Category Archives: Science and society
Trump’s viral alternate facts
Before our very eyes, America’s would-be “Dear Leader” has again demonstrated how one “truth” can be replaced by another, though there are no data to explain the gap’s jump. His secret, of course, is that it wasn’t data that supported … Continue reading
When large problems meet small minds
Medical and public health authorities warn that America is destined to join worldwide exposure to COVID-19 (one of several coronaviruses). For years we’ve been told that the future holds any number of viral and other disease outbreaks. Pandemics call for … Continue reading
This non-scientist and global warming
I’m a non-scientist. My Ph.D. (1968) was earned in factors of human personality, illness, evaluation, treatment, learning, intelligence, emotion, and psychotherapy. As a research degree, learning the research findings of others was augmented with training in conducting scientific studies myself. … Continue reading
America’s love/hate affair with science
In a country so benefitted by science, science ignorance among Americans is uncanny. In an age wherein science-informed wisdom is essential for political choices, we vote unschooled politicians into office. Supplied with stunning scientific advances, millions of us choose superstition … Continue reading
Tennessee’s monkey trial revitalized
Due to a 1960 movie, Inherit the Wind, many Americans are familiar with the 1925 trial of high school teacher John T. Scopes in Dayton, Tennessee, just north of Chattanooga. Because Scopes had violated the state law against teaching Darwinian … Continue reading
Faith in science gaining on faith in faith
As what we now call “science” developed a few centuries ago, Christians—along with other religionists—took arms against facts accumulating due to the new method. (“Taking arms” was not only just figurative, but frequently physical.) Over time fewer natural phenomena were ascribed … Continue reading
Marching for science
The March for Science is a public celebration of science planned for April 22 in many cities across America and some abroad. As a gesture of support, my wife and I plan to participate. According to the national organizers, the … Continue reading
You can’t put God in a test tube. Why not?
I’ve long wondered why Christians and other theists ignore the successful truth-seeking process of science when dealing with whether a god exists. Quite often I’ve been told, “You can’t put God in a test tube.” This phrase, a fairly common … Continue reading
…but there are things science can’t explain
I can’t say how many times I’ve heard this phrase from theists. It is, at the same time true and, as an argument, meaningless. Many theists must think it proves something, for it’s asserted as if it defeats any argument … Continue reading
The heavens declare the glory of god
My first attraction to science was a second grade fascination with astronomy, a world of enchantment found in the pages of The Book of Knowledge set of encyclopedias my parents had wisely furnished me. With no in-person adult guidance on … Continue reading
Faith and certainty
A reader’s comment on my most recent post (”There’s nothing wrong with the Bible,” May 9, 2015) opined that “a thing does not ever really become a fact until all uncertainty is removed” and “where certainty ends, faith takes over … Continue reading
Scientific method or just better thinking?
Since whenever our species or its predecessors began to wonder, the challenge of figuring out ourselves and our surroundings has confronted us daily. We know of the wanderings out of Africa into the Middle East, thence west to Europe and … Continue reading
Should science class include religion?
A reader recently asked why Neil deGrasse Tyson said in a video interview that religion should not be allowed in the science classroom. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and hearing this charming and humorous astrophysicist, but of course I’ve … Continue reading
Science and society—separating the roles
I posted thoughts on the fallibility and self-correction of science on August 13, then on August 19 addressed the nonsense of non-scientists presuming to adjudicate scientific disagreements. This post concerns a further aspect of the interaction between science and nonscientists: … Continue reading
The supernatural: invisible, unknowable, indefensible
I had a friendly discussion recently with two Christians, one clearly a fundamentalist, one less so. The topic turned to the struggle of a clergyman trying to square the scientific discoveries of his time (late 19th Century) with his faith. … Continue reading
Scientists (that’s plural!) define science
My most recent post acknowledged that there is always disagreement among scientists, yet I argued that findings of science are our best bet for what is natural reality in this awesome, bewildering universe. This post addresses what might seem discrepant … Continue reading
Science and scientists, warts and all
Science is a human enterprise, so therefore makes mistakes, confounds beliefs with fact-finding, and gets stuck on theories beyond their sell-by dates. But the way I see it, science reflects the corrupt, mendacious, and stubborn sides of humanness less than … Continue reading
John just thinking . . . . 