A Radiolab podcast that I happened across a few weeks ago presented the work of certain scientists to the effect that there are probably no overriding principles of order to the universe, and that, in general, “chaos reigns,” as they say. (more…)
Borowitz adds: The jurist said that, after work last Friday, he dropped into a bar near the Supreme Court “to have a few pops,” and inadvertently forgot to take his briefcase when he left.
Here again, everyone on Earth has access to the two basic facts that conspire to make this hilarious: (more…)
Below is another amazing video from the “Veritasium” series, this one focusing on the science behind the vast damage to human health and environmental quality done by one man. Fascinating stuff.
Of particular interest to me is the role that the quote here from Benjamin Franklin plays, i.e., society generally takes a very long time to identify and remove sources of harm.
If that was true 200+ years ago, before corporate greed stepped into the picture, one can only imagine what all the wealth and power mean in today’s world, where ridiculous amount of cash is poured into litigation designed to delay the removal of threats ad infinitum.
Ponder for a moment what the fossil fuel industry around the world is doing to protect its earnings stream at the expense of the quality of life for all of us, especially our children and their children.
Of course we do, and at many levels.
Those who followed the orders they received from then-U.S. president Donald Trump to overthrow the U.S. government are guilty of crimes, but still, IMO, pitiable in the extreme.
Decent people need to feel sorry for everyone whose mind is consumed by irrational hate and is bereft of the capacity to think on his own, whether through congenital mental impairment or some sort of tragedy in their lives.
OK, but does this excuse them from their crimes? No, but it presents mitigating circumstances, IMO.
It would be impossible for me to hear a case like this and not develop a profound sense of anger at the true architects of the insurrection. We all need to hope justice is done.
A friend writes:
It’s good that Americans are starting to look back to 2016 and identifying that point in time as the one where we lost our way. (more…)
It could be argued that the meme here is an attack on religion, and that’s partly true. Yet what makes it so remarkable is the idea that there are no “universal truths.” That’s quite a statement, when you think about it.
There is virtually nothing that we in the 21st Century believe about our Earth-bound life forms and the universe in which we live that we held as true 400 years ago.
It’s now “known,” to take an example, that the atoms that make up your body were born from dying stars, and that this “truth” was discovered in our lifetimes. If I has asked my science teachers in high school where all this carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen came from, they would have said, “Sorry, son. We have no idea.”
To most of us, there is a sublime beauty to science and its progression, which is why it’s so horrific to watch our American society reject it as the basis for policy-making. It’s like watching someone set fire to the Mona Lisa.
I’m hoping that the election tally shown here is an indication that the American people at the right-most end of the political spectrum, even garden-variety Trump supporters, have reached their limits in terms of how much hate and stupidity they will allow themselves to absorb.
There is lots of speculation that the midterm elections are going to heavily favor Republicans. I’m not convinced.
The meme here is a fine example of how right-wing ideologies are hard to refute. I happen to believe that people who are capable of critical thinking are more likely to be progressives, but it’s impossible to disprove the theory that teachers indoctrinate their students into liberal belief systems.
This dilemma exists in, I would submit, every single arena in which left and right opinions exist.
Nonreligious people can’t prove that God doesn’t exist. Immigration rights advocates can’t prove that a border wall wouldn’t reduce crime. Pro-choicers can’t prove that an aborted fetus wouldn’t have become the scientist who cured cancer.
There is a limit here, however. Trickle-down economics doesn’t work. Climate change actually is destroying the planet. Vaccinations are safe and effective. Yet Fox News can cherry-pick an “expert” in each of these fields who will refute the overwhelming scientific consensus.
And speaking of Fox News, this is why it continues to exist. There are people whose brains are “wired” to seek out right-wing thought patterns, and there are no rational arguments that will ever change their minds.
This from the fellow pictured here, often called “the father of American education,” Horace Mann: Education is our only political safety. Outside of this ark, all is deluge.
That’s a poetic way of expressing an idea that’s very much a part of the social discourse today, in an era in which our public schools are systematically being torn apart. A more prosaic phrasing goes like this: No one wants to live in a country surrounded by fools. It’s unpleasant, and, as Mann pointed out, it’s dangerous.
In what sense is it dangerous? Well, uneducated people tend to turn to crime more than their counterparts, but they are also less capable of changing their minds when they come across new facts. Also from Mann: Do not think of knocking out another person’s brains because he differs in opinion from you. It would be as rational to knock yourself on the head because you differ from yourself ten years ago.
This mental fixity is the phenomenon that gives us the modern-day Trump supporters, anti-vaxxer, etc.
