long as there has been different people thare has been multiple opinions on a topic we never really all agreed on something there was just the church had power and if you didn't agree with anywhere exiled or the king had power and if you didn't agree you were executed that's not a collective agreement that's fear

[@maythesciencebewithyou]

When do you think humanity agreed collectively on how reality is? People have made up all kinds of bullshit to believe in. Religions being the most prominent ones.

[@GeoFry3]

@@maythesciencebewithyou the irony of your statement are alot of people today who are "not religious" are actually part of a non-secular religion.

[@pattygould8240]

@@maythesciencebewithyou can you find people who don't think water is wet or that things fall toward the Earth when they are dropped?

[@travisshooks7374]

Yes when we have gotten to the point where we can’t agree how many genders there are it’s pretty bad.

[@JAI_8]

The public education system “fails” because it’s woefully underfunded and it’s not designed to create critical thinkers with advanced knowledge, it’s designed to create workers with the least possible knowledge to be productive. Too many well educated thinkers threaten to question the conditions of their servitude to their current oligarchic corporate masters. At the same time as they defund the public schools system, elements of the rich elite ruling class work really hard to encourage a generalized scorn for knowledge among the lower and middle classes while they themselves send their own children to the best schools money can buy.

[@lloydjones3371]

Many scientific theories evolve over time, and different experts in the fields of science and medicine have varying views on a given subject. Some experts in recent years have been cancelled for their views, by governments, by the media and by other experts. Being cancelled for having a different view goes against science, since the open debate of opposing ideas plays an essential role in finding the truth. In particular, significant cancelling has occurred among experts debating Covid and climate change.

[@varyolla435]

Wrong.........but thank you for playing. Yes in science you encounter "fringe opinions" at times. The presence of the same however does not obviate peer-review consensus such as is the real metric for establishing plausibility. So such fringe opinions are typically dismissed by the majority of academics recognizing them for what they are. This however must further take into account = potential adverse impact which might follow adherence to said fringe opinions. In other words if we have ample evidence of vaccines working to hit mitigate the impact of infectious diseases and the subsequent death occurring as a result of their presence in society - then along comes a fringe opinion which if followed would result in continued spread of the pathogen and subsequent adverse impact to society writ large as people refuse to avail themselves to vaccination = it merits censorship. It would be no different from censoring someone who claimed that child sacrifice is demanded by "God". Moral of the story: it not what people belief per se that can potentially get them censored by society = but the potential impact based upon said opinions. Science accepts dissenting opinions. What is not acceptable are ones which can result in adverse impact for all.......... I suggest you learn to discern between the two. 🤨

[@JK_JK_JK]

@@varyolla435 varyolla435 is a propaganda spam bot spamming all of the comments and cannot answer a simple question: What is the Covid-related mortality for non-elderly persons with no comorbidities?

[@ShionWinkler]

“If it takes a little myth and ritual to get us through a night that seems endless, who among us cannot sympathize and understand? We long to be here for a purpose even though, despite much self-deception, none is evident... But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable.” ― Carl Sagan

[@christopherpardell4418]

I would counter- We can hardly know the truth. And so must always be willing to change it. But the Universe does not NEED a ‘purpose’ because we are the one species that has the capability to INVENT purpose. So Invent the purpose you think life ought to serve…. The only real problem is how few of us realize its our own invention. Its not a problem to cherish a fable… in so long as we fully understand that we made it up, to serve some purpose that we created. No Star Trek fans go out and murder Star Wars fans because they like a different franchise…. But they absolutely would if either of them thought their franchise was the one literal truth.

[@dougsinthailand7176]

* Taken out of context.

[@thomasnaas2813]

I love the quote from Sagan. Myth and even religious belief is fine as long as important decisions aren't based on it. Revealed truth is poisonous to intellect and reason.

[@rexjantze296]

This is just the difference between analytical/critical thinking and narrative thinking, two houses of attention that usually blend together to create a model of the world. Narrative thinking gives us the drive and the meaning to live and to push on and to move forward. Analytical thinking gives us the new metrics to decide on how we want to construct the optimal narrative. Liberals lean towards science for those metrics, while conservatives don't want their narrative to be changed.

[@theboombody]

Sagan believed our purpose was to find aliens. I think he really believed human beings exist to do that, but he dared not speak it. But when someone like him says, "I think we need to keep searching, no matter what," that's deep. That's not a, "Well, I think it would be interesting and give us something to do," mellow kind of talk. That's a manifest destiny speech.

[@dalinean]

Cult thinking and cult control. It was only a matter of time before poiticians harnessed these techniques for their own ends.

[@superdoobo]

Welcome to Biden/Harris 2020!

[@bdslade]

@@superdoobo haha sure Jan. Trump is the master of the cult thing. Look at what's happening right now; his followers are absolutely convinced that he's being honest when his lies have been demonstrated repeatedly.

[@superdoobo]

@@bdslade Well the good news is you will have 4 more years to point out his "lies" when he is inaugurated on January 20th.

[@bdslade]

@@superdoobo haha good luck with that. Let’s check back on the 20th shall we?

[@superdoobo]

@@bdslade Indeed!

[@WhirlOmar]

I thought the Internet was going to make us smarter not stupider

[@DjWellDressedMan]

2023: Health Outcomes for Americans are going down, and yet both Corporate Parties in the USA continue to favour Private for Profit Healthcare. While in poorer countries, Single-payer healthcare has been in use since the 1960's, and Health outcomes are getting better by the year.

[@paradoxofepicurus]

Almost a year later and unfortunately this video aged well.

[@iamjustkiwi]

Never in my life have I ever been so aware just how many folks view their beliefs as equal or indeed superior to actual evidence. Its insane and, living in a very conservative area. Leads to me keeping all my interactions with people at arms length lest I have to find out which ridiculous nonsense drives their life decisions.

[@yukonfarnsworth1688]

@@iamjustkiwi thats because the media never sensationalized the liberal hippies who are the average antivaxxer and has been for decades. Thats why your outrage is selective and programmed. Now you know. And KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.

[@lopoa126]

@@yukonfarnsworth1688 so many conservatives have adopted fascism as they reject science and common sense

[@yukonfarnsworth1688]

@@lopoa126 research fascism.

[@SlyJustChilling]

@Lo Poa There Not Fascist They Just Believe in some Propaganda

[@cstephen98]

Maybe the US will be like the Muslim world when it turned its back on science in favour of religion having all the answers, ending its ascendancy. They gave us optics, modern mathematics, algebra, astronomy, engineering, hospitals, universities, medicine and then just... stopped :(

[@txdmsk]

And Europe is already on its way to become the muslim world due to immigration.

[@Fomites]

A good analogy.

[@odd6554]

Islam didn’t give us those things. It just so happened that it came from the parts of the world where those things came from, some of it before Islam was invented. It’d be like saying Christians brought us anti slavery. When it just so happens that the part of the world that abolished slavery first was predominantly Christian.

[@uchicha666]

Islam did not turn back from science in a way you think it did, it was a decline which happened mostly as a result of mongol invasion

[@pakde8002]

@@odd6554 actually the Muslim scientific community was pretty rad back in the day. Of course they got a good start from the Greeks but they were definitely Muslims. The things mentioned were part of the Muslim Renaissance. Sorry if you can't accept that Muslim people are capable of great things but facts are facts.

[@JH-6]

Thank you for addressing what I see as a significant failure of what confronts human kind today. The lack of understanding nad appreciation of scientific method What has happened to mankind? We learn more and embrace the lowest common denominator of ignorance. Is ignorance on purpose stupidity?

[@teeniequeenie8369]

This after hearing for the last 2+ years to “TRUST THE SCIENCE”….

[@JohnDoe-jh5yr]

This is probably the best explanation I've seen for a phenomenon I couldn't put into words for years as friendships slipped away because of diverging realities. Not divergent beliefs, but diverging realities. That is not sustainable. It's terrifying, really, and will require effort to resolve.

[@Fomites]

Well said.

[@user-jy5qm8nc9m]

Exactly, all these people who believe that a man who cuts his penis becomes a woman and that biological gender doesn't exist....a completly different reality

[@JohnDoe-jh5yr]

@@user-jy5qm8nc9m Sir this is a Wendy's. Cuts his penis. Is that a euphemism for circumcision? What are you even talking about? I'm discussing rejecting science.

[@RealAugustusAutumn]

If you are losing friends over this, YOU are the problem

[@Irishmule169]

@@RealAugustusAutumn Ah what a ignorant statement... He’s losing not friends but what some would say is willfully ignorant bootlicking morons....

[@invox9490]

Despite all warnings... This is where we are. If you're not concerned about it... You should well damn be.

[@smallstudiodesign]

... dammed well be.”

[@kingpest13]

Damn well be

[@ph11p3540]

Damn. This is serious.

[@JiggyGinJoints]

Magical thinkers and passionate believers is the name of the game. A fundamentalist crazy nation.

[@christopherbettridge5983]

I deal with a Holocaust denier all the time (lives twenty feet from me) and I've had a running battle (even though I know I shouldn't it just upsets me so much hearing him rant about 'Jews' taking over the world) debunking the nonsense,and that Mathausen door being unlocked leading to the Holocaust not happening has been a contentious issue. Even though I disproved it(this was BEFORE I owned a cell phone; he was waving his in my face frustrating). I actually managed to get him to RESCIND his belief that the Earth was flat.....for two months or so. Then the internet got to him again.......

[@toofy7253]

This blew my mind! The most underrated video. Incredible analysis of society, and I finally learned something I didn't already know about our society. Thank you!

[@slevinchannel7589]

Thats why Atheist-Channels are worth checking out. Not only do they have reason to speak-out against Religions, but the Best of them really discuss this stuff in fascinating ways. Its worth checking out people like 'Genetically Modified Sceptic' and 'Believe it or not', and for 'later' also: 'Viced Rhino'!

[@markg.7865]

Basically everything you heard here, you can hear just the opposite on right-wing media.

[@JacquesPPage]

The US incarcerates more people per capita than any other country in the world, while it's being surpassed by many other countries like Canada for instance, in College and University diplomas. That says a lot about the future it prepares for itself.

[@johnsmith-cw3wo]

good... University is a cesspool for Marxism. the real truth is at church.

[@JacquesPPage]

@@johnsmith-cw3wo your comment perfectly shows why the US has such a huge problem with science and knowledge that has the potential to bring it down and will if nothing is done. Thoughts and prayers won't do the trick...

[@bipqrslef]

@@johnsmith-cw3wo Which church though?

[@danapaul3216]

@@bipqrslef John Smith worships at the church of the troll. I’ve seen his” opinions “ on political sites and now this science one. I don’t think he believes a word of what he says. He is just here to “ own the libs”.

[@rockdinosaur8619]

@@johnsmith-cw3wo I doubt you have ever seen the inside of a "University". If you would prefer to think a blood and guts story written by ignorant primitives that is full of contradictions and easily disproved nonsense - well you have just proven the point of this whole discussion. A significant portion of the US prefers to take pride in believing superstition and fairy tales over the way the world really works.

[@user-ty1qo3fu4q]

FYI: David Pakman of The David Pakman Show on KZbin, a Progressive reporter and political analyst, has just published a children's book entitled, "Think Like A Scientist". It's a good start to what we need in this country!

[@okd521]

My God the right hates that guy 😂

[@SifiFan]

Suffering from constant major depression, (I'm OK and on meds), and social anxiety. When I go into public I must have a sign on me for "those" people to seek me out. I swear I am normal and that every one else is crazy... This video explains to me why I feel the way I do when dealing with people. Dealing with a truth denier also means dealing with a lier in my opinion. People WILL tell you with a straight face the sun revolves around the earth and IF YOU DARE say anything to the contrary, brother hang on.

[@rickiex]

Man, Neil has a way to condense something and package it so anyone would understand it.

[@slevinchannel7589]

Ok, but: Atheist-Channels are worth checking out. Not only do they have reason to speak-out against Religions, but the Best of them really discuss this stuff in fascinating ways. Its worth checking out people like 'Genetically Modified Sceptic' and 'Believe it or not', and for 'later' also: 'Viced Rhino'!

[@garnerjazz58]

Anyone?

[@ernesthill4017]

Dr Tyson is a worthy heir to Carl Sagan's mantle

[@lynnfisher3037]

Don't know how Tyson can fit his head into a room. He is so full of himself. It makes me sick. His arrogance knows no bounds. Check out his story. Very suspect.

[@kstevens9741]

He does but he should stick to astronomy. He knows nothing about climate. He didn’t even mention that we just came out of The Little Ice Age (1300-1900) so we want to be warming. In another couple hundred years we might even be as warm as the Medievel Warm Period which will be good for civilisation

[@rosellaaalm-ahearn1760]

The first time that I noticed that Americans were anti intellectual, anti science was during the 1952 election. Before that, I was too young to notice. Adlai Stevenson was an intellectual candidate, as the people called him, "an egghead". Dwight Eisenhower was a nice man, and was more electable. .

[@nathanscovell2895]

You were wrong to think that. America is not anti intellectual or anti science. It's a myth. Gosh you're playing into the victimization too easily.

[@granta3044]

America is about being free and this is what you were witnessing, the freedom to be dumb. There also is an intellectual freedom which you can read for days in any one of the journals published by referenced publications. America is the home of the free, which means stupid people are allowed to be free too. Lol

[@dwellerinblack7816]

@@nathanscovell2895 No one is victimizing anything. Americans refuse to acknowledge scientific data because they don't understand it.

[@NoConsequenc3]

@@nathanscovell2895 you just learn that word? Cause you clearly can't use it right

[@NoConsequenc3]

@@granta3044 America has the highest prison population. How the fuck is it free?

[@lauramurman2642]

...to add insult to injury with a tragicomical admiration of the humanimal mind, I have to admit that a lot of some of the stuff we invent, no matter how absurd, is really fascinating. Take care and live well!😇❤

[@sparkywatts3072]

I tried a little experiment. I asked an acquaintance, I know to be a science denier, a simple scientific question that I had already gathered a plethora of proof from a number of reputable sources. I was NOT amazed he refused to even listen to the truth. I can't be friends with people like this because it presents a whole list of subjects we can't even talk about.

[@yourlogicalnightmare1014]

Bill Nye happily spread the lie that if you get a vaccine shot, you won't spread covid. He also happily spread the russian collusion hoax from Hillary's campaign lawyer and for which that lawyer and several fbi agents were charged or fired. The last thing you should do is listen to wokehole, america hating, white hating, criminal coddling, race peddling, gender denying democrats

[@theredsir869]

The thing I find most perplexing is that you don't have many outright science deniers, but rather everyone seems to think that they and those they agree with are on the side of science and that their opponents are the science deniers.

[@chojin6136]

A person believing pseudoscience over actual science is still a science denier because they're denying that the science that contradicts their belief is true

[@theredsir869]

@@chojin6136 So I say your science is pseudoscience and back my statement with professionals and data you say my science is pseudoscience with that statement backed by professionals, and data. It doesn’t change the reality of my comment.

[@chojin6136]

@@theredsir869 except if you look at the so-called experts of the "opposition" and they're talking about things outside of their field that directly contradicts experts that talk within their field, you can safely call the person listening to the one talking outside their field a science denier. Just because someone says they're listening to experts, that doesn't mean that they are. Don't get me wrong, I do understand what you're saying, and if that's all it was I would wholeheartedly agree with you, but it's never that simple, as I can think of two so-called experts that do talk within their field that have been thoroughly debunked or heavily criticised for spreading misinformation about their work by the majority, if not the rest, in their field; Dr. Caroline Leaf (cognitive neuroscience) and Dr. Robert Malone (Virology)

[@theredsir869]

@@chojin6136 I guess I see your point yeah.

[@chojin6136]

@@theredsir869 sometimes I overthink things like this, to the point that I won't trust someone that claims to be an expert without some sort of assurance that they're genuine and honest. That doesn't always work in my favour, but as a general rule of thumb, if something doesn't sound quite right, I need to find out why

[@beesplaining1882]

Disregard of science (i.e. facts and reality!) is to be expected from a country that elects a professional conman to its highest office.

[@superdoobo]

No he left office in 2017.

[@SusannaSaunders]

@John Andrew indeed, that is the real truth of the matter... Even Republicans know that Trump is a liar and con artist but because of their tribelism refuse to acknowledge this fact...

[@alexndg5260]

@@superdoobo I love how no one likes your comment. You're a net negative impact on society, please do not reproduce.

[@chazsroczynski5666]

You are confusing the cause and the result.

[@TeaParty1776]

Obama?

[@twrayl2002]

I teach high school science. Almost none of my students can multiply basic numbers. We have taken easy steps and made them complicated.

[@PinkNinjaKick]

I liked when he talked about how scientists didn’t fare well debating holocaust revisionists. I’d try to convince my friend the conspiracy theories he believed in weren’t true, but he’d always have talking points I didn’t know about. I’d then do research, come back to him about why he was wrong, and he’d either question my source or give up. The next time he’d talk about it there would always be a new piece of bullshit evidence. You just can’t win with these kinds of people.

[@iainmackenzieUK]

We are no longer simply disputing scientific facts. That was yesterday. Today we are casting doubt on our ability to recognise and agree upon any shared subjective truth.

[@danieljakubik3428]

Truth is objective, not subjective.

[@danieljakubik3428]

The new phrase, courtesy of intellectual post modernism, deconstructivism and critical theory, "your truth" is meaningless.

[@iainmackenzieUK]

@@danieljakubik3428 perception of objective truth then. Subjective perception of objective truth.

[@jw6993]

@@iainmackenzieUK Yes, and you can blame progressives with their embrace of post-modernism and social justice for that; ideologies that first and foremost deny the existence of objective truths.

[@iainmackenzieUK]

@@jw6993 say more...??

[@rtpwyk]

It's doubly amazing how folks will use the internet to further their anti-science goals. If it weren't for science, there wouldn't be an internet.

[@RealAugustusAutumn]

You're confusing science and propaganda

[@positivecynik]

To add, if it weren't for satellites orbiting earth in space, flat earthers wouldn't be able to spread their bs so rampantly.

[@lorenzamccoy7512]

@@RealAugustusAutumn yeah propaganda is all religions and science is reality.

[@RealAugustusAutumn]

@@lorenzamccoy7512 Why?

[@czos9239]

And then you ask them why are they on the interwebz since it's full of daemons, and you get called a liar. 🤦‍♀️

[@gagaplex]

There is no fair, neutral middleground between truth and lies. Journalists too often don't recognize that.

[@christophercline6001]

If you never question science and test it new discoveries will never be found. Glad we don’t go around thinking the world is flat and the universe goes around the earth

[@varyolla435]

Incredulity for the sake of itself = is not science. So "science" welcomes questions. What is not welcome however is questions unsupported = by credible evidence. Those who question science invariably lack that critical component to legitimate inquiry. What they offer - if anything at all - is usually conjecture supported by incredulity. To make matters worse they gin up their own supposed "alternative facts" which they try to rationalize as legitimate when all reject them. Purported evidence which lacks consensus is tantamount to: _"ask me....I'll tell you"_ argumentation. 🤨

[@canadiannuclearman]

Carl Sagan's book " A demond Haunted World" should be mandatory reading for every high school grad and politicians

[@varyolla435]

Absolutely. It gives excellent insight into the modern day "industry" which has come to be recognized as "pseudoscience". Moral of the story: as the old saying goes = _"there's a sucker born every minute"_ - and sadly the purveyors of pseudoscience seek to monetize/politicize this fact via feeding off of those poor gullible moppets to advance their own selfish interests. Enjoy your day.

[@Ax9005]

I was 15 in 1996 when my mom bought me that book for my birthday. I still have it today. Favourite book of all time. It really opened my mind to critical thinking and analysis. Definitely a must read for every high school student and adult.

[@coolbluelights]

I was a science denier until I read that book. I used to call science a "religion". someone told me about that book in a youtube comment and i'm like ok, I'm open minded I'll indulge you. after I read it it I was like ohhhh ok, I get it now. wow I was an idiot.

[@yukonfarnsworth1688]

I only trust science 50% as half of what science made has been the greatest. Half has been terrifying beyond all reasoning.. people who trust science 100% are in fact simps. And addicted to following the popular opinion despite history.

[@yukonfarnsworth1688]

@Common Sense Realist that doesnt deminish the 50% only tries to excuse it.

[@davidroddick91]

Even years ago, when human-caused climate change was yet unproven, I always believed we should look to greener and more sustainable sources of energy. Air pollution, deforestation, and reliance on fossil fuels are bad for the earth, even if climate change didn't exist.

[@singularityraptor4022]

Are you immortal? Cos Human-caused climate change was proved more than a century ago.

[@susrev88]

yes, people don'T seem to be able to comprehend the fact that tuesday's climate change was not cause on monday. we are running after the events and their consequences. taking action when SHTF is already too late. you are right too about being greener. but the shitty global economy is based on consumerism, no one's gonna change their business model unless everbody does it at the same time. also, people should stop buying shit to compensate for their problems.

[@Purwapada]

@@singularityraptor4022 correlation is not causation. Any credible scientist *cannot* prove CO2 causes increase in *global* temperatures

[@mattczech1473]

That and we’re going to run out of fossil fuels eventually

[@Dualbladedscorpion7737]

@@mattczech1473 Why not build a nuclear power plant?

[@KieraCameron514]

I would rather have questions which can't be answered then answers which cannot be questioned. A video like this is what is turning people off to science.

[@varyolla435]

What you just admitted is you are more concerned for what "you" want to believe = than what is real based upon evidence and logic. That of course is the road to self-delusion as it generates a mindset which is hopelessly mired in subjective ideology which begins and ends with the individual. So be as "open minded" as you want. Just make sure however what you ponder = is supported by a credible evidentiary basis and the nature of said evidence is not solely based upon your desire to accept an outcome. Anything less and you may find yourself in the realm of imagination run amok - aka "mental masturbation". Moral of the story: facts as John Adams famously quipped _"are stubborn things"._ In matters of science "you" are not the arbiter of what is fact or not as we have actual subject-matter experts and peer-review analysis for that. So what turns people off of science is most often = "ignorance of the same". People unable to accept that their poor assumptions do not mesh which scientific reality based upon credible evidence and logic of an "external" rather than internal nature. 🤔

[@brucefrykman8295]

@@varyolla435 Could you show us an example of your famed logic in state science? Covid 10? The climate/CO2 hoax, the ozone hole hoax, the seas level changes are accelerating hoax? The DDT was killing off the eagles hoax ? wind turbines and solar panels are "the solution" (to whatever) hoax. Pick One and show me the famed logic.

[@JK_JK_JK]

@@varyolla435 varyolla435 is a propaganda spam bot spamming all of the comments and cannot answer a simple question: What is the Covid-related mortality for non-elderly persons with no comorbidities?

[@xeon222]

After listening to these untitled tracks I'm wondering why Prince never mentioned his Jazz influence, I know his dad was a jazz musician but outside of that it's clear to me there were others, in any case it's astonishing just how talented Prince was!

[@elfboi523]

As a non-American, I'd like to say that I can live without the USA being a superpower. Why does the world need any superpowers at all?

[@ChipmunkRapidsMadMan1869]

Because the alternative is what gave us WWI and WWII, high rate piracy, and the age of empires (the historical period, not the video game). America has given the Earth something unprecedented. An age where nations are able to build themselves as best they can given their vices, virtues and geography with minimal military contributions. China is the best case in point. China is a basket case of territories unable to pull together without a strong outside force. Without American hegemony, it would be worse than it is today.

[@humanoid9787]

As an non-American I'd MUCH rather have the US be a super power than be stuck with authoritarian China

[@elfboi523]

@@humanoid9787 China doesn't cover the planet with military bases.

[@humanoid9787]

@@elfboi523 only because it hasn't had the opportunity to do that yet. And I'd rather have a democratic power be doing that than one that isn't accountable to even its own citizens

[@elfboi523]

@@humanoid9787 China isn't really interested in that kind of thing, it seems. They prefer dominating the world economically instead.

[@UrVileWedge]

8:40 or so. With Neil Degrasse Tyson talking about which pill you'd take from the doctor. I'm not a doctor myself, but I worked in medical insurance for a bit, and I can tell you, that people often do go into their doctors demanding specific medications, often for idiotic reasons, and fairly frequently bull their way into getting them.

[@IshtarNike]

Sadly, that's a result of advertising. America is one of the few developed countries that allows prescription medicines to be marketed directly to the public. Unfettered consumerism has a big part to play in making people think that they should always get what they want. Many people want to speak to the manager when it comes to science. That's not how it works but they've been taught that every dimension of life works like that.

[@ruthbaker5281]

In the end, though, it is the doctor who caved and wrote the script. I sympathize with the doctor, but it's still their responsibility. But I would also say that it's up to the hospital or other organization that they work for (if they are not in private practice) to stand by them on these decisions.

[@ruthbaker5281]

@@IshtarNike They didn't always do that. I remember being surprised when I first started seeing ads for prescription medications. But I've looked it up, and it was never illegal.

[@markaoslo5653]

@@ruthbaker5281 - That seems to ignore, that doctors, are very heavily marketed to, too. And, the pressure with incentives, insurance, etc... _"caved"_ or, highly-pressured...

[@0IIIIII]

Maybe the metaphor doesn’t work well but you got the main point. Which is that consensus from experts should be respected.

[@stevenw9663]

This was very informative in understanding the evolution of pushing arguments away from facts and towards opinions... Think about when a blizzard hits Buffalo in February I hear people say "see no global warming"

[@angeline12345]

Wow. I could completely relate how I feel. I’m so glad 🙂 just to hear like minded ☝️🇨🇦👍😁 thank you

[@connectingthedots100]

Isn't that all based on narcissism? Magical thinking, quackery, cults?

[@musicdev]

Yes.

[@my2cents49]

Yes; it's Christians pretending like they know anything about the Jewish Bible when they break it down into rigid views that aren't up for discussion. Jews don't operate that way with the Bible (remember it's THEIR text). Israel is one of the world's leading nations in science and medicine, and most Jews believe in evolution. The first "day" of creation is listed before the 24-hour sun system existed, meaning that the first verses tell us literally that the "days" of creation are only general spans of time and progressions of species.

[@shadeblackwolf1508]

The main issue is that the modern age algorithms made it so you can spend your life without coming across facts from counter evidence.

[@connectingthedots100]

@@shadeblackwolf1508 It's really interesting because it is as if we revert to the middle ages or even the early 19th century where people oftend lived and died in their village.

[@muadhib001]

@@connectingthedots100 the USA never came out of the 19th century mentality and culturally wise

[@IExpectedBSJustNotThisMuchBS]

“… we’ll grow up.” For well over two decades, I’ve thought that a significant portion of the US is like a 13 year old bully and that mindset continues to grow.

[@fredkelly6953]

American's love talking about their exceptionalism even when it's bad.

[@hadara69]

"Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise." ~Sam Pascoe

[@sl0-burn462]

One of my favorite quotes, more evident than ever to be true: "Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true." - Demosthenes

[@nenmaster5218]

We can all 'fight' Anti-Science by recommending each other science-channel, I dare to claim. Know Sci Man Dan? Know Kozmo?

[@magnetarattractions278]

these arent pushing science, they are pushing progressivism in the face of actual science. wake up.

[@stephanklein257]

One of my favourite quotes: "I have squandered my resistance For a pocketful of mumbles Such are promises All lies and jest Still, a man hears what he wants to hear And disregards the rest." Simon & Garfunkel "The Boxer" (1969)

[@magnetarattractions278]

@@stephanklein257 that was before they broke up due to their monumental egos wasnt it? though i heard it was simon's ego that was the main reason. But yeah, heard that quote in many forms from many people, going back thousands of years. I am finding remarkably good reasonings and quotes from romans, of all people, as well as greeks and persians. history is not only illuminating, but fun.

[@brucefrykman8295]

@@nenmaster5218 Is "anti-science" the same as pro corporate media and pro leftist political criminal. The "do I as I say, not as I do people?" "Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts" - Richard Feynman (a real scientist) I reject all experts but truly appreciate and welcome "the skilled."

[@baruchben-david4196]

Charles Babbage complained about how the English people were so ignorant of science, and also proud of their ignorance. Edit: I forget to mention that this was 100 years ago.

[@altrag]

Its human nature. I'm sure the ancient Sumerians said similar things with respect to whatever was considered the pinnacle of knowledge 4000 years ago. The difference right now is that we've collectively decided to give ignorance a level of power over our lives, to the extent that there are plenty of politicians who aren't actually ignorant of science but will legislate against it to appease a base who would prefer to ignore all science in order to avoid the inconvenient parts rather than face the challenges that science reveals to us. Of course ignoring the messenger doesn't invalidate the message, and ignoring something like climate change is eventually going to catch up to us no matter what we do -- the only difference is whether or not we'll be prepared to face it when it does (and its already started, and the answer is a resounding "no" to this point). This is of course not unprecedented in history by any means, but rulers and even entire cultures that ignore the knowledge of their experts has rarely gone well. Typically on the civilization level it has been leaders that ignore military warnings ("the Germanic tribes are just a bunch of barbarians they're no threat to Rome!") but there are examples of environmental warnings gone unheeded leading to disasters as well. Not on the scale of climate change of course (humanity wasn't capable of that prior to industrialization) but certainly in terms of over-hunting local wildlife populations, damaging the flow of rivers, that sort of thing.

[@SofaKingShit]

You edited it because you assumed that people wouldn't know who Babbage was when it's common knowledge that he was a volcanist.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@SofaKingShit What's a 'volcanist'?

[@patmoran5339]

I think it was 200 years ago.

[@patmoran5339]

@X X It was in the 1820s that Charles Babbage developed the Difference Engine. He also developed what he called the Analytic Engine. Had he and his mathematical and scientific associate Ada Countess of Lovelace had been better promoters and organizers, we might have had the computer revolution a hundred years earlier.

[@Unwanted_truth_]

What Tyson said about journalists rushing to be the first to report on something and that leading to the inevitable sharing of information that isn't yet verified and sometimes turns out to be untrue when further testing is done could be stopped by making it standard practice for publishers to, either, explicitly label articles that fall into this unverified category or create a section dedicated to bringing front line scientific news that is currently in testing. I think it'd simple and effective enough to work but it's something publishers don't think about when trying to get views, clicks, sales etc

[@Jemzedmusic]

Having a disregard for science is of course a problem in the modern day but no one ever wants to talk about the reason why its a phenomenon, people are mostly disenfranchised by science because of the fact that we're living in a world where scientific institutions can be bribed and results of experiments can be skewed in whatever direction makes the most money for whoever is donating the most to these institutions. A couple years ago I would've been called anti science for saying that I wasn't interested in receiving a covid vaccine, now there are scientific studies coming out that are questioning the efficacy of those same vaccines and even linking them to potential cardiac complications. Part of being intelligent is being able to sometimes take a step back and look at a situation in its entirety, personally, I think it's anti science to deny people the ability to question and pick apart the scientific consensus. Pretty crazy how in 2022, not trusting a big corporation with a bad track record can put you in the same category as someone who thinks the earth is flat or that the holocaust never happened.

[@varyolla435]

Conspiracy theory is the swansong of the failed intellect. Also your rant here typifies the very ignorance vis a vis "science" inferred in the video. Finally it is not a new phenomenon. Such as the late Carl Sagan as but one example wrote about the problem of belief in "pseudoscience" - which drives a lot of science opposition - as far back as the 1970's. As an aside. Cardiac symptomatology vis a vis infectious disease pathophysiology is nothing more than a manifestation of the ability of a pathogen = to infect cardiac tissues - i.e. cells. Loads of viral illnesses can cause cardiac side effects such as myocarditis as it happens - with Covid being but one. So the fact that when it is seen it is rare, mild in nature, and transient is all that matters. As young people are as a rule far more active than older people - meaning they stress their cardiac system more = it is not unexpected they might be more symptomatic than older often more sedentary people to experience that side effect. So a vaccine which can cause in a small subset in individuals cardiac side effects simply means the organism - or in this case part of the organism = can access those cells in the body to elicit an inflammatory response. It is exceedingly rare however as cardiac problems are far more prevalent in individuals infected with actual Covid. Perhaps you should learn the science before going off on rants - just saying. 🤔 p.s. - "anti-science" by the way is primarily a result of = religious irrationality.

[@blueoval250]

Exactly!!

[@daniellanctot6548]

Isaac Asimov, in a 1980 essay, said about American Society: “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge. '” So for him to so note then means that that movement existed long before 1980 and had evolved to the point of it being a threat 40 years ago! So while I understand that some people might have hope that this COVID fiasco in the US will be the spark that will turn the tide around and understand that they are pushing for it, I think that it does not address how difficult the task will be right now as those anti-intellectuals and anti-science people have adopted a “no matter what argument you provide, even if real and undeniable: I WILL LAUGH IN YOUR FACE AND CALL YOU A MORON FOR BELIEVING IN IT!” attitude. So science’s greatest arguments, facts and proof, amounts to a null some to them (they are wrong in their assessment of the proof given, but they just don’t care) to them, it is not about being right or wrong: It’s about what you project as an individual or a group; and if you project confidence, superiority, steadfastness, etc. and you act as though “if I said it, it is truth” then all they have to say is “I am right and you are wrong” and the quote/unquote debate is over before it ever began! As for COVID and other face-planting events: We are it right now that even though people are dying, people are getting sick and even now, reportedly, their champion president caught it and is sick, they still hold on to the belief that “mask don’t work”, even if they saw him and his supporters wearing them at his last rally; they will literally argue that the mask does not work WHILE wearing a mask; something that should be the end of any debate and should change all their minds... but it doesn’t and it won’t. “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence. -Charles Bukowsk. (...That is not a uniquely American failing, but no one in the world does it better them)

[@losmanzani6849]

@Max Johnson Just point me to the part where he said he was the arbiter of what is right. You are an idiot. The point he made is that we need to be evidenced based on not believe whoever says something with the most conviction.

[@briobarb8525]

Last paragraph soooo true Daniel Lanctot.

[@peterhall6656]

I'm a 70 year old applied mathematician who has worked in defence, government and finance. I have been retired 15 years and I have had time to get depressed about what I perceive to be a massive social cognitive decline that I see on a daliy basis.Deductive logic is non existent these days. Even knowing the old Greek forms of logic is basically unknown now. I once wrote an opinion piece for a national finance paper in which I debunked a preposterous proposition using reductio ad absurdum and they published one letter in reply (written by someone who clearly had no idea of logic) which argued that my logic was wrong. Thus they gave equal time to some dope who didn't even understand the basics of logic. Even in the worlds of maths and physics there are worrying things going on. There are huge numbers of KZbin channels pumping out what is basically nothing more than high school or basic undergraduate material. For these business models to work financially you have to get the 1 sigma viewers. Once you pitch at > 2 sigma viewers you are financially gone. The market is too small. Thus what I see is a huge uniformisation of knowledge at essentialy one level. Commercially you cannot escape that boundary. There are pockets of excellence of course but they are not mass markets. Willy Feller, the great probability theorist, actually dealt with an interesting related theoretical question about 60 years ago. He considered Bernoulli variates with variable probabiity of success. In essence coin tossing with variable probability of success. He was interested in the variance of sum of n such independent variates: He said this : "We have thus the surprising result that the variability of p(k) or lack of uniformity, decreases the magnitude of chancefluctuations as measured by the variance. For example, the number of fires in a community may be treated as a random variable; for a given average number, the variability is maximal if all households have the same probability of fire. Given a certain averagequality p of n machines, the output will be least uniform if all machines are equal. (Anapplication to modern education is obvious but hopeless.)” For those who want to go into the details read William Feller "An Introduction to Probabiity Theory and its Appications", Third Edition, Volume 1, Wiley Press, pages 230-231. Feller along with Chung and Lyapunov devised the modern theopry of the Central Limit Theorem in all its generality. It is interesting to note that the people who think vaccination is nonsense don't think that the quantum mechnical aspects of MRI are equallly nonsense given that probability "amplitudes" and wavefunctions underpin that whole process. The reason for this is that to mount an argument against MRI has too high an intellectual threshold. Climate of course has a low intellectual threshold because everyone can have an opinion on the weather. So the crooks have to market low level intellectual thresholds and simple logic to make a point.

[@dudono1744]

Who would have guessed uniformity causes the least stable results. Tested few examples, it seems to work

[@BobfromSydney]

I disagree, it's probably easier to attack MRI because the common person doesn't understand it. The only reason it's not under attack the moment is they haven't gotten around to it yet. There would be many strong sounding arguments that could be used to attack the use of MRI in medicine so long as the attacker is willing to make up lies.

[@peterhall6656]

@@dudono1744 Yes, it is counter intuitive and quite deep too. It gets better. The Gaussian maximises entropy which is a measure of uncertainty and the Gaussian is a limit of a Bernoulli process with fixed (not variable) probabilities. For the original problem: William Feller "An Introduction to Probabiity Theory and its Appications", Third Edition, Volume 1, Wiley Press, pages 230-231

[@Animeal_Tv]

I nearly give up reading this.

[@carolyngarman1422]

Climate is not weather. Weather is the conditions experienced in any location in time. Climate is what is happening over a long period of time in any location.

[@christophhanke6627]

9:31 Sir, I appreciate the neurons with smiley-faces on your tie