Electile Dysfunction: Bungling Science pt. 3
In my post on the Entitlement Mentality I quoted Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who once said “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” The last several election cycles in America have made it shockingly clear that Americans no longer know the difference between opinion and facts – or, if they do, they don’t care about it. A thinking person should form her opinions on facts, carefully considered and prioritized according to her value system. A very carefully thinking person should also subject her values to scrutiny and criticism from those she disagrees with, given that human nature is incapable of seeing facts uncolored by values.
Scientific knowledge has progressed astoundingly fast since most of the current party political alliances were formed seventy years ago, and that pace has accelerated since the last medium-sized realignment thirty years ago. The lessons of history in that same period of time are also momentous – if anyone actually cares to look at them. And most don’t. This creates a problem. Continue reading ‘Electile Dysfunction: Bungling Science pt. 3′
