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Meditation 1349
Clear Thinkers, a dying breed

by: Manny

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I recently viewed this video featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, possessor of one of the most brilliant public minds of our time, and an unabashed champion of science:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MqTOEospfo

One of the key problems informing our current public discourse is the notion that all points of view deserve equal credence, no matter how bat shit crazy they may be. Yes, there is freedom of speech, and of course people can say what they want, at least in some parts of the world. But to equate equal audience with equal validity is a fundamental error. People with even minimal education think they know more about climate change, evolution, and other scientific topics than scientists who have spent lifetimes hypothesizing, researching, testing, and retesting.

Alonzo Bodden made a great point on one of his recent podcasts regarding this. He said that no average person is foolish enough to think that they could beat even the worst player in the NBA in a game of one on one. Yet they hear a talking head on Faux News say something with no backing science, or read something on the internet with no scientific basis, and right away they think they know better than the scientists. Sadly, declining intellect does not seem to correlate to a declining capacity to reproduce.

 

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