Thursday, September 3, 2009

Teaching an Understanding of Science



As uncool as this may sound, I think I actually agree with Neil deGrasse Tyson here. Discuss.
Posted by Mr. Pony
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7 comments:

Fugu said...

That is uncool, Pony, but I agree. Dawkins has this dilemma of trying to expand his target audience while telling people they're completely delusional. To be fair, his books are more approachable.

I can understand his frustration, though. Anything that requires a book or 4 years of lectures to explain has an uphill battle against an argument designed to be believed without any explanation at all.

Also, Dawkins and Tyson have very different agendas. And I do love that New Scientist Quote!

September 3, 2009 at 10:11 AM
Galspanic said...

I wonder how much of the Dawkins/New Scientist attitude is just conditioned response to years of Glenn Beck/O'Reilly/Bush Admin/Fox Nuuz & friends (or geographical equivalent)? I wonder if our current pro-awareness leadership remains in office long enough, will these truth tellers lose the barbs on their tongues?

September 3, 2009 at 10:05 PM
Lungclops said...

i think dawkins' purpose is not merely to win over the idiots. it's also a rallying cry for non-idiots, to know that they're not alone, and to encourage them to confront idiocy wherever they may find it. i believe this may in fact be dawkins' main purpose--the creation of a vast clone army.

(on a related note, i was just sharing a harebrained theory of mine with pony: that the british often have such strident opinions because they're so damned articulate. they're constantly re-convincing themselves of what they already believe.)

September 4, 2009 at 11:23 AM
Lungclops said...

also, this argument against dawkins seems almost identical to (and probably has a lot of overlap with) a similar argument about modern american political debate: that we need to accommodate the ignorance, misconceptions, and extremism of what has become the "conservative" ideology. but the center and the left have been accommodating these weirdos for years, and it has only made them bolder. so a lot of otherwise very reasonable people are simply fed up. these fuckers sense that their numbers are on the slow decline, so they've dug in. even if that's overstating it a little, one might argue that there's no sense in negotiating with someone who's intent on deluding themselves. they'd need to change their entire frame of reference before you could even begin to have a sensible debate.

September 4, 2009 at 11:34 AM
Lungclops said...

("these fuckers" being the conservatives, not the center/left)

September 4, 2009 at 11:35 AM
Fugu said...

I love your political debate analogy, and the fact that we need a clone army.

I also I feel ashamed for coming across as doubting Dawkins, who pretty much got me started in biology. I'm sorry, Dr. Dawkins!

September 5, 2009 at 10:46 PM
Mr. Pony said...

Here's a review of Dawkins' new book, from New Scientist.

September 14, 2009 at 9:54 AM

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