Half the Facts You Know Are Probably Wrong

Reason ^ | January 2013 | Ronald Bailey

[TBP]

Half of this article will prove to be non-factual in a few years.

[BipolarBob]

This is depressing. Not only is my schooling outdated and wrong but at my age my memory decay is on the order of the half-life of the radioactive isotope strontium-90. I’m screwed.

[PapaNew]

Half the Facts You Know Are Probably Wrong

And the other half you didn't know are probably right.

Old truths decay

Kind of like "old tooths decay." Like the root canal I just had today. Life is becoming more like one long root canal appointment...

[sasquatch]

Excellent!

[DManA]

Every day 100 tons of bs is dumped on our heads.

Did the bill passed on News Year day raise or lower spending?

[PapaNew]

direct telecommunications link from my brain to digitized contents of the Library of Congress

You're too late.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC_VAfFozeg

[sasquatch]

strontium-90

~30 yr. Mine's closer to 30 min.

[nickcarraway]

Only half? Major win!

[TBP]

“...and everything you know is wrong.” (The Firesign Theater)

(But I knew that already.)

[DJlaysitup]

IMO, one of the biggest problems is - scientists are people too. While they will extoll the virtues of the scientific method...doing research and going where the evidence takes them...as a rule they all have egos and are more interested in proving their own preconceived notions (theories).

I’ve followed the Neaderthal question out of curiosity. It’s amazing how many highly regarded anthrpologists simply disregard the DNA evidence that has come out in the last few years. It simply doesn’t fit their model.

[justa-hairyape]

Well, according to Al Gore and his Global Warming acolytes, the science is settled. No need to even debate it any more. So just imagine how far away from reality they are now operating.

[BipolarBob]

I don’t remember posting here. Where am I? Am I logged in?

[ThomasThomas]

I bet the author never got over having to memorizing his multiplication tables as a child.

Facts can change over time truth doesn’t. But then low information voter create their own truth. Then there are factoids.Also how can one know anything if by the time it’s published it is out dated.

[Just another Joe]

Did the bill passed on News Year day raise or lower spending?

Neither.

[Vince Ferrer]

Another interesting angle is when facts are known not to be true by scientists, how long does it take for that information to get out to the general public?

Brontosaurus Does Not Exist

"Although the mistake was known since the early 20th century, the name Brontosaurus was still used in popular culture and the media, and even on museum displays."

[Inyo-Mono]

I’ve followed the Neaderthal question out of curiosity. It’s amazing how many highly regarded anthrpologists simply disregard the DNA evidence that has come out in the last few years. It simply doesn’t fit their model.

Me too. "They" say the last Neanderthals died out some 20,000 years ago based on fossil evidence. I think they were (or still are) around much closer to our own time. Based on fossil eveidence, chimpanzees died out about 20,000 years ago too.

[Vince Ferrer]

IMO, one of the biggest problems is - scientists are people too. While they will extoll the virtues of the scientific method...doing research and going where the evidence takes them...as a rule they all have egos and are more interested in proving their own preconceived notions (theories).

Academics are some of the most political, vicious backstabbers of any group of people. They will work not only to disprove another person's theory, but to destroy the person. There are many examples of scientists being driven out of their field by the old gaurd protecting their work from new ideas, only to have the new ideas eventually proven correct, but too late for the original scientist who proposed the idea.

[Forrestfire]

The 50% is 100% of what the libs tell you!!!

[KarlInOhio]

There are many examples of scientists being driven out of their field by the old gaurd protecting their work from new ideas, only to have the new ideas eventually proven correct, but too late for the original scientist who proposed the idea.

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

— Max Planck