on ignoring science & philosophy

[sophiaserpentia]

So I've seen headlines recently on "the science of ignoring science," but really, this is a very simple question. For anything that does not affect day to day life it is easy to repeat whatever you want to yourself. Getting food in your stomach before sundown or passing on your genes does not depend on whether the earth is flat or round or whether the earth is four billion years old or six thousand years old.

Comments

[azaz-al.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what you're saying here.

[azaz-al.livejournal.com]

Maybe because I haven't been reading the articles you are reading.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Gaah, I can't find the articles now. So the question is, how is it possible to ignore the brilliant, well-tested outcomes and mountains of evidence offered by Science!, but the reason is not very complex, really. There is no cost to one's day to day survival from having a false belief, nor is there any benefit to one's day to day survival from having a true belief. So there is no tangible incentive that can force someone to revisit their worldview.

[azaz-al.livejournal.com]

I would argue that it does - it isn't immediately or glaringly noticeable to these people, or they are deliberately blinding themselves to the results of their actions, but it is having real results that are affecting people in tangible, sometimes deadly, ways.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Yes, it does, in the long run. But even that "long run" is abstract enough that it can be talked over inside the space of someone's mind.

[akaiyume.livejournal.com]

how is it possible to ignore the brilliant, well-tested outcomes and mountains of evidence offered by Science

I haven't read the articles you are talking about, but I wonder if part of the problem could be that a lot of people don't seem to really grasp the difference between theoretical science and applied science/technology. I mean the latest and greatest cure/gadget/method of doing something seems to change almost everyday; the laws of thermodynamics, not so much. But if someone doesn't really grok that distinction then all the "scientists say" stuff we are bombarded with can make science seem really fickle. So they may get no sense of stability and comfort from scientific knowledge, because they don't understand how well tested and enduring the non-applied, non-marketed stuff is.