Re: Republicans publishing their own version of science


odin wrote:
> > * Radiation is good for you!
>
> Radiation did play a role in providing many mutations that have resulted in
> you and me. It may be harmful to the individual more often than not. But
> ultimately, each individual owes its life to radiation.
>

We also arguably owe our existence to the asteroid that
killed the dinosaurs, but it would be a stretch to say
"asteroids are good for you"

> > * Toxic chemicals in the air and water are also good for you!
>
> Life has managed with and even capitalized on toxic chemicals many times.
> Note that originally, the lack of O2 in the atmosphere may have made
> abiogenisis possible, as it would have been toxic to the fragile molecular
> beginings of life. Later, that toxic substance acculmulated as a result of
> biologic activity, afterwhich certain other life forms evolved to use O2 as
> a critical resource.
>

So you're saying that dumping toxic chemicals may be performing
a service for the animal that evolves to replace us?

> > * The Church never persecuted Galileo, they were his best friend
> > who had been saying for years that the Earth was not flat, just ask
> > anybody
>
> I do not know about the Church ever being a friend to Galileo. It was not in
> the business of being anyone's griend, IMO.

At that time, your success
depended very much on whether the church was your "friend".
Certainly, you didn't want it as your enemy.

In particular, Galileo was a personal friend of Maffeo Barberini, who
rose to become Pope Urban VIII. He believed this friendship would
protect him. Unfortunately, the Pope was very vein, and Galileo's
enemies convinced him that the oafish "Simplicio" in Galileo's
dialogue was supposed to be him. That ended the friendship.
Still, Galileo's close relationship to the Church probably insured that
he was never under any credible threat of torture.

Most historians agree that although "the Church" was certainly
the instrument of Galileo's downfall, the whole thing was probably
orchestrated by jealous academic rivals. Of course, that doesn't
really speak well of the Church either.

>Actually, Galileo had a . In particular,
>the
>But Galileo and the Church were
> not involved in any debate about the Earth being flat. The Greeks and then
> later the Romans were very aware of the earth being round long before.
> Galileo was more interested in the debate on earth-centric versus
> sun-centric issues.
>

True. I don't know whether that mistake was in the book, or
from the OP.


> > * "Darwinism" is crumbling, whatever the hell that means
>
> I agree, that does not mean much.
>
> > * AIDS isn't really a big deal in Africa (their population is
> > increasing!)
>
> I agree. It is in fact the population growth and poverty that are the
> biggest problems in Africa. Aids has only killed about half as many people
> in the world over the last 25 years as the number killed by bird flu did in
> 2 years about 85 years ago. More people suffer in Africa from military
> violence each year than from AIDS. AIDS is not as big a problem as the lack
> of clean drinking water is in Africa. I would agree that AIDS is a problem,
> as there are people who suffer from it, and suffering is a bad thing. But in
> perspective, it is not major.
>

This is a strange logic. I believe the bird flu in question killed of
order 50 million people. Are you saying we shouldn't worry about
anything that kills less than that? I guess I'll stop wearing my
seat belt and worrying about my cholesterol.

Also, it's a mistake to lump "Africa" together. HIV rates
vary dramatically from country to country. For example, in Botwana,
the HIV infection rate is estimated at over 30%

-jc

> > * Global warming doesn't exist, and if it does exist, it's just a
> > natural thing that has nothing to do with humans at all
>
> Global warming and cooling does exist from time to time. It has many causes,
> and I am sure that human activity is involved. But it may not be as bad as
> some think. We just don't know yet.
>
> > I guess this has been happening for a long time, but I'm seeing it more
> > and more over the past five years or so: If you're a Republican and
> > you don't like the truth, just make up a new "truth" and write a book
> > about it.
>
> BTW, I am not a Republican supporter.

.

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