science

Rand Paul’s Goldfish Story

February 26, 2013 By mario piperni

Conservatives prove Asimov right every time they delve into their twisted understanding of science. The latest example is Rand Paul’s rant on Fox where he tried to make the case that the military and government are wasting $5.2 million for what he called “goldfish studies”.

“In the military they have $5.2 million they spent on goldfish — studying goldfish to see how democratic they were and if we could learn about democracy from goldfish,” Paul said on Fox. “I would give the president the authority to go ahead and cut all $5 million in goldfish studies.”

If Paul is right and the military is spending millions to “learn about democracy from goldfish“, then he has every right to bitch to his heart’s content. In fact everyone should be complaining of such a waste of public funds.

But Paul is not right. His take on the $5.2 million goldfish study comes from a faulty report issued by Republican Sen. Tom Coburn last November. The report dealt with how the Pentagon could save billions by cutting out specific non-defense programs. One of the suggested cuts by Coburn was the “fish” study.

“Fish could show the nation how to overcome political polarization and promote democracy, according to Pentagon-funded research,” Coburn’s team wrote. “The Pentagon claims the research provides ‘a better understanding of how individuals with low stake impact achieve a democratic consensus’ and this ‘effort supports Military Information Support Operations (MISO) mission area.’” In learning as much, though, the Defense Department blew through a $5.2 million grant from DARPA.

The tiniest bit of research by Paul and Coburn would have shown them that the project has nothing to do with how goldfish handle democracy. In fact it has nothing to do with goldfish. The four year project uses a different species of fish and studies robots and how they can help in dealing with deep oil spills and radioactive leaks. As Princeton science professor Iain Couzin explains:

“Our work aims to understand the principles of collective control in animal groups and what this can inform us about collective robotics. It has nothing at all to do with human politics.”

[The research has] “direct applications to human security and collective control of robots.”

Has Coburn issued a correction to his November report? No.

Has Paul issued a statement on Fox correcting his statement? No.

Will either man do so? No.

Why not? Because no one on the right ever admits to “mistakes” they make in presenting “facts”. They just don’t because everyone knows that true conservatism is never having to say “I’m wrong.”

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Just A Monkey, Folks…Just A Monkey

November 19, 2012 By mario piperni

Catering to Christian fundamentalists still remains one of the GOP’s specialties. Marco Rubio, one of the Republican frontrunners for the 2016 presidential campaign, was asked how old the earth is.

I’m not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I’m not a scientist. I don’t think I’m qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that. It’s one of the great mysteries.

No, it’s not a mystery, great or otherwise in the same way that it’s not much of a mystery as to how the pyramids of Giza were built. There might be some quibbling over the exact means used to construct the pyramids but no serious scholar is suggesting that ‘aliens built it‘ be taught in history classes because a few quacks claim it is so.

Knowing the age of the earth might have no direct connection to spurring economic growth but it does say a lot on how a future leader processes information and data which is beyond their field of expertise. Simply claiming that one is not a scientist and therefore all theories (aka creationism) should be taught in science class does not bode well for one aspiring to be president of any country, let alone the United States of America. Whatever role religion must play in a modern society, it should not be one that places it anywhere near science.

Here’s my simple advice for anyone who requires that religion be an essential component of their lives: Let religion deal with the why part of life and leave the how end of it to science. It works so much better that way.

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Filed Under: Religion, science

Religion, Science and Rightist Troglodytes

October 6, 2012 By mario piperni

Republican Rep. Paul Broun last month:

All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang Theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell. And it’s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior.

…

You see, there are a lot of scientific data that I’ve found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth,” he said. “I don’t believe that the Earth’s but about 9,000 years old. I believe it was created in six days as we know them. That’s what the Bible says.”

Okay, we can all agree that Paul Broun is a wingnut but what do you think is the most shocking fact concerning Broun and his views on science?

1. That he’s a Republican? Nope. No one with half a mind expects Republicans to be rational these days.

2. That he’s a religious zealot? Nope. Religious zealotry and ignorance have been a staple of Republican ideology forever now.

3. That Broun believes that governance should be dictated by strict adherence to the Bible?

[The Bible] teaches us how to run all of public policy and everything in society. And that’s the reason as your congressman I hold the holy Bible as being the major directions to me of how I vote in Washington, D.C., and I’ll continue to do that.

Nope. See 1. and 2.

So what is the most disturbing thing about Rep. Broun’s views on science? This: The Republican nutcase serves on the House Science Committee!

The man who believes that “evolution and embryology and the Big Bang Theory” are lies from no other than the “pit of Hell” is a member of the committee that oversees energy research, astronautical research and development, NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Weather Service, science scholarships and federal funding for scientific research and development. This guy! The guy who believes that Earth is less than 10,000 years old and was created in six days has a say on what NASA does. He has a say on who is worthy of a science scholarship. Obviously, non-Christianists and believers of basic evolution need not apply.

The only thing worse than knowing that a religious troglodyte serves on a Science committee is the knowledge that the supremely ignorant Michele Bachmann serves on the House Intelligence Committee.

Note: The illustration above is the first in a series of typographical art mocking the more radical elements of Republican ideology. The series is inspired by the fine work of Jeremy Kalgreen and his ‘I’m voting Tea Party‘ series which I first came across over at Balloon Juice.

I’ll be making the artwork available at the MarioPiperniDotCom store later today. Feel free to pass on any suggestions you might have for suitable slogans for this series.

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Filed Under: Republican Idiocy, science Tagged With: Vote Republican Series

7 Minutes of Terror: Landing the Mars Rover

June 29, 2012 By mario piperni

A fascinating look at what’s involved in getting the rover to land on the surface of Mars.

(h/t: The Dish)
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Filed Under: science Tagged With: mars

Republicans Measure Reality Their Way

June 25, 2012 By mario piperni

There’s no nice way to say it; they’re idiots, pure and simple.

There is virtually universal agreement among scientists that the sea will probably rise a good meter or more before the end of the century, wreaking havoc in low-lying coastal counties. So the members of the developers’ lobbying group NC-20 say the sea will rise only 8 inches, because … because … well, SHUT UP, that’s because why.

That is, the meter or so of sea level rise predicted for the NC Coastal Resources Commission by a state-appointed board of scientists is extremely inconvenient for counties along the coast. So the NC-20 types have decided that we can escape sea level rise – in North Carolina, anyhow – by making it against the law. Or making MEASURING it against the law, anyhow.

…

North Carolina legislators have decided that the way to make exponential increases in sea level rise – caused by those inconvenient feedback loops we keep hearing about from scientists – go away is to make it against the law to extrapolate exponential; we can only extrapolate along a line predicted by previous sea level rises.

Which, yes, is exactly like saying, do not predict tomorrow’s weather based on radar images of a hurricane swirling offshore, moving west towards us with 60-mph winds and ten inches of rain. Predict the weather based on the last two weeks of fair weather with gentle breezes towards the east. Don’t use radar and barometers; use the Farmer’s Almanac and what grandpa remembers.

Watching Republican legislators do their thing these days is like watching a parody being performed by the SNL crew on late night television. Except that what Republicans are doing, especially to reason, science, logic and truth, is not a parody – these people are serious…and it’s not in the least bit funny. The right has literally redefined truth to now be anything which supports their agenda and any ‘facts’ or ‘data’ which runs counter to this agenda is ignored for being, in their twisted minds, left-wing propaganda and lies.

A few hundred thousand climatologists and scientists? Lying, conniving, bastards doing the dirty work of Al Gore.

A few hundred right-wing politicians? Purveyors of truth and wisdom, of course. The part about the fossil fuel industries filling Republican coffers every election cycle? Fuggedaboutit. Not important. Irrelevant.

North Carolina legislators are now tossing around bills that not only protect themselves from concepts that make them uncomfortable, they’re DETERMINING HOW WE MEASURE REALITY.

I’m not sure if the opposing principles in a presidential election have ever been more stark and divergent – a battle between reality and delusion, truth and lies, compassion and greed…the rich and the not-so-rich. There’s a lot riding on November’s outcome…for Americans and for an entire world which sits on the sidelines watching and thinking, they’re out of their fucking minds!

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Filed Under: Republican Madness, science