59 Matching Annotations
  1. Feb 2024
    1. In recent times, we have come to revere scientific knowledge.

      Some do, yes, but it's interesting to note that when Bill Joy was writing this a strong anti-science movement was afoot in the United States of America.

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  2. Dec 2023
    1. They don't want their intimate convic-tions turned over and examined, and itis unfortunate that the emphasis put

      upon minor differences by men of science and belief in their strenuous search for the completest truth and the exactest expression sometimes gives color to this sort of misunderstanding.

      This emphasis on minor differences is exactly what many anti-science critics have done. See examples with respect to evolution and climate science denial.

  3. Jul 2022
    1. Yet not all of the sciences use (or require) mathematics to the same extent, for example, the lifesciences. There, the descriptive, analytical methods of Aristotle remain important, as does the(somewhat casual) recourse to final causes.

      Is the disappearance of the Aristotelian final cause in modern science part of the reason for the rise of an anti-science perspective for the religious right in 21st century America?

      People would seem to want or need a purpose to underlie their lives or they otherwise seem to be left adrift.

      Why are things the way they are? What are they for?

      Is the question: "why?" really so strong?

  4. Apr 2022
    1. Humans’ tendency to“overimitate”—to reproduce even the gratuitous elements of another’s behavior—may operate on a copy now, understand later basis. After all, there might begood reasons for such steps that the novice does not yet grasp, especially sinceso many human tools and practices are “cognitively opaque”: not self-explanatory on their face. Even if there doesn’t turn out to be a functionalrationale for the actions taken, imitating the customs of one’s culture is a smartmove for a highly social species like our own.

      Is this responsible for some of the "group think" seen in the Republican party and the political right? Imitation of bad or counter-intuitive actions outweights scientifically proven better actions? Examples: anti-vaxxers and coronavirus no-masker behaviors? (Some of this may also be about or even entangled with George Lakoff's (?) tribal identity theories relating to "people like me".

      Explore this area more deeply.

      Another contributing factor for this effect may be the small-town effect as most Republican party members are in the countryside (as opposed to the larger cities which tend to be more Democratic). City dwellers are more likely to be more insular in their interpersonal relations whereas country dwellers may have more social ties to other people and groups and therefor make them more tribal in their social interrelationships. Can I find data to back up this claim?

      How does link to the thesis put forward by Joseph Henrich in The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous? Does Henrich have data about city dwellers to back up my claim above?

      What does this tension have to do with the increasing (and potentially evolutionary) propensity of humans to live in ever-increasingly larger and more dense cities versus maintaining their smaller historic numbers prior to the pre-agricultural timeperiod?

      What are the biological effects on human evolution as a result of these cultural pressures? Certainly our cultural evolution is effecting our biological evolution?

      What about the effects of communication media on our cultural and biological evolution? Memes, orality versus literacy, film, radio, television, etc.? Can we tease out these effects within the socio-politico-cultural sphere on the greater span of humanity? Can we find breaks, signs, or symptoms at the border of mass agriculture?


      total aside, though related to evolution: link hypercycles to evolution spirals?

  5. Feb 2022
  6. Jan 2022
    1. In an era where funding for good projects can be hard to come by, or is even endangered, we must affirmatively make the case for the study of how to improve human well-being. This possibility is a fundamental reason why the American public is interested in supporting the pursuit of knowledge, and rightly so.

      Keep in mind that they're asking this in an anti-science and post-fact political climate. Is progress studies the real end goal, or do we need political solutions? Better communication solutions? Better education solutions? Instead? First?

      Are they addressing the correct question/problem here?

  7. Dec 2021
  8. Nov 2021
  9. Oct 2021
  10. Sep 2021
    1. SuzeeB🙂. (2021, September 14). Dear vaccinated, We did not take your freedom. The government did. We are not holding your freedoms to ransom. The government is. If we are a danger to you, then your vaccine doesn’t work. If it does, then you should already be free. The government has lied to you. [Tweet]. @NatalieSuB. https://twitter.com/NatalieSuB/status/1437835320628809733

    1. Ben Collins on Twitter: “A quick thread: It’s hard to explain just how radicalized ivermectin and antivax Facebook groups have become in the last few weeks. They’re now telling people who get COVID to avoid the ICU and treat themselves, often by nebulizing hydrogen peroxide. So, how did we get here?” / Twitter. (n.d.). Retrieved September 26, 2021, from https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1441395300002848769?s=20

    1. anti-vaccine movement

      it is also problematic how anti-science ideas are conflated with justified criticism about the development of this specific vaccine. it makes the anti-science camp look much more robust than it is

  11. Aug 2021
  12. Jul 2021
    1. Dr. Tara C. Smith. (2021, March 26). ‘What motivation could anti-vaxxers possibly have to spread misinformation?’ Story: ‘Organizers of the course attended by CBC journalists said that 400 people had signed up, which at $623 per student, adds up to almost $250,000 in course fees’ + tests & supplements she plugged. [Tweet]. @aetiology. https://twitter.com/aetiology/status/1375468823508348928

  13. Jun 2021
  14. May 2021
    1. Prof. Gavin Yamey MD MPH. (2021, April 20). I was very pleased to see Levitt resign yesterday from the science advisory board of the anti-vaxx group PANDA. Previously Sikora had resigned. This press release mentions other resignations. Anyone know if the 3 GBD authors finally resigned? Here’s PANDA’s views on vaccines: Https://t.co/wVZX7XujZ3 [Tweet]. @GYamey. https://twitter.com/GYamey/status/1384476491317227525

  15. Apr 2021
  16. Mar 2021
  17. Feb 2021
    1. ReconfigBehSci. (2021, January 18). Calling lawyers, historians, and political scientists. A thread on the value of life. I’m still stunned by Lord Sumption, ex-judge on UK’s Supreme Court, now anti-lockdown campaigner, publicly stating that the life of a woman with stage 4 bowel cancer was ‘less valuable’ 1/4 [Tweet]. @SciBeh. https://twitter.com/SciBeh/status/1351118909886312449

  18. Oct 2020
  19. Aug 2020
    1. Alfred Russel Wallace, who came up with the idea of natural selection independently of Charles Darwin, was an implacable opponent of the smallpox vaccine during the late 19th Century

      Being an anti-vaxxer makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint.

      Fixing any disease that could kill an individual before his/her childbearing age is only helping weaknesses (diseases) propagate in the human populous.

  20. Jul 2020
  21. Jun 2020
  22. May 2020