On the need for critical reasoning 29 Oct 2009 Alfred Russel Wallace, Darwin’s codiscoverer of natural selection as an evolutionary mechanism, was something of a contradiction. On the one hand he argued with a flat earth advocate, getting involved in a lawsuit as a result. On the other he opposed vaccination and promoted spiritualism. It is not the case that simply being a person of good intentions and will protects from stupid ideas. For that, you need critical reasoning skills. Below the fold, from Robert Grumbine’s blog, is a short talk on why vaccination is necessary, and why critical reasoning skills are a matter of public wellbeing. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFVE8csrcRw&feature=player_embedded] Education Science Social evolution
History The historical way to do science 2 Oct 2010 A review of two history of science books in History Today starts out The story of science is Whig history. We are forever cherry-picking the routes by which we came to our present understanding of the world – and the implication is always the same: our current grasp is final,… Read More
Creationism and Intelligent Design Schools, if not conservative Christians, can learn from experience 27 Aug 2009 The Des Moines Register reports that local schools are dropping elective Bible classes and critiques of evolutionary theory to avoid being sued (like in Dover PS). Spencer school officials will throw out a Bible class and discard a critique of evolutionary theory to avoid being sued over the district’s proposed… Read More
General Science Spin versus framing: the tragedy of PR 31 Aug 200818 Sep 2017 For my sins, I was once a public relations guy, for an educational institution, and I held positions roughly in that domain (e.g., as public communications manager for a medical research institute, although I managed the means not the message) for the bulk of my professional life until I finally… Read More
I mean, seriously, who are you going to believe? The unanimous opinion of the entire (non-quack) medical and bioscience establishment? Or a former Playboy model?
I didn’t watch that video, or read that blog post (too tired, need sleep), but I still feel compelled to remind the readers here of the recent example of these kind of contradictions: Bill Maher.