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Science & Reason Can Make The World A Better Place

if you want to discuss something, please post your ideas here.

Don't do a shameless link to your own video in order to drive up views.
 
I watched the video. It's only 57 seconds long.

I guess I agree with most of what you said.

But of course, it's never easy to get people to embrace science and reason over superstition and bigotry. And when you bring religion and politics into it from the very beginning, you immediately alienate a lot of people. You'll end up just preaching to people who already agree with you.
 
I remember first finding out about the internet. (or world wide web - I don't make a distinction and don't even know what it is.) I thought, wow, now people all over the world are going to be able to communicate almost instantly. It's going be like the ansible in Ender's Game, opening up a whole new world where people will be able to see other points of view and perspectives, and eventually it will boil down to a massive truth that will be obvious to everyone. I mean, who would use it to spread anything but facts?

Boy, was I wrong.
 
Puppycow said:
I watched the video. It's only 57 seconds long.

I guess I agree with most of what you said.

But of course, it's never easy to get people to embrace science and reason over superstition and bigotry. And when you bring religion and politics into it from the very beginning, you immediately alienate a lot of people. You'll end up just preaching to people who already agree with you.
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I'm not sure that science and bigotry are mutually exclusive. See trans issues for only one example. People who reference the science are considered by many to be bigots.
 
instead of invoking Science & Reason, I would go with something both simpler and more fundamental:

the principle of incremental improvement


a lot of the problem I see with the rejection of reason comes from the belief that there is the actual possibility of an Utopia, either as a state of the past (Eden), the future (political communism) or in an afterlife; anyone who says he can get you there is an enemy of Reason.
We will never reach a Perfect Solution for any problem, because by the time we solved the problem we realize that it was only part of a bigger one, or we learn that there are other ways to improve our situation.

Never seek or ask for Perfection, just look what greatest good you can do the with the least effort (Pareto style), so that you can quickly reiterate the process and find the next thing in reach you can improve on.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
instead of invoking Science & Reason, I would go with something both simpler and more fundamental:

the principle of incremental improvement


a lot of the problem I see with the rejection of reason comes from the belief that there is the actual possibility of an Utopia, either as a state of the past (Eden), the future (political communism) or in an afterlife; anyone who says he can get you there is an enemy of Reason.
We will never reach a Perfect Solution for any problem, because by the time we solved the problem we realize that it was only part of a bigger one, or we learn that there are other ways to improve our situation.

Never seek or ask for Perfection, just look what greatest good you can do the with the least effort (Pareto style), so that you can quickly reiterate the process and find the next thing in reach you can improve on.
Click to expand...

you might even reduce it to the highlighted.
 
alfaniner said:
I remember first finding out about the internet. (or world wide web - I don't make a distinction and don't even know what it is.) I thought, wow, now people all over the world are going to be able to communicate almost instantly. It's going be like the ansible in Ender's Game, opening up a whole new world where people will be able to see other points of view and perspectives, and eventually it will boil down to a massive truth that will be obvious to everyone. I mean, who would use it to spread anything but facts?

Boy, was I wrong.
Click to expand...

But at least you were spectacularly wrong.
 
Pixel42 said:
Science and reason have already made the world a better place.
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rjh01 said:
I think the author has a lot to learn. How does science make a better world?
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Seems to be a disagreement here. :(

I'm with Pixel here. Science sure has made the world a more comfortable place for us homo sapiens, but we must be cautious of the risks of some scientific advances - atom bombs and such.
 
rjh01 said:
I think the author has a lot to learn. How does science make a better world?
Click to expand...

Valid question. Someone above mentioned that it has made life easier for humans, but we are not the world (nor the children). Or not necessarily.

Is the planet and everything on it better or worse for our science?

I think the cows, pigs and chickens would disagree that science, or human beings for that matter, have been a bonus for them. I think The World would be better off without us.
 
Thor 2 said:
Seems to be a disagreement here. :(

I'm with Pixel here. Science sure has made the world a more comfortable place for us homo sapiens, but we must be cautious of the risks of some scientific advances - atom bombs and such.
Click to expand...
I agree science has helped make the world a better place. It is just that the video does not do a good job of explaining that.

There are many other factors that have helped make the world a better place. One of the critical ones is giving women more power and the right to have a well-paid job that does not discriminate against them. Plus infant mortality has gone down (though this has been a benefit of science). So parents now have fewer children and give them more resources (time, money, rights). The last major war (where most people were involved either as soldiers or producing war materials) ended in 1945. This means that governments can invest in other things such as the space race.

Edited by sarge: 
edited to remove moderated content
 
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