Lawrence Krauss speaks out against science denialism

[cbayer]

http://www.examiner.com/article/lawrence-krauss-speaks-out-against-science-denialism

FEBRUARY 1, 2013
BY: STAKS ROSCH




A new BigThink video featuring theoretical physicist, Dr. Lawrence Krauss, is circling the internet. The video was released on Jan. 30 and is titled, “Lawrence Krauss: Stop Validating Ignorance.”

In the video, Krauss takes issue with Republican Senator Marco Rubio’s statements about the age of the Earth. In an interview with GQ, Rubio said:

“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.”

In one part of the video, Krauss responds to the Senator by talking about the notion of teaching religious beliefs next to settled science in this way:

“If you think about that, somehow saying that, well, anything goes, we shouldn't offend religious beliefs by requiring kids to know - to understand reality; that’s child abuse. And if you think about it, teaching kids - or allowing the notion that the earth is 6,000 years old to be promulgated in schools is like teaching kids that the distance across the United States is 17 feet. That’s how big an error it is.”

more at link

[JEFF9K]

1. w/out

Without denialism, the Republican Party would be out of business.

[dimbear]

2. That's a lovely analogy, and it's just about right. The biblical estimate of the age of the earth

is off almost by a factor of a million. America is very roughly 17 million feet wide, for purposes of easy math. On the other hand, when the earth coalesced 4.3 million years ago, no one currently alive can accurately guess what day of the week it was. Bishop Ussher has the jump there.

[cbayer]

3. I liked that analogy as well. He can be a great spokesperson when he chooses to be.