I truly hope that Richard Feynman was right. Like Carl Sagan, he had hope for humanity, believing we could overcome and endure.
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In Memory of Feynman
07
Aug
Lathe of Dreams
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Ken & Kiyomi: A Boy and his Dog
Minding the Lathe of Dreams
James Clark
August 7, 2012 at 10:14 pm
It isn't really looking like we can overcome the entrenched stupidity of certain segments of the population, unfortunately. But, maybe that's no different than it's ever been. I don't know.
Ken Foreman
August 7, 2012 at 10:21 pm
I've thought about it, and I'm beginning to think that it's always been like this. Progress is made by pockets of intelligence and reasonable discourse, while the majority of the population is content to be ignorant and to argue about it.
Seeing people's responses to the Curiosity landing ("$2.5Billion?! that could have been better spent feeding the homeless!") I'm convinced people don't think about things. What amounts to $7 per person radically advanced science. Spending that same amount or more on Universal Health Care gets whiplash as the same people who complained about NASA complain about social welfare and contraceptives.
"entrenched stupidity of certain segments of the population" is a kind way of putting it.
Ken Foreman
August 7, 2012 at 10:30 pm
Victor said it far better than I did:
https://friendfeed.com/aswang/0a90fbe8/if-we-didn-t-spend-that-2-5-billion-over-eight
James Clark
August 7, 2012 at 10:45 pm
Well, I know my opinions and views can be perceived as aggressive and vicious, so I really was trying to be as gentle as possible so the core idea would be consumable by a larger number of people.
(btw, I'm a firm believer that other peoples perceptions aren't my problem, and vice versa, my perception of someone/something else isn't it/their problem)
James Clark
August 7, 2012 at 10:57 pm
Wow. I really like that blurb from Victor.
I've been feeling really disillusioned with the state of our society lately. So much so that I might be half joking / half seriously considering pursuing plans to move to Germany. I know it must have its own problems but for awhile I'd probably think it was an intellectual paradise.