You wouldn’t expect a essay on moral rights to appear in a scientific magazine would you? Continue reading
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Blog 62. Conspiracy theories—making politics crazy.
As reported in Scientific American (Dec. 2014) two political scientists* at the University of Miami find that about one-third of Americans believe Obama is a foreigner, and about as many believe that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an “inside job” by the Bush administration. Continue reading
Blog 48. Climate change and social conflict
Arguments over whether climate change is real, and if so whether it is man-caused, ignore the elephant in the room. Continue reading
Blog 45. The flow of information and misinformation
The big headline above a 26 column-inch editorial says,
Climate change threat is overblown.
This is in the newspaper of the most science-centered town of the nation? Well, some accounts claim Los Alamos has more science Ph.D.s per unit population than anywhere else. Continue reading
Blog 42. Cyber (and other) security and responsibility
During the recent week, Charlie Rose (PBS) interviewed Peter Singer, author of a new book entitled Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know. The book deals with infiltration, theft, and disruption via digital communications, particularly the internet. Continue reading
Blog 40. Season’s greetings with hope
In the 39 previous blogs of this year 2013, you and I have dealt with some fundamental issues, but we haven’t yet talked about hope. There is hope. Continue reading
Blog 38. Science and anti-science
Although our lives are dominated by technology, most of the US population is scientifically illiterate. Continue reading
Blog 36. Italian Earthquakes and Scientific Illiteracy
In America, we have a society infused with technology but a populace that is scientifically illiterate. That leads to governance by political correctness rather than by critical evaluation. We’re not alone; similar things happen elsewhere. Continue reading