Science, is deader than dead, shock, it’s all in your head. For some reason that seems to be the new truth.
I suppose I should have known better when I heard Hollywood invoke the word “pseudo-science,” that they couldn’t but completely miss the point of the moniker.
This, if you haven’t been able to guess, is fueled by the new-ish series “Fringe” on FOX. Which, I will say is, without a doubt, pure rubbish.
It was touted as a new series, about what the network called, “fringe science,” which was in the previews of the show called, and I quote, “you mean, pseudo-science.” “Research,” as it were, in areas which would seem controversial.
From that moment, I knew from the beginning they were going to completely screw this up. FOX had the chance to hold on to a shred of dignity by actually demonstrating the scientific method — show how we utilize science to deduce facts and perform meaningful studies. But, I still tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and recorded the first two episodes to TiVo. Maybe I’d be wrong, and we’d have new Sci-Fi classic that actually got it right.
Instead, we got, “Occam’s Razor: the man is psychic.”
Swing and a miss.
I really, really, wish at least one writer would have taken the five minutes to Google “Occam’s Razor,” such that they wouldn’t so completely and utterly misinterpret the concept.
This is yet another example of how Hollywood cares not one bit about the integrity of one of the greatest disciplines that moves us forward as a species: science. The Scientific Method is a bit more than just a gesture, it’s a complete system that provides the results that allowed us to increase our average lifespan from forty to eighty years, eradicate disease such as Polio and Tuberculosis. It finds freaking water on Mars!
Well, in reality that water is snow, the contents of which indicate previous mineral interaction with water, not water itself. But my point is that, the day that this news was broken, that there was possible evidence of water on Mars at one point in history, the television news quickly cut to another story with, and I quote, “well, that’s interesting but,” instead of, “more research is necessary but, this could indicate that at one point in the past, one of the required conditions for life may have existed on Mars.”
Seriously, what could possibly have been bigger news than that?
We drop scientific jargon to lend credibility to psychics and conspiracies, strengthen movements denying HIV is the cause of AIDS, and stifle research in embryonic stem cells. Or worse: stop forward progress against the spread of disease altogether, under the guise of the green and all-natural movements.
Is pain and suffering more interesting than scientific breakthrough? How long should our fellow humans suffer because we’re too ignorant about how and why science works? And why, oh why, must we impose our own idiotic prejudices against science on the cultures which need it most?
We can’t afford to be fighting against science because some high-profile people “in the ‘biz” do not have the basic understanding of scientific principles. One would think that these worldly individuals would make it a point to be highly educated in such issues when they represent their respective countries, professions, and people.
Instead, they choose to be ignorant, ignoring the facts, and doing their damnedest to undermine the advancements of the human species over the last few hundred thousand years.
Obviously, I’m glad of that scientifically proven fact.
EDIT: Added tags, categories and emphatic air-quotes.