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Criticism is the basis of science, not denial of it

Criticism is the basis of science, not denial of it

I’m not a climate change denier. I am a denier of these cornball solutions proposed to supposedly fix climate change. Why can’t I question bad ideas without being branded a denier/heretic?

I love science. It’s what got me into the field of Computer Science as my livelihood for the last 25 years. Empirical, data-backed thinking is what’s led us from the ignorance and superstitions of the past to understanding we have today. But science has a problem. Namely – that politicians, news agencies, and activists are running around claiming they are speaking for science.

To understand something, you must know what it is you’re seeking. Epistemologically, the object of science is to create physical descriptions of the natural world. Science seeks to describe how the world works via repeatable, quantifiable descriptions of natural processes. Science, however, has NOTHING to say about political policy or ascribing human value to what it finds. Political policy and human value are the proper objects of government and religion. Science can describe how an atom is split – it is politicians, engineers, and theologians that tell us if we should build a bomb or a power plant.

Therefore, it’s time to separate the peanut butter from the chocolate. If someone legitimately questions a political policy or posited social policy for an issue – they are NOT a science denier. They are a policy or activist questioner. I believe most people would agree politicians, and especially activists, should be questioned – regularly. This is a good thing, a necessary thing. Something democracy is founded on. Any activist or politician that resorts to silencing others or cannot defend their proposals by describing the solid scientific evidence and social policy reasoning behind them is a danger to democracy.

Example: We can 100% agree that gravity is real and buildings will fall down and kill people if built badly. A healthy scientific statement can absolutely withstand someone arguing if certain kind of concrete can withstand certain pressures and forces. You go out and try it. Reality decides who’s right. A healthy public policy of building codes based on those facts can withstand any scrutiny without resorting to someone being called a ‘gravity denier’ or ‘regulations denier’. It’s clear that building code has had serious flaws in the past – but that is a flaw of the policy. Science and gravity are just fine thank you.

Public policy and social policy do NOT speak scientifically nor for science. Policy should be BASED on science, but equating the two is wrong. Science and political/social policy fundamentally differ in what they are trying to do.

What we have now are policy makers and activists pretending they are scientists or pretending to speak for science when they are not. They are arguing for a particular political policy – not the science. Most activists, if you look, have very limited to no real knowledge of real science. Most are not scientists at all. Some have very dubious public and private credentials to even speak on these topics. Because they do not understand the science, they all too often resort to ad-hominem name calling more akin to radicals, cults, and zealots.

Sadly, the average person doesn’t usually understand the nuance that science and policy are different. I see all kinds of signs that say ‘Science is real’ and ‘We believe science’ here in Portland, while at the same time voting down fluoridating water – 5 times. It doesn’t help when politicians/activists saying they are the same. It’s beginning to undermine the notion of truth itself. This is why people are increasingly starting to say they don’t trust ‘science’ anymore. What they should say is they don’t (and shouldn’t) trust politicians and activists claiming to be scientists.

Maybe that’s why we are seeing an increase in political fanaticism that one would normally see in a cult. It attracts the same radicals – for the same reasons. (Aside: One might make a very interesting study that with the decline of religious following, people have turned to political/social policy as their new religious belief system. Which is why people’s political beliefs are often held with the same convictions as faith)

But there are currently growing problems in science itself. Sabine Hossenfelder is a widely spoken professor and scientist. I love her videos because she’s been revealing the seedy underbelly of how science has been getting done lately. She’s started to call BS on some widely held scientific trends that are (and have) turned out to be wrong. The news has also had some embarrassing scandals about grossly falsified data by famous and high-ranking university officials. The suspicion is that there is likely a lot more fraud yet to be uncovered based on a amount of blatantly obvious fraud already found. This isn’t new – the history of science is full of liars, cheats, and rivalries that would make a sailor blush.

Hossenfelder has been ruffling some big feathers. She claims her adherence to the standards of truth surrounding her calling foul on the failures of string theory (claims she was proven right about) cost her tenure. She also admits when she’s wrong. Honestly – I think she’s one of the few people really doing science by demanding high standards of proof.

More telling is the comment sections on her Youtube videos that are full of other scientists (and PHD’s) who are encountering the same things and sharing the same stories. Namely, that publishing results that align with current thinking is more important than truth (evidenced by major cases of data fraud being discovered in a shocking numbers of papers). She notes funding channels are controlled by just a few large figureheads in each field that determine what can be researched and often hold personal vendettas against anyone that questions their leadership or scientific direction. Science has become highly entrenched in ‘orthodox’ lines of thought and has their own inquisitions towards those that question the results. She describe how the funding mechanisms keeps perpetuating failed ideas even when decades of work shows no results – or even shows clear negative results.

As stated before public policy and social policy is NOT science. Policy should be BASED on science, but equating the two is wrong because they fundamentally differ in what they are trying to do. The other problem is that it appears we’re not actually DOING science by demanding high standards of repeatable proof.

Truth is being attacked on 2 fronts. Ironically by the very people claiming to be speaking for truth. It’s creating a crisis of faith in science as well as contributing to our increasingly divisive political climate that acts more like cults than democracy.

Cleaning up trash

Cleaning up trash

Walking around Portland, it doesn’t take long to find a mess. Litter bugs, homelessness, and open drug use are a regular thing. The downtown area is particularly bad; especially around the McDonalds on Burnside and 20th. It’s a daily thing to pass a few passed out bodies lay on the street/bushes or standing around open sidewalk campfire. Drug dealers are very active in the morning at 7am.

A few of us that go to daily mass sometimes pick up a garbage bag, grabbers, and do a walk around the church. It’s not uncommon to complete a 10 minute walk around the block to see there’s already more trash. Used needles, fast food trash, lighters and foil, food remnants, filthy clothes, bottles, cigarette butts, human feces, and people passed out in bushes. It’s all there. I wake people up sleeping to make sure they aren’t dead. I point them towards the many services freely available in the city just blocks away. I usually get a few 4 letter word responses.

As I walk around the building, I often would just say the rosary or pray. When things are bad, you can despair, let anger overwhelm you, or just do something out of love. I say this as someone keenly aware of how badly the city of Portland has failed. Portland policy has directly created this humanitarian disaster. Deaths are now more than double (at one point 4x) what they were before drug legalization. It is a sad fact that prison was literally doing a better job of saving lives than legalization and harm reduction.

As I walked around the building and picked up trash, it struck me that I wasn’t that different. I too leave little bits of trash around all day.

We drop a dirty little comment here. We leave a little lie there. We are discard contempt at a slow shop employee that annoys us. We dirty up someone’s reputation with gossip. We cut someone off in traffic. We bully someone at school/work. We ignore a friend or person who could use a little of our help. We focus only on ourselves. We carelessly drop little bits of un-love trash all day long. Others often have to deal with the fallout of that trash when their spouse comes home from work upset.

It was a moment for me to reflect that when I am humble and help clean up a mess – of either real trash or some situation I find myself in – this is the work of God. God comes to help clean up the hurt, damage, and trash we have made of our lives and our society. We are called to do that out in the world as well.

Where can I stop littering little acts of un-love? What trash can I clean up today in thanks for God helping me clean mine up?

Quitting and running away doesn’t work

Quitting and running away doesn’t work

Are you getting burned out? Is your dream job killing you? Want to run away to a tropical island or pursue your bucket list? What if I told you that you didn’t need to do that – and it may not actually help. Helen Zhao did just that: she quit her dream job, looking to heal burnout and find happiness beyond work. What she discovered was very different.

I was checking off destinations so that I could wear the number of places I’d been like a badge of honor. Then my life would be as worthwhile as the travel influencers I envied, I thought. 

  1. Cut back and shift focus

She found herself burning out while traveling. She eventually slash the remaining 34 countries on her 50 country bucket list in half and focused on quality over quantity. What was the point of seeing so many places if I didn’t truly enjoy them?

Prioritizing well-being meant letting go of metrics you think define your self-worth. She began to measure success through the moments she felt truly alive, at peace, and connected with others, instead of the quantifiable accomplishments that might make my resume and online bio more impressive.

  1. Ignore FOMO, prioritize joy

Stop rushing through things that meet your metrics of being more ‘successful’. Instead of stressing through a day trip to say she had been to a specific famous place, she sat at a cafe reading things she enjoyed. She slept in after a long night with friends with a slow breakfast instead of going on an island tour. She began to enjoy everything more.

  1. Stop trying to monetize/multitask what you’re doing

During the first part of her travels she was constantly trying to formulate pitches and story ideas from her travels. She was still multitasking work.

Instead, she pursued fun topics she didn’t have time to study while working full time: history, politics, real estate investing. She learned to develop an identity completely disconnected from work.

  1. Don’t forget

After she returned home, she started getting sucked back into workaholism. She made time for journaling, walks, and meditation. Instead of worrying about burnout or feeling worthless/unaccomplished while spending this time, she embraces that time to figure out what’s next.

Article:

What you do in secret

What you do in secret

When was the last time you did a completely unselfish act, or act of love? Hmmm. Maybe that was too easy a question.

When was the last time you did something and received no credit/recognition for it? Did you ever only do something because you knew you would get credit for it? Have you purposefully done something kind so that nobody even knew it was you? What if someone else even got the credit?

How did it feel to not get credit, not be recognized, or if someone else got credit?

Matthew 6:1-6

The point of life

The point of life

Life is a timed test to achieve our salvation.

Have I invested my talents and gifts selflessly for the good of others or are my talents primarily for my own purposes? When I reach the end will I only be able to say “Thank you for the life you gave me, I buried my life in career, money, popularity, having a perfect family, or chasing earthly pleasures – so all I have is to offer the one life you gave me back?” (Matthew 25:14–30)

    Wisdom for life

    Wisdom for life

    You are young and life is long, and there is time to kill today.
    And then one day you find, ten years have got behind you
    No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

    Time – Pink Floyd

    I saw a quote on a gaming forum the other day that made me pause. A young indie developer was lamenting how long his game was taking to make and he was showing all the signs of burnout. Another dev commented they should just take a break and come back to it in 6 months or a year. ‘You can always come back and finish an idea later.’ Everyone agreed. I would have agreed even 5 years ago.

    All during your 20’s and 30’s, time seems infinite. When I reached 40, I realized that statistically, I was HALF WAY through life (assuming average age of death is 77). Time goes so much faster than you expect. When I was doing some financial planning to see if I was on track, this quote came up:

    The days are long, but the years are short.

    While we are doing the day-to-day living, our investments are compounding for us. If we haven’t been saving for our retirement then we are going to be shocked how quickly a decade goes by and we’re far behind where we hoped.

    Not only that, but all those projects and goals I was going to get to some day had less and less time to be done. I have seen this with my friends that have kids. As their kids grow up, they get about 10 good years of summer fun with them before they are teens with their friends or off to college. Then we wake up and realize we are 50. Well over halfway through life.

    When you are young, you have all the time and energy in the world – but no money.
    When you are middle-age, you have energy and money – but no time.
    When you are old, you have money and time – but no energy (or health).

    I’m not even 50 and am starting to have friends come down with life-limiting, permanent disabilities or dying of actual medical issues (not just accidents or freak events). The average age of death in the United States is 77 years old. We forget that means that 50% of people never make it to that age. I was recently completely surprised by not 1, but 2, life-threatening medical conditions – I have learned clearly that it can all end very quickly. This is not new:

    And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

    “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

    “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

    “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

    Luke 12:16-21

    If you think about what’s next, you can become disillusioned:

    And I detested all the fruits of my toil under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who is to come after me. And who knows whether that one will be wise or a fool? Yet that one will take control of all the fruits of my toil and wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.
    So my heart turned to despair over all the fruits of my toil under the sun. For here is one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and that one’s legacy must be left to another who has not toiled for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. For what profit comes to mortals from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which they toil under the sun? Every day sorrow and grief are their occupation; even at night their hearts are not at rest. This also is vanity.

    There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink and provide themselves with good things from their toil. Even this, I saw, is from the hand of God. For who can eat or drink apart from God? For to the one who pleases God, he gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the one who displeases, God gives the task of gathering possessions for the one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

    Ecclesiastes 2:18-26

    So what is one to do? If we embrace the fact that all these toils are ultimately for not, then we are to set our eyes on something that lasts. God gives us clear direction as to what we should spend our lives on – the things that matter for eternity. I have been re-evaluating all the things I spend my time on now and choosing carefully. What should we choose? Loving our neighbor and toiling in the vineyard so we can show ourselves to be servants who only did what they should have done.

    Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

    Luke 12:33

    But I go to church every Sunday

    But I go to church every Sunday

    Thus says the LORD:
    They made kings in Israel, but not by my authority;
    they established princes, but without my approval.
    With their silver and gold they made
    idols for themselves, to their own destruction.
    Cast away your calf, O Samaria!
    my wrath is kindled against them;

    When Ephraim made many altars to expiate sin,
    his altars became occasions of sin.
    Though I write for him my many ordinances,
    they are considered as a stranger’s.
    Though they offer sacrifice,
    immolate flesh and eat it,
    the LORD is not pleased with them.
    He shall still remember their guilt
    and punish their sins;
    they shall return to Egypt.

    Hos 8:4, 11-13

    Hosea here is calling out how Israel has strayed. The people started picking leaders without consulting or asking God who should lead them. They started making gods for themselves from gold and silver. God calls them out for paying lip service to how they are called to act. Worst of all, God says that despite their sacrifices, they are about to be wiped out and those offerings are not going to save them.

    This lesson about God and being a follower of Him is just as relevant today – and the warning just as stern.

    How often do we pick the kings and princes in our life? Who are we spending the most time each day listening too? Do we let influencers, tik tok clips, politicians, social media, society, movie and music stars, the internet and forums, or even our own egos run the show? Do we spend any time to ask God what we should do and follow him instead of what society tells us to pursue? Who are we paying attention to as king of our life?

    What about our gods of gold and silver? What worldly wealth do we worship? A fancy house in the right place? Travel and vacations? Cars/boats? Clothes and shoes? Our investment portfolio? What possessions could we not get rid of? Is our career the master of our life – or is our work at the service of others and God? Do we pray about our career and ask God where he’d like us to work? Are we more interested in promotions and making money so we can buy the house/car/boat/toys/travel/lifestyle we want instead of what God tells us about the work of our days? Do we put our faith in God before our own wishes?

    Do we pay attention to any of the teachings of God – or are they just a ‘nice suggestion’ from a stranger? Do we genuinely seek His will in our life every day? Are we a public example on how to live out Christian joy/purity in the world? Do we obey the commandments? Do we follow the instruction of the Church regarding marriage, living together when unwed, and pre-marital sex? Do we seek forgiveness and forgive our neighbors – even when they hurt us? Do we gossip and slander others? Do we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, aid the orphan, widow, and foreigner? Offer a kind word and encouragement to those struggling?

    Yet it’s the admonition their sins remain after their sacrifices that is most chilling of all to me.

    God is telling us that just going to mass for an hour on Sunday is not enough. We can’t just rely on the offering of Christ for us – we must be transformed into Christ for the world. We cannot just be onlookers at the feet of the cross and then go back to our shops and homes to live like we did before we came in. We must become the disciples who’s lives are transformed and sent forth – never to be the same.

    If your life is not changing and you are not becoming more full of Christ and less of yourself it’s time to spend some time in prayer. What voices and leaders are ruling us besides God? What gods of gold and silver we are getting in the way of walking hour by hour with God? Do we have habitual or unrepentant sin in our life dulling our senses? Because if we do not convert, just going to mass on Sunday is not going to save us.

    Live and let live is not good public policy

    Live and let live is not good public policy

    “I don’t care what others do so long as they’re not hurting anyone else”

    Obviously directly hurting others is bad and most would agree with that. But what about things that ‘only’ affect that person? People can hurt themselves psychologically (self-imposed isolation, addictions to porn/drugs/social media/etc), physically (drugs, dangerous driving, overly dangerous risk taking, overeating, bulimia, etc), and emotionally (codependent behaviors, addictions, etc).

    The reality is that behavior you claim is only hurting yourself is never just bad for you. It is also bad for others. Others must deal with the consequences of you hurting yourself. Alcoholics and drug addicts very often say they don’t hurt others – but anyone who has a family member or loved one that is an addict would disagree.

    Communities are often losing a valuable person with unique talents and things to offer. They aren’t able to live full lives or contribute their talents. Those are all losses to the person and to the world. In worse situations, it results in life-long health issues and more medical treatments that put stress on medical and emergency services. Destruction of property can lead to higher costs for things and higher insurance rates.

    “I don’t care what others do as long as they’re not telling others what to do.”

    It’s nice in thought, but the fact we live in a democracy with voting means we DO tell each other what to do in the public sphere by how and who they vote into office. That is why the truth about human worth and understanding what makes just laws and just governance matters more than feel-good measures.