Waski_the_Squirrel
Resident of the least visited state in the nation.
I just finished Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark.
In the book, he goes through all kinds of cases of superstition substituting for reason. People like to believe things without evidence, and people are easy to manipulate. As a people, we definitely don't like it when authority is questioned (except when we decide we don't like the authority). But, Carl Sagan proposes doing exactly that: questioning why.
Skepticism should be an integral part of science classes. Too many people seem to think science should be a dogmatic set of facts to be learned, but they totally miss the point. Science is scary because it's about questioning, supporting conclusions with evidence, and being willing to change your mind in the light of new evidence. That's how it should be taught in school.
And it is really sad when people question the validity of science because it changes. They don't seem to get that that's the whole point: it changes in light of new evidence, and there is no such thing as "settled science." Now it's unlikely that many theories will be undermined, but science is open to it. I'm about to teach conservation of mass to my freshmen, but Einstein added some new wrinkles to that.
Sagan gets into the dangers of pseudoscience, the witch trials and burnings, and the persecution of John Wycliffe.
On the topic of the book, Sagan points out how important it was that the founding fathers of this country had scientific minds rather than dogmatic minds. They questioned, experimented, and created a nation like nothing before seen. Even though they had their blind spots (slavery), they created something pretty amazing. And, what if more kids grew up questioning rather than blindly accepting? It's uncomfortable to have your beliefs questioned, especially when you really don't have a reason to believe them. But what a world that would be!
In the book, he goes through all kinds of cases of superstition substituting for reason. People like to believe things without evidence, and people are easy to manipulate. As a people, we definitely don't like it when authority is questioned (except when we decide we don't like the authority). But, Carl Sagan proposes doing exactly that: questioning why.
Skepticism should be an integral part of science classes. Too many people seem to think science should be a dogmatic set of facts to be learned, but they totally miss the point. Science is scary because it's about questioning, supporting conclusions with evidence, and being willing to change your mind in the light of new evidence. That's how it should be taught in school.
And it is really sad when people question the validity of science because it changes. They don't seem to get that that's the whole point: it changes in light of new evidence, and there is no such thing as "settled science." Now it's unlikely that many theories will be undermined, but science is open to it. I'm about to teach conservation of mass to my freshmen, but Einstein added some new wrinkles to that.
Sagan gets into the dangers of pseudoscience, the witch trials and burnings, and the persecution of John Wycliffe.
On the topic of the book, Sagan points out how important it was that the founding fathers of this country had scientific minds rather than dogmatic minds. They questioned, experimented, and created a nation like nothing before seen. Even though they had their blind spots (slavery), they created something pretty amazing. And, what if more kids grew up questioning rather than blindly accepting? It's uncomfortable to have your beliefs questioned, especially when you really don't have a reason to believe them. But what a world that would be!
;D