THE MISINFORMATION BARRIER
"Every Kid Starts Out As A Natural-Born Scientist, And Then We Beat It Out Of Them. A Few Trickle Through The System With Their Wonder And Enthusiasm For Science Intact" - Carl Sagan
If You're A Science Loving Guy, Then You Know That There Was A Time When You Thought, "Hey, I Know All This Stuff" Or "Wait, I Know That". We Assume That We Already Know Everything. And We Refuse To Learn Further. Then We Have That Moment Of Realization, When We Come To Know That EVERYTHING. Yes, Everything, That We've Learned Till This Day, Is Wrong.
That Shock Is Way Too Great, And Many Never Accept That Fact Because They Fear They'll Lose Themselves.
In This Age Of Technology And Superfast Communications, A Cancer Called "Misinformation", Thrives Inside Everyone Of Us. It Lurks There, Silently, And You Move About, Watch A Movie With Your Girlfriend Or Drive A Car Without Even Noticing It. So Exactly How Much Of The Stuff You Know Right Now Is Wrong? Hint: A. LOT.
And Two Separate Fact From Fiction, We'll Deal With Three Categories Of Stupid, Yet Dangerous Scientific Prejudices That Lurk Inside Your Mind. Your Gain Or Loss, Survival Or Even Death Depends On These Basic Topics.
CATEGORY: 1
Not Many People Are Affected By This Cancer. Because We Have This In-Built "Bullshit Detector Mechanism" That Helped Our Ancestors Survive And Pass Their Genes Onto Us. Yep, Tin Foil Hats Are Ridiculous, Cell Phones Don't Cause Cancer (Although, We Suspect That Online Networking Sites Sharing Stupid Things Do Make You Vulnerable To The Misinformation Cancer), Eating Natural, GMO-Free Veggies Don't Cleanse Your Body And/Or Detox You. Magnetic Pendants Don't Vibrationally Alter Your Chakras To Make You A Perfect Man/Women. Telekinesis Ain't Real, The Universe And The Stars Are Not Electrical (Tesla Was The Real Genius Of His Century, But Just Like Some Of The Grand People, He Too Had Little Foggy Spots In His Knowledge; Thereby TOO Much Tesla Fandom Is Very Risky), And Cell Phones Aren't Radioactive, Astrology Isn't Real. (Got More? E-mail Us At [email protected])
This Isn't About Politics, This Isn't About Choices. Whether You Are A Republican, Or A Democrat, One Direction Fan Or The Beetles Fan, Real Madrid Fan Or A Barca Fan, Facts Are Facts. And Your Opinions Exercise No Control Over Them.
Phew, Was That Too Much? If You Believe In Some Of Them, Then Go Ahead And Kill That Cancer. Destroying Preconceived Notions Is A Part Of Growing Up.
But If You're Damn Sure About How Tin Foil Hats, Created By Deepak Chopra, Magnetically And Vibrationally Alter Your Chakras And Your Planets Residing In Your Birth Constellation To Relieve You From The Radioactive Stresses Given By Your iPhone, Which Made You Vulnerable To Alien Abductions And Chemtrails, Which Are Another Conspiracy By The Big Pharma to Make You Ill, Unless You Take 3-4 Shots Of Homeopathic Remedy. Then This Isn't The Place For You. (Or Maybe It Is, If You Wanna Learn More And Understand Why Your Girlfriend Hates You)
The Dark Side Of Innocent People Who Never Really Know That A Deadly Cancer Lurks Inside Them Is That: They're The World, The People. And Our Country, Our Constitution, Our Society, Depends On Them.
Climate Change Is Deadly, And A Real, Complicated Problem, With An Obvious Complicated Answer. How Does Most Of The Human Civilization React? "CLIMATE CHANGE IS A HOAX!" Or Maybe Sen. Jim Inhofe Gives Out Another Climate Change Denial Speech. C'mon People, We're At 0.73 On Kardashev Scale, We're Growing Up And We Need to Take Responsibilities. Evolution Is True, And We've Got Everything To Support It. GMOs Work And Have Saved Countless Farmers From Suicides. Vaccines Work, And We've Got More Than Enough Studies To Prove That: It Works, The Sources Of Your Knowledge Are Wrong And Biased, And That You're Letting In Harmful Diseases Which Were Previously Eradicated.
We've Just Completed Category: 1, Ready For Another Hurricane? (In Case You're Not, Go Watch Some Kitten Or Puppy Videos. They Help Me Relax)
CATEGORY: 2
This Is The Type Of Cancer That's Harmful. And A Significant Number Of People Are Affected By It. This Cancer Isn't Easy To Remove As It Turns You Into A Zombie, That Is, It Controls You. Many Deny The Cure, And Present Make-Believe, Stupid, Illogical Reasons To Support Their Deadly Cancer.
Ghosts Are Not Real, Dammit. And Even If You Believe With All Your Mind And Heart, It Won't Be True. I Used To Believe In Every Ghost Hunter Video, Ghost Sights, Poltergeists, Mind Control Videos; And Then I Resolved to Pick Up A More Skeptical, More Realistic, Logical Point Of View. Ghosts Would've Been Cool. Man, I'd Love To Talk With My Loved Ones Long Dead. Fight Evil Ghosts, Raise Someone From The Coffin. But There's Also A Reason We're Spending Time And Resources On Space Exploration, Maintaining A Check On Climate Change, Raising Charity For The Needy. We Don't Cry All Loud For A Whole Damn Decade After Our Loved One Dies. It's Reality, And Sometimes We Have To Accept It
Whether Or Not We Like It.
If You're A Science Loving Guy, Then You Know That There Was A Time When You Thought, "Hey, I Know All This Stuff" Or "Wait, I Know That". We Assume That We Already Know Everything. And We Refuse To Learn Further. Then We Have That Moment Of Realization, When We Come To Know That EVERYTHING. Yes, Everything, That We've Learned Till This Day, Is Wrong.
That Shock Is Way Too Great, And Many Never Accept That Fact Because They Fear They'll Lose Themselves.
In This Age Of Technology And Superfast Communications, A Cancer Called "Misinformation", Thrives Inside Everyone Of Us. It Lurks There, Silently, And You Move About, Watch A Movie With Your Girlfriend Or Drive A Car Without Even Noticing It. So Exactly How Much Of The Stuff You Know Right Now Is Wrong? Hint: A. LOT.
And Two Separate Fact From Fiction, We'll Deal With Three Categories Of Stupid, Yet Dangerous Scientific Prejudices That Lurk Inside Your Mind. Your Gain Or Loss, Survival Or Even Death Depends On These Basic Topics.
CATEGORY: 1
Not Many People Are Affected By This Cancer. Because We Have This In-Built "Bullshit Detector Mechanism" That Helped Our Ancestors Survive And Pass Their Genes Onto Us. Yep, Tin Foil Hats Are Ridiculous, Cell Phones Don't Cause Cancer (Although, We Suspect That Online Networking Sites Sharing Stupid Things Do Make You Vulnerable To The Misinformation Cancer), Eating Natural, GMO-Free Veggies Don't Cleanse Your Body And/Or Detox You. Magnetic Pendants Don't Vibrationally Alter Your Chakras To Make You A Perfect Man/Women. Telekinesis Ain't Real, The Universe And The Stars Are Not Electrical (Tesla Was The Real Genius Of His Century, But Just Like Some Of The Grand People, He Too Had Little Foggy Spots In His Knowledge; Thereby TOO Much Tesla Fandom Is Very Risky), And Cell Phones Aren't Radioactive, Astrology Isn't Real. (Got More? E-mail Us At [email protected])
This Isn't About Politics, This Isn't About Choices. Whether You Are A Republican, Or A Democrat, One Direction Fan Or The Beetles Fan, Real Madrid Fan Or A Barca Fan, Facts Are Facts. And Your Opinions Exercise No Control Over Them.
Phew, Was That Too Much? If You Believe In Some Of Them, Then Go Ahead And Kill That Cancer. Destroying Preconceived Notions Is A Part Of Growing Up.
But If You're Damn Sure About How Tin Foil Hats, Created By Deepak Chopra, Magnetically And Vibrationally Alter Your Chakras And Your Planets Residing In Your Birth Constellation To Relieve You From The Radioactive Stresses Given By Your iPhone, Which Made You Vulnerable To Alien Abductions And Chemtrails, Which Are Another Conspiracy By The Big Pharma to Make You Ill, Unless You Take 3-4 Shots Of Homeopathic Remedy. Then This Isn't The Place For You. (Or Maybe It Is, If You Wanna Learn More And Understand Why Your Girlfriend Hates You)
The Dark Side Of Innocent People Who Never Really Know That A Deadly Cancer Lurks Inside Them Is That: They're The World, The People. And Our Country, Our Constitution, Our Society, Depends On Them.
Climate Change Is Deadly, And A Real, Complicated Problem, With An Obvious Complicated Answer. How Does Most Of The Human Civilization React? "CLIMATE CHANGE IS A HOAX!" Or Maybe Sen. Jim Inhofe Gives Out Another Climate Change Denial Speech. C'mon People, We're At 0.73 On Kardashev Scale, We're Growing Up And We Need to Take Responsibilities. Evolution Is True, And We've Got Everything To Support It. GMOs Work And Have Saved Countless Farmers From Suicides. Vaccines Work, And We've Got More Than Enough Studies To Prove That: It Works, The Sources Of Your Knowledge Are Wrong And Biased, And That You're Letting In Harmful Diseases Which Were Previously Eradicated.
We've Just Completed Category: 1, Ready For Another Hurricane? (In Case You're Not, Go Watch Some Kitten Or Puppy Videos. They Help Me Relax)
CATEGORY: 2
This Is The Type Of Cancer That's Harmful. And A Significant Number Of People Are Affected By It. This Cancer Isn't Easy To Remove As It Turns You Into A Zombie, That Is, It Controls You. Many Deny The Cure, And Present Make-Believe, Stupid, Illogical Reasons To Support Their Deadly Cancer.
Ghosts Are Not Real, Dammit. And Even If You Believe With All Your Mind And Heart, It Won't Be True. I Used To Believe In Every Ghost Hunter Video, Ghost Sights, Poltergeists, Mind Control Videos; And Then I Resolved to Pick Up A More Skeptical, More Realistic, Logical Point Of View. Ghosts Would've Been Cool. Man, I'd Love To Talk With My Loved Ones Long Dead. Fight Evil Ghosts, Raise Someone From The Coffin. But There's Also A Reason We're Spending Time And Resources On Space Exploration, Maintaining A Check On Climate Change, Raising Charity For The Needy. We Don't Cry All Loud For A Whole Damn Decade After Our Loved One Dies. It's Reality, And Sometimes We Have To Accept It
Whether Or Not We Like It.
That Dot's Our Planet. A Little Dust Speck Orbiting A Fairly Average Star In The Middle Of A Chaotic, Uncaring, Yet Splendid And Beautiful Universe. And What Is It But Our Superiority Complex That Makes Us Think That We're So Significant That Even After We Die, We Get Raised From The Coffin?
We Are Insignificant, Evolved Apes; Parasites Living On A Fairly Small Mudball, In The Middle Of A Beautiful Universe. Or As Tim Minchin, In His Music Video "Storm" Said,
We Are Insignificant, Evolved Apes; Parasites Living On A Fairly Small Mudball, In The Middle Of A Beautiful Universe. Or As Tim Minchin, In His Music Video "Storm" Said,
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CATEGORY: 3
This Is The Mother Of All Misinformation, Misinterpretation Cancers. Before You Dive In, Here's A Piece Of Advice: Be True To Yourself, Forget Every Darn Ideology You Carry, And Let It Happen.
GOD ISN'T REAL
Read All The Religious Books, Every One Of 'em; Note Down The Points That Would Seem Utterly Rubbish And Hilarious To A Six Year Old, And Remove Them. Then, All You'd Have Is A Rough Framework Of Historic Records, A Few Ol' Morals That Make Sense, A LOT Of Racism, And Misinterpretation Of Our World. Bats Aren't Birds, The Earth Isn't Flat, Slavery Isn't Holy, Killing Your Child Because A Deity Told You To Isn't Sane, There Is No Ether, The Moon Didn't Split Into Two Halves, The Blood Moon Didn't Raise The Dead, And The Stone Statue Of Ganesh Didn't Drink All The Milk.
Look At It From A Rational Perspective, From A Logical Perspective. Let Go Of All Your Ego; Humans Are Not Special, Not Created In God's Image.
Yeah, A God Would've Been Too Darn Awesome. We Could Then Solve Every Trouble, Feed Every Mouth, Educate Every Mind, Save Every Girl Child, End Every War, And Unite. But Throughout History, Religion Has Done Nothing But To Divide Us.
I Don't Hate God, Vishnu, Allah, Odin, Zeus, Or Any Other Deity For The Same Reason I Don't Hate The Joker, Or Darth Vader, Hannibal Lector, Agent Smith. They're Not Real.
After Reading This Article, You Can Either Close Your Eyes And Live In Your Pretend, Make-Believe, Perfect And Special World. Or You Can Dig Further And Start Clearing The Foggy Parts Of Your Knowledge. Either Ways, The World Cares About Your Choices, Your Opinions. Make Them Valid And Likable. Make Them Truthful and Grand.
And For The Same Reason, Not Everyone Who Likes Science Grows Up To Be A Scientist. Knowledge Is Not The Most Important Part; The Way You Collect And Check It, Is. The "Bullshit Detecting Mechanism" We Discussed Earlier Was Nothing But A Simple Version Of Skepticism. Be A Skeptic, Oppose Ideas. But Don't Be A Denier. Extraordinary Hypotheses Require Extraordinary Evidences.
Or As Phil Plait In His Book "Bad Astronomy", Put It,
The modern customer is bombarded by pseudoscience at every turn. Most newspapers in the country carry an astrology column, and some even have columns by self-proclaimed psychics, but a precious few devote even a single page a week to a regular column about new scientific results.Conspiracy theories abound that twist and pervert simple science into ridiculous claims that are tissue-thin, yet are accepted wholesale by hordes of believers.
The truth can be hard, and so sometimes it really is easier to believe in fiction.
Science is about asking, why? and, why not this way? Sometimes you need to think around the problem...It's too easy to simply accept what you're told. This is extraordinarily dangerous. If you just assume without thinking critically that someone is right, you may be voting for the wrong politician, or accepting a doctrine that has a bad premise, or buying a used car that might kill you. Science is a way of distinguishing good data from bad.
Practicing science is wonderful. It makes you think about things, and thinking is one of the best things you can do.
This Is The First Article On Grand Ideas, Stay Tuned For More. (Or Close Your Eyes And Return To Your Disneyland) (But Share It, Dammit!)
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