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“You think anyone wants to fuck this?”
And now, I would like to welcome to the stage, the great Redfox from the Sporkroast podcast. If you listen to any of our friends’ podcasts you will know who this kid is. So read what he has to say, and take it to heart, because he wrote it from his. This is some serious shit going on here, so pay attention.
Why should we believe in science? For some reason this question has become more popular in our culture these days. One would assume because it’s 2010, we should have electric cars, jet packs, food in a pill, and all the other things those old “World of Tomorrow” cartoons used to have. I recently watched a TED Talk by Michael Specter. He is a staff writer for the New Yorker, and his new book, Denialism, asks why we have increasingly begun to fear scientific advances instead of embracing them. This lecture really hit home with me, and describes many of the feelings I have about modern times and why we are so quick to deny science and favor our friend’s versions of stories over authority figures.
One of the reasons, I feel, we’re so quick to deny science, is that we fall victim to logical fallacies far too often. I don’t know if it’s human nature or something in our culture, but we have such a difficulty deciphering correlation and causation. Just because two things happen at the same time, doesn’t necessarily mean that they one is caused by the other. The most common, present day example is the Vaccination/Autism issue. In the TED Talk, Specter mentions Andrew Wakefield’s study that linked childhood vaccinations with autism. Multiple studies were done afterwards to confirm the results of Wakefield’s study. He states multiple studies should have been done after. It’s a natural part of science.
The reason I bring up this logical fallacy is not to restate things about autism and vaccines. I want to show how in your daily life, how often this applies even in mundane tasks. Everyone has those things in like that they feel work for some reason. How many times do you have to smack something in your car before the air conditioning works, or how many times do you push the elevator button for it to go down to you quicker. We all do these silly things in our lives. They seem mundane at the time, but they translate to bigger and more important things like science. How many cold remedies have you tried? Why do we flock to Airborne (Which used to contain more than the FDA recommended dose of Vitamin A before they got sued), or other crazy cures. There’s a whole aisle in Walgreens of symptom soothing remedies that have been proven to work. Many people have tested these products so that they do what they say they do. If something makes a specific claim to help you medically, they must be tested and approved by the FDA. Read the bottle of Nyquil next time and compare it to Airborne. You’ll notice that the Nyquil makes very specific claims about why it helps. Airborne “boosts the immune system.” As a side note, you probably don’t want to “boost your immune system.” Boosting your immune system would probably end up with you being more unhealthy as your immune response would start attacking healthy cells.
The talk of taking medicines that a pharmaceutical company creates usually brings someone to say, “I don’t want all these chemicals in my body, I like natural things.” Without going on to a discussion about how poison ivy is natural, along with snake venom, and jelly fish neurotoxins, you simply need to see how much better science is at doing things that nature. It’s not that science and nature are at war; it’s that they are working in tandem. In the TED Talk, Specter points out that we need to grow 70% more food in the next decades. Organic food just doesn’t cut it. Agricultural science can help feed the hungry. Why are people denying these scientific breakthroughs? It’s very disheartening to see our culture going the way it is. If you’re eating organic because you’re trying to get back at large corporations, think again. Do you think the large food companies wouldn’t get in on this? It’s a perfect way for them to spend less effort, growing less food, and charging you twice or three times more than normal food. Genetically modified food is the same way. News flash, “We’ve been genetically modifying food for decades through cross pollination.” Yes, this counts as modification. We’re breeding better plants. But what if we could breed better plants quicker and better than nature can provide. We can create foods that are naturally rich in vitamins for the hungry. As Specter states, “This isn’t about Rice Krispies, this is about keeping people alive.”
I hope these words, those of Specter, and all scientists resonates within you. Become an advocate for science, become an advocate for truth, and become an advocate for the progress of the human race.
- Yes I was still sick, but just wait for the Friday show, I’ll be all better. What I have would kill any mortal man.
- Danni is really struggling getting back into the work groove. Peep the liquor!
- I would never have sex with you again if you came home smelling like Spanish mackerel.
- Speaking of fishy and smelly. This dude got choked the fuck out by a fish that jumped into his mouth. Weird right?
- A special phone call from Capital Z of the Stereo Radiation podcast. Let me explain twilight to you. Why aren’t you the president yet? You do pottery? We really look forward to more regular episodes of the radiation.
- Girls are reaching puberty earlier than normal. If there’s grass on the field… I’ll just leave it at that. They should let Danni scare them straight. You think anyone wants to fuck THIS?
- You can have these kids, I’m going to California to follow my dream of being a stripper. Her son will grow up to be a strip club DJ. Mark my words.
- If you are going to hack AT&T under the guise of GOATSE Security, maybe don’t have a bunch of drugs laying around your apartment. Just saying…
- Don’t be a fag and I won’t throw a puppy at you. Stupid bikers… This dude has some brohones.
- I’m on a mission from God. To kill Osama Bin Laden. I’m a Christian ninja, don’t worry about it.
- That’s probably the most dick she’s gotten all year. Hot chocolate dick.
- Who’s the child here? Oh right, the one eating the cat shit sandwich.
- If no one was watching, you know you would probably have sex with a corpse. A hot sexy warm corpse. Fuck yea. If it was Ronin Dex you’d wanna do it.
- Hey, why are you two dudes naked in the woods?
- Thanks for crashing internet! Sorry to the live listeners, we really didn’t just bail on you. Hey, go reboot the router.
- Go to the myspace or the forums and check out the new track Shaun and myself made. It’s just us fucking around the studio, but I think you’re going to like it. Twist it UP!! We’ll see you Friday!
- We’re like $50 short for the server this month, so if you like the show and like how fast it downloads, help us out.
