When ignorance is the rule, not the exception

October 17, 2015

“I don’t agree with global warming.”

Seriously?

Are you a scientist? Do you have empirical evidence?

ignorance

“The people say they do not believe in gravity. Even though they have no basis for that opinion. Go figure.”  -Sir Isaac Newton

Is there a vote that I’m unaware of?

When Isaac Newton discovered gravity, did the populace say they didn’t “agree” with it?

When Crick and Watson found DNA, did we vote on it?

When Copernicus figured out that the planets revolved around the earth, I’m sure there were those who still believed the earth was the center of our Universe. Umm, we can see how things worked out.

There seems to be no end to the ignorance around us today. Or maybe we see it more because people feel compelled to share their ignorance on social media.

“I do not believe in climate change.”

When I see things like this the poster / writer appears so completely ignorant I am speechless.

Politics and religion are polluting our science, as are the tens of thousands of people with no expertise at all that “weigh in” on matters they know nothing about.

When did we become a nation that decided science doesn’t stand alone? When did we become a nation of people unembarrassed to present ourselves as ignorant?

Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time (i.e., decades to millions of years).

That’s all it is. A change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over time.

In the scientific community there is a 97.4% consensus that we are seeing global warming and climate change. These opinions are based on research and solid science.

However, most of us need only observe weather patterns over our own lifetime to suspect something is afoot.

But we have no idea what because most of us are not scientists.

I am astonished at the number of lay people who think that science is something to weigh in on.

Astonished.

Because that means we have a whole boatload of ignorance in our society.

Which is becoming clearer with each passing year.

Oh, and about gravity. Let me be perfectly honest. There IS a scientist who suggests gravity may be a weird illusion and that something else is afoot. Like the laws of thermodynamics.

But he is a SCIENTIST.

He does not hold a random position. He STUDIES this stuff.

He doesn’t hold a position based on politics or religion. He holds a position that perhaps some other scientific thing is going on.

(Shaking my head.)

 

 

 

7 comments on “When ignorance is the rule, not the exception
  1. “A whole boatload of ignorance” is right! This is the sort of thing that leads to a whole boat load of trouble, which is what we’re in right now!

  2. It’s not just ignorance, it’s willful ignorance. People who decide that reality isn’t what it is because if it were, it would be inconvenient for them. Because it would make them question their own belief system or conclude something that isn’t in their dogma (and I use this for religion and politics). How uncomfortable!

    Anti-vaxers are another one that just…it boggles my mind. Anyone with two working brain cells should be able to make the connection that vaccines prevent diseases, and yet these people won’t see it.

  3. janice Wald says:

    Hi Carol,
    I agree with you. I knew a man who didn’t believe in evolution and didn’t want his kids studying it in school. He was a software maker! So frustrating.

  4. Crazy, right? I’ve known engineers and very well educated people who say “the jury is still out”. I’m like, what fucking jury is that? (Can I use that word here?)

  5. Michelle says:

    I think the ignorance we see is what someone called “willful ignorance”. That, to me, says people are choosing to ignorant because they are afraid of change and are afraid to admit that there is change, especially in the environment. Politicians like to deny it because if they admitted it, then they would have to take some sort of responsibility and let’s face it, today’s politicians want nothing to do with actual responsibility. There is ignorance every where these day. I love how you put it though, using Science. Science is the closest thing we have to solid proof because scientist dedicated their lives to studying these things. Thanks so much for saying what many of us are thinking! I found you on Blog Share Learn on Facebook.

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