Category: Science | Page 23

Blue glowing quantum laser in space with rippled beam

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 30, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
Enrique Blair, Erwin Schrödinger, Featured, quantum decoherence, Quantum Mechanics, quantum superposition, Robert J. Marks, Schrödinger’s cat, Superposition}

The Final Ambiguous Truth About Schrödinger’s Cat

_{Schrödinger came up with the cat illustration to explain quantum mechanics to interested people who were not physicists} _{News
November 30, 2020

7

Science}

In last week’s podcast, “Enrique Blair on quantum computing,” Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks talks with fellow computer engineer Enrique Blair about why quantum mechanics is so strange. Inevitably, the discussion turned to what really happened with Schrödinger’s cat, the one who is either dead or alive only if we actually look at it. https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-110-Enrique-Blair.mp3 [Schrödinger’s cat starts approximately at 21:50.] The Show Notes and transcript follow. Excerpts from the transcript: Robert J. Marks (pictured): We hear a lot in popular culture about Schrödinger’s cat. Now, Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) was one of the guys who formulated quantum mechanics. He won a Nobel Prize for it. He was trying to explain quantum mechanics to a layperson and he used Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 29, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
Enrique Blair, Featured, Probability, Quantum Mechanics, quantum superposition, Random number generator (RNG), Robert J. Marks, wave function}

How Scientists Have Learned To Work With the Quantum World

_{It’s still pretty weird, though} _{News
November 29, 2020

7

Science}

In last week’s podcast, “Enrique Blair on quantum computing,” Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks talks with fellow computer engineer Enrique Blair about why quantum mechanics is so strange. But scientists have learned to work with QM, despite many questions, like how to work with particles that can be in two different places (quantum superposition): https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-110-Enrique-Blair.mp3 [Starts at approximately 13:16.] The Show Notes and transcript follow. Excerpts from the transcript: Robert J. Marks: What’s superposition? What’s going on there? Enrique Blair: Quantum superposition is really a mathematical description. We use wave functions to describe these particles. There’s a wave function for the photon going through Slit One and a wave function for the photon going through Slit Two. To Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 28, 2020

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Drake Equation, Evolution, Extraterrestrials (ET), Fine-tuning, Michael Denton, Miracle of the Cell (book)}

Does the Slow Pace of Evolution Mean That ET Life Is Rare?

_{That’s the contention in a recent paper by astrobiologists at Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute} _{News
November 28, 2020

4

Arts & Culture, Science}

In a new paper, researchers affiliated with Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute use the assumptions we make about the evolution of life on Earth to estimate the likelihood of it happening the same way elsewhere. And the numbers do not look good. As a science writer puts it: There are countless naturally occurring, but extremely lucky ways in which Earth is special, sheltered, protected, and encouraged to have evolved life. And some key moments of emerging life seem much more likely than others, based on what really did happen. Caroline Delbert, “Intelligent Life Really Can’t Exist Anywhere Else” at Popular Mechanics In the paper, the Oxford group concludes, It took approximately 4.5 billion years for a series of evolutionary transitions Read More ›

Blue glowing multidimensional energy sphere isolated on black

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 28, 2020

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Breakthrough Listen, design inference, Extraterrestrials (ET)}

New Sky Catalog Reveals Most Likely Sites for Alien Technology

_{“Exotica” lists phenomena for which conventional natural explanations don’t seem to work well} _{News
November 28, 2020

7

Arts & Culture, Science}

We’ve been looking at reasons why we don’t see extraterrestrials, even though many scientists are sure they must exist. One enterprising research group has now assembled Exotica, a catalog of strange phenomena in space, which might help us search more efficiently. If extraterrestrials exist and are technologically advanced, they would leave a “technosignature,” which might at first only be seen as astrange phenomenon in space: Breakthrough Listen, the initiative to find signs of intelligent life in the universe, today released an innovative catalog of “Exotica”—a diverse list of objects of potential interest to astronomers searching for technosignatures (indicators of technology developed by extraterrestrial intelligence). The catalog is a collection of over 700 distinct targets intended to include “one of everything” Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 26, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
Copenhagen interpretation (QM), double-slit experiment, Enrique Blair, Featured, photons, Quantum Mechanics, Robert J. Marks}

Here’s Why the Quantum World Is Just So Strange

_{It underlies our universe but it follows its own “rules,” which don’t make sense to the rest of us} _{News
November 26, 2020

7

Science}

In this week’s podcast, “Enrique Blair on quantum computing,” Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks talks with fellow computer engineer Enrique Blair about why Quantum mechanics pioneer Niels Bohr said, “If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet.” Let’s look at some of the reasons he said that: https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-110-Enrique-Blair.mp3 The Show Notes and transcript follow. Enrique Blair: It’s really quite different from our daily experience. Quantum mechanics really is a description of the world at the microscopic scale. And it’s really weird, because there are things that initially we thought maybe were particles but then we learned that they have wave-like behaviors. And there are other things that we thought were waves and then we Read More ›

collection of alien planets in front of the Milky Way galaxy, nearby exoplanets

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 22, 2020

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science

Tagged
Extraterrestrial life, Louis Pasteur, Origin of life, Prime Directive, Purpose, Self-organization, Terraforming}

Why Search for Extraterrestrial Life? Why Not Make It Ourselves?

_{A NASA astrobiologist’s bold suggestion is likely to spark debate} _{News
November 22, 2020

4

Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science}

Recently, we have been looking at the question of why we don’t see aliens, with as many as 75 hypotheses offered. But one astrobiologist has a bold suggestion: Why not just seed life on various suitable exoplanets, once we have the means to do it? We need not search for extraterrestrial life if we can learn how to create it ourselves. There are a lot of reasons to think very carefully about doing something like that, as Betül Kaçar (pictured), director of the NASA Astrobiology Consortium MUSE, acknowledges: Rather than regarding the overwhelming majority of planets and moons as failures unworthy of further study, we should instead recognise them for what they are: they’re not empty. In fact, a very Read More ›

Alien arrival on planet Earth, full moon rises above the horizon

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 21, 2020

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Enrico Fermi, Extraterrestrials (ET)}

Particle Physicist Offers 75 Reasons We Don’t See Aliens

_{But Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute gives high odds that we are the only intelligent beings in the galaxy} _{News
November 21, 2020

8

Arts & Culture, Science}

Recently, we’ve been looking at Matt Williams’s admirable collection of hypotheses as to why we do not see intelligent extraterrestrials, despite the size of our universe. But particle physicist Stephen Webb collected many more such theses, in a book published in 2002, If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens … WHERE IS EVERYBODY?: Fifty Solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life (2002). A revised edition was published by Springer, a big science publisher, in 2015, offering 75 hypotheses. Webb calls his collection of hypotheses the “Fermi solutions,” in honor of Italian physicist Enrico Fermi (1901–1954), whose famous question was “Where are They?” “Fermi realized that any civilization with a modest amount of rocket technology and an Read More ›

Cat looking to little gerbil mouse on the table. Concept of prey, food, pest.

^{Type
post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 20, 2020

Categorized
Information Theory, Neuroscience, Science

Tagged
Agency, Animals, Erwin Schrödinger, hard problem of consciousness, Information, mind, Philip Ball, Plants, Purpose}

Can We Find Purpose in a Universe With No Underlying Purpose?

_{That’s the ambitious goal of a prominent science writer} _{Denyse O'Leary
November 20, 2020

8

Information Theory, Neuroscience, Science}

British science writer Philip Ball offers us a guide to a very interesting project: an attempt to “naturalize” the idea of agency, that is, make the desire to do things—the mouse’s desire to escape the cat— explainable from a fully materialist perspective. That’s much harder than it seems. Rocks don’t desire anything. So we can’t just start from the bottom. It’s also not enough to say that the mouse wants to avoid getting killed. That’s true but it doesn’t really explain anything. For example, a person looks both ways before crossing the street to avoid getting run over. But, by itself, that doesn’t explain why she tries to avoid getting run over. One must factor in her memory, background knowledge, Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 18, 2020

Categorized
Neuroscience, Science

Tagged
human brain, Universe}

Study: The Human Brain and the Universe Are Remarkably Similar

_{It looks as though the universe is not random but rather patterned in the way it unfolds} _{News
November 18, 2020

3

Neuroscience, Science}

Recently, Franco Vazza, an astrophysicist at the University of Bologna and Alberto Felleti, a neurosurgeon at the University of Verona, decided to compare the network of human brain cells and the network of galaxies in our universe. Even though the universe is 27 orders of magnitude bigger than a single human brain, remarkable similarities emerged: The human brain functions thanks to its wide neuronal network that is deemed to contain approximately 69 billion neurons. On the other hand, the observable universe is composed of a cosmic web of at least 100 billion galaxies. Within both systems, only 30% of their masses are composed of galaxies and neurons. Within both systems, galaxies and neurons arrange themselves in long filaments or nodes Read More ›

^{Type
post

Michael Egnor
Date
November 16, 2020

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind, Science

Tagged
Determinism, Featured, free will, Freedom, Jerry Coyne, John Bell, Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Physics}

A Materialist Gives Up on Determinism

_{Evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne undercuts his own argument against free will by admitting that quantum phenomena are real} _{Michael Egnor
November 16, 2020

5

Philosophy of Mind, Science}

Evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne has denied free will for years. But most recently, he has said something that puts the whole matter in doubt. A bit of background: Free will simply cannot be real if determinism is true, that is, if everything in nature falls like dominoes after the first one is pushed: If nature is truly like that, our acts, like those of the dominoes, are wholly determined by natural history and physical laws that we do not control. Nearly all arguments against free will depend critically on determinism. But there is a central problem with determinism: It is clear from physics that determinism in nature is not true. In 1964, theoretical physicist John Bell (1928–1990) proposed relatively simple Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 14, 2020

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Abraham Loeb, Extraterrestrials (ET), Ghosts, Oumuamua}

Why Do People Who Believe in Extraterrestrials Dismiss Ghosts?

_{The talk about extraordinary claims requiring extraordinary evidence—or otherwise—misses the point. There is no evidence} _{News
November 14, 2020

7

Arts & Culture, Science}

A recent profile in Astronomy focused on Abraham Loeb (pictured) a Harvard astronomer who is convinced that closed minds are a key barrier to our finding extraterrestrials. Statistically, he thinks, they must be out there somewhere: About 25 billion stars, roughly one-quarter of those that reside in the Milky Way, lie in a habitable zone. He rounds that down to an even 10 billion to keep the calculations simple. “And then there are about a trillion galaxies like the Milky Way,” he says, “which means there are about 1022 [10 billion trillion] planets in the observable universe that could potentially host life as we know it.” In other words, searches for extraterrestrial life have barely scratched the surface. “As in Read More ›

Atoms and their electron clouds , Quantum mechanics and atomic structure

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 14, 2020

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
C.S. Lewis, Charles Darwin, Evolution, Extraterrestrials (ET), John D. Barrow, Matt Williams, Oren Etzioni, Ray Kurzweil, Roger Penrose, Science fiction, Singularity}

The Aliens Exist—But Evolved Into Virtual Reality at a Nanoscale

_{That’s the Transcension Hypothesis, the latest in our series on science fiction hypotheses as to why we don’t see extraterrestrials} _{News
November 14, 2020

10

Arts & Culture, Science}

Readers will recall that we have been looking at science writer Matt Williams’s analysis of the various reasons that we do not see extraterrestrials except at the movies. Last week, we looked at the Firstborn Hypothesis: We don’t see aliens because they haven’t evolved yet. And, when they do, we must be careful not to harm their development through colonization. This week is a bit of a deeper dive: The extraterrestrials have evolved so far beyond us that perhaps we could not encounter them. … the Transcension Hypothesis ventures that an advanced civilization will become fundamentally altered by its technology. In short, it theorizes that any ETIs that predate humanity have long-since transformed into something that is not recognizable by Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 8, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Science

Tagged
Fine-tuning, Origin of life}

Has a Computer Algorithm Discovered the Secret of Life?

_{In the past, a curious pattern wouldn’t have been visible due to the lack of computing resources} _{News
November 8, 2020

4

Artificial Intelligence, Science}

Artificial intelligence has enabled a remarkable level of automation of chemistry, with great benefits to us all. Once upon a time there was a multivolume Beilstein’s Handbook of Organic Chemistry, but it is now an online database. Biochemist Fazale Rana (pictured) tells us that, because so much has been discovered about the chemistry of the world we live in, “Learning to master Beilstein’s Handbook is no easy task. In fact, there are textbooks devoted to teaching chemists how to use this massive database effectively.” So putting Beilstein online doesn’t make it a walk in the park but does make it computable. And some have started computing around the origin of life. Origin of life studies have been hampered by the Read More ›

3D Rendering of binary tunnel with led leading light. Concept for data mining, big data visualization, machine learning, data discovery technology, customer product analysis.

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 3, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience, Science

Tagged
Big Data, brain, computer, Featured, Gaming AI (book), Gary Smith, George Gilder, Yuri Danilov}

The Brain Is Not a Computer and Big Data Is Not a Big Answer

_{These claims are mere tales from the AI apocalypse, as George Gilder tells it, in Gaming AI} _{News
November 3, 2020

4

Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience, Science}

In Gaming AI, George Gilder (pictured) sets out six assumptions generally shared by those who believe that, in a Singularity sometime soon, we will merge with our machines. Some of these assumptions seem incorrect and they are certainly all discussable. So let’s look at the first two: • “The Modeling Assumption: A computer can deterministically model a brain.” (p. 50) That would be quite difficult because brains don’t function like computers: As neuroscientist Yuri Danilov said last year, “Right now people are saying, each synoptical connection is a microprocessor. So if it’s a microprocessor, you have 1012 neurons, each neuron has 105 synapses, so you have… you can compute how many parallel processing units you have in the brain if Read More ›

Cell abstract concept. Microorganisms under microscope

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 2, 2020

Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Science

Tagged
Cell (biology), Daniel Dennett, Darwinism, Michael Levin, mind, Naturalism}

Are Our Minds Just an Extension of the Minds of Our Cells?

_{A prominent philosopher and a well-known biologist make the case, offering an illustration} _{News
November 2, 2020

6

Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Science}

Naturalism, the idea that physical nature is all there is, can lead us down some strange paths. In the words of prominent philosopher Daniel Dennett and prominent biologist Michael Levin, both of Tufts University, the road to “biology’s next great horizon” is the attempt to “understand cells, tissues and organisms as agents with agendas (even if unthinking ones).” They think that the principle of natural selection acting on random mutations can create everything, including minds: Thanks to Charles Darwin, biology doesn’t ever have to invoke an ‘intelligent designer’ who created all those mechanisms. Evolution by natural selection has done – and is still doing – all that refining and focusing and differentiating work. We’re all just physical mechanisms made of Read More ›

^{Type
post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 25, 2020

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind, Science

Tagged
Boethius, Jesus, Naturalism, Wisdom}

Why Wisdom Is Not and Cannot Be a “Science”

_{Some have tried to make the pursuit of wisdom a “scientific” endeavour. That is not going well.} _{Denyse O'Leary
October 25, 2020

8

Philosophy of Mind, Science}

A curiosity of our age is the effort to “naturalize” traditional values, to treat them as an outcome of evolution. Evolution we are told, took us in a slightly different direction from that of the apes but it did not put us in contact with a wisdom beyond this world. There is no such thing. That conflicts with traditional accounts of wisdom. Wisdom has been seen as different from “knowledge,” “intelligence” or “street smarts.” They are all very useful, of course. But wisdom is a view of the world from a great distance, which enables clarity about the big issues. For example, from Boethius, about 1500 years ago: Indeed, the condition of human nature is just this; man towers above Read More ›

Distant planet system in space with exoplanets 3D rendering elements of this image furnished by NASA

^{Type
post

News
Date
October 24, 2020

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Carl Sagan, Hart-Tipler Conjecture, Science fiction}

Space Aliens Could in Fact Be Watching Us

_{Using the methods we use to spot exoplanets. But if they are technologically advanced, wouldn’t they be here by now?} _{News
October 24, 2020

7

Arts & Culture, Science}

Last week, we looked at the ominous “Great Filter” hypothesis about why the space aliens never show up: Something dreadful almost always happens to prevent a civilization from reaching the point of easy space-faring. Probably something to do with mutually self-destructive warfare. But this week, let’s start with something different first. Let’s look at the possibility that the extraterrestrial intelligences could be alive and watching us right now, using the very same methods we use to spot exoplanets. A recent open-access astronomy paper tried to calculate which aliens could actually spot us by whether Earth dims the Sun when passing it: These sudden drops in luminosity are very slight, but detectable nonetheless. These dimming events can yield other important data as well, allowing astronomers to determine the length of an exoplanet’s year, its temperature, and its chemical properties, the latter of which can be used to discern rocky planets from gas giants. Other detection techniques exist, such as the Doppler method, but the transit method continues to be the most reliable and straightforward. The number of stars that we can observe through our telescopes seems almost endless, but the transit method means we’re caught in a rather glaring observational selection effect. With the transit technique, we can only spot exoplanets that pass in front of their host stars from our line of sight. George Dvorsky, “Aliens From These Worlds Could Be Watching Us Right Now” at Gizmodo Of course, a life-bearing planet might be out of our line of sight but, as Dvorsky points out, astronomers have already spotted thousands of exoplanets, which enables some sort of analysis. And, he says, observers there might be able to detect whether an industrial civilization exists on Earth (composition of gases, for example). The projected James Webb telescope could do that for their planets too. But now, on the other side, let’s look at the Hart-Tipler Conjecture: “Extraterrestrial intelligent beings do not exist” (1980). If they did, within 300 million years, they would have developed advanced technology and be here by now.” Or maybe by 650,000 years. Either way, they have had enough time. Here are some of the actual constraints of space exploration: As we may guess, a conjecture that the aliens must have reached or contacted us if they really existed is not popular among searchers of the skies. Consider a 2015 discussion at Universe Today by Toronto researcher and science writer Paul Patton of the Hart-Tipler conjecture. As Patton notes, that hypothesis originated nearly a half century ago in a paper by astronomer Michael H. Hart. The paper doesn’t seem to be open access but an astronomy letter responding to it may be found here. And how did eclectic Tulane physicist Frank Tipler become involved? Patton tells us that Tipler extended the argument in 1980, pointing out that even if they couldn’t visit Earth themselves, intelligent aliens could certainly have developed intelligent robots that could. Curiously, Tipler made that point long before artificial intelligence (AI) triumphed in many strategic games like Go, chess, and StarCraft II. So if we want to say that Tipler is wrong, we need something more compelling than “We don’t like his idea.” As it happens, those who persist in the search for extraterrestrial intelligences often become impatient with such skeptics. Patton, for example, cites alternative authorities like Carl Sagan (1934–1996): Besides assuming that interstellar travel is feasible, Hart’s argument is based on very specific and highly speculative ideas about how extraterrestrials must behave. He assumed that they would pursue a policy of unlimited expansion, that they would expand quickly, and that once their colonies were established, they would last for millions or even billions of years. If any of his speculations about how extraterrestrials will act aren’t right, then his argument that they don’t exist fails… Paul Patton, “Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” II: Questioning the Hart-Tipler Conjecture” at Universe Today As might be expected, Carl Sagan and William Newman responded in 1981, offering a more hopeful analysis, based on the spread of animal populations: For Newman and Sagan, the absence of extraterrestrials on Earth doesn’t mean that they don’t exist elsewhere in the galaxy, or that they never launch starships. It just means that they don’t behave in the way Hart expected. They conclude that “except possibly in the very early history of the Galaxy, there are no very old galactic civilizations with a consistent policy of conquest of inhabited worlds; there is no Galactic Empire”. Paul Patton, “Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” II: Questioning the Hart-Tipler Conjecture” at Universe Today Well, we don’t really have a good reason for being sorry about the absence of a Galactic Empire, do we? Maybe the aliens view the current turmoil here on Earth as a kind of distant soap opera. Maybe they’re just a studio audience and the show sells advertising in a distant galaxy. The audience can never get here, in the same way that we can’t intervene in a historical drama to save the heroine from the stake. Can we prove that’s not true? Anyway, next Sci-Fi Saturday, we will look at another account of why we don’t see the aliens! You may also enjoy these accounts of why we do not see the aliens: 1.Are the Aliens We Never Find Obeying Star Trek’s Prime Directive? The Directive is, don’t interfere in the evolution of alien societies, even if you have good intentions. Assuming the aliens exist, perhaps it’s just as well, on the whole, if they do want to leave us alone. They could want to “fix” us instead… 2.How can we be sure we are not just an ET’s simulation? A number of books and films are based on the idea. Should we believe it? We make a faith-based decision that logic and evidence together are reasonable guides to what is true. Logical possibility alone does not make an idea true. 3.Did the smart machines destroy the aliens who invented them? That’s the Berserker hypothesis. A smart deadly weapon could well decide to do without its Read More › Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
October 20, 2020

Categorized
Information Theory, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, Science

Tagged
free will, Materialism, Minority Report (film), Physics, Surprisal}

Do We Really Have Free Will? Four Things to Know

_{Free will makes more sense of our world than determinism and science certainly allows for it} _{News
October 20, 2020

7

Information Theory, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, Science}

Free will is a contentious topic in science these days. Theoretical physicists weigh in sharply on one side or the other. Just this month, based on quantum mechanics, mathematician Tim Andersen says maybe and theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder says no. Based on cosmology, the study of our universe, physicist George Ellis said yes last June. With free will, as with consciousness, we don’t fully understand what’s involved. All insights from science are partial so we can’t look to science for a definitive answer. But maybe science can offer some hints. Here are four that might be helpful: 1.Has psychology shown that free will does not really exist? Psychological research on free will has supported the concept of free will but Read More ›

^{Type
post

Eric Holloway
Date
October 14, 2020

Categorized
Information Theory, Science

Tagged
Convergent evolution, Evolution, Featured, Invention}

To What Extent Does Life Simply Invent Itself As It Goes Along?

_{The evidence may surprise us} _{Eric Holloway
October 14, 2020

6

Information Theory, Science}

According to a popular anti-creationist website Talk Origins, one of the strongest pieces of evidence for evolution and common descent is the phylogenetic signal. In their view, when we look at specific properties across multiple species — number of legs, presence or absence of wings, the presence of a gene, a configuration of nucleotides in the genome, etc. — such properties will form a strongly nested hierarchy. We should expect to see such a strongly nested hierarchy if organisms evolved from one another and therefore a “family tree” links all the organisms together. However, if a property that appears only on a branch, it will be shared only by that branch’s leaves. Leaves on a different branch will not have Read More ›

Stethoscope on an old book of medicine, conceptual image

^{Type
post

Robert J. Marks
Date
October 13, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
Consensus science, Correlation vs causation, Eugenics, Featured, Michael Crichton, Politics, Racism, Spurious Correlations (website)}

Should We Really “Listen to Science”? What Should We Listen For?

_{Politicians who insist that their beliefs represent science might be surprised by the checkered history of that view} _{Robert J. Marks
October 13, 2020

7

Science}

This political season, politicians are telling us to “listen to science.” But buyer beware. The politicization of science is a long and sad history of so-called “scientific truths” that were not only mistaken but resulted in tragedy. Those who know a bit of this history should be wary of politicians’ table-pounding claims on topics ranging from climate change to COVID. In a 2003 lecture at Caltech, Michael Crichton, MD (pictured in 2002, courtesy Jon Chase CC BY-SA 3.0), author of great science fiction including Jurassic Park, noted, “science has in some instances been seduced by the more ancient lures of politics and publicity.” For example, racism was “settled science” in the early 20th century. So was eugenics, the so-called science Read More ›