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The Cosmic Connection 18 y
Carl Sagan (1934-1996) was one of the greatest popularizers of science of all time. His numerous books, television appearances, the COSMOS television series, and the movie Contact all brought the excitement of astronomy and the search for extraterrestrial life to millions of people around the world. His death in 1996 silenced one of the most passionate and eloquent scientific voices of our age.
From earliest times, human beings have pondered their place in the universe. They have wondered whether they are in some sense connected with the awesome and immense cosmos in which the Earth is imbedded.
Many thousands of years ago a pseudoscience called astrology was invented. The positions of the planets at the birth of a child were supposed to play a major role in determining his or her future. The planets, moving points of light, were thought, in some mysterious sense, to be gods. In his vanity, Man imagined the universe designed for his benefit and organized for his use.
Perhap ... read more THE MEDIAN ISN'T THE MESSAGE by Stephen Jay Gould 18 y
Stephen Jay Gould was a geologist, zoologist, paleontologist and evolutionary biologist at Harvard, he was also one of the most noted, prolific and best-selling scientific writers of our day
[img]http://www.phoenix5.org/articles/images/gould.jpg[/img]
In 1982, I learned I was suffering from a rare and serious cancer. After surgery, I asked my doctor what the best technical literature on the cancer was. She told me, with a touch of diplomacy, that there was nothing really worth reading. I soon realized why she had offered that humane advice: my cancer is incurable, with a median mortality of eight months after discovery.
The problem may be briefly stated: What does ”median mortality of eight months” signify in our vernacular? I suspect that most people, without training ... read more carl sagan's baloney detection kit 18 y
Based on the book The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan
Based on the book The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan
The following are suggested as tools for testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent arguments:
* Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the facts
* Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view.
* Arguments from authority carry little weight (in science there are no ”authorities”).
* Spin more than one hypothesis - don’t simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy.
* Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it’s ... read more Homeopathy - the false promise 18 y
Hahnemann's ideas were influenced by the contemporary mis-conceptions of physics and magnetism, his misunderstanding of the science, and many other unsubstantiated assumptions. Believed matter was infinitely divisible
Homeopathy
What does the 30C dilution really mean? It means 1 part in 1 X 1030 parts
Analogies :
3 micrograms diluted by planet Earth
20 g diluted by the Sun
1cm out of 100 Billion Light Years
Hahnemann’s ideas were influenced by the contemporary mis-conceptions of physics and magnetism, his misunderstanding of the science, and many other unsubstantiated assumptions. Believed matter was infinitely divisible
The idea that some magical energy is passed on to the solutions by shaking or hitting is nonsensical.
The assumption that water (when used as the solvent) holds ... read more Censorship 18 y
Censorship is an abomination to freedom. Whether in print of on the internet.
WHAT JOHNNY CAN’T READ
Censorship in American Libraries
by
Suzanne Fisher Staples
Among my happiest memories are of rainy summer days tuck-ed up under the eaves of our family’s rustic lake cottage, a gentle patter overhead, reading a book. The Hardy Boys. Black Beauty. Treasure Island. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Anything by Rudyard Kipling. The Encyclopedia Britannica Junior’s illustrated volume on anatomy and The Catcher in the Rye. I was allowed to read what I liked. It helped me to learn who I was and where I fit into the world.
Today many of the books I loved as a c ... read more |