Does it bother you when people say: "Wow, it's been so cold this winter, so much for global warming."? And you have to remind them that global warming means that the average temperature of the earth is increasing, and that, in fact, the average temperature of North America is predicted to get colder, by maybe even as much as ten degrees (on average). And does it bother you that many of the people that say this have Ph.D.s and work at a university? And does it bother you that this completely incorrect interpretation of our colder winters is making it into the general consciousness and feeding the conservative fallacy machine?
And does it bother you that people jokingly add tag lines like "If you believe in global warming," to random statements about the weather? Especially since there is no debate on the existence of global warming (except in the minds of extremely confused or extremely malicious people), and that the debate, if there is one, is about whether the warming is fully or only partially caused by human activities.
My goodness, it's almost like hearing someone on the street say that evolution isn't real: remember when people actually used to believe that? It's almost funny to think that anyone wouldn't believe in evolution nowadays - but believe it or not, there used to be a time when really confused and/or really malicious people used to try to even sabotage the teaching of evolution in science classes.
And let me ask you another question: does it bother you when people say that neutrinos have no mass? Again, to be generous, I think they are just re-hashing an old joke, from back when people actually thought neutrinos were mass-less, but still, there are some things that are just not funny anymore. I mean, this all reminds me of back when people actually believed it was okay to keep Cetaceans in captivity.
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Dude, the amount of insane nonsense and half-baked ideas I hear expressed in an average week threaten my sanity.
All the things you mentioned (save for neutrinos, I know nothing about neutrinos save for the name, and that they're subatomic) drive me up the wall. There's also that old chestnut about how the Earth is only several thousand years old.
One of my pet peeves is people speaking of evolution as having goals, a process of improvement, and so on.
Feedback loops of comprehension failure.
Posted by: Fargo | February 28, 2010 7:45 PM
It is worse than you say. Most of the time when people say "we are having more snow than usual" or "it's colder than usual" etc. they are wrong. Most people could not characterize the basic weather patterns in the place they lived all their lives.
Correction. They can characterize the weather patterns, but will usually get most of it wrong.
Posted by: Greg Laden | February 28, 2010 10:17 PM
"Does it bother me if..." no, no, no, no.
But then again, I make mexican border jokes, black man through cop car windscreen jokes and arab and indian men at the TSA checkpoint jokes.
Posted by: selfification | February 28, 2010 11:08 PM
Doesn't it bother you that so many believe it is possible to actually calculate a "global" average temperature? Doesn't it bother you that those who have never scratched beneath the surface of the IPCC reports feel compelled to pass along findings that are politically influenced and scientifically open to question?
It does me...especially when those same folks fail to recognize the presence of bias in their own arguments?
Don't take what I say...go find out for yourself!
www.ipcc.ch
Posted by: Robert | March 1, 2010 12:55 AM
Doesn't averaging a "global" temperature basically entail, I don't know, averaging a number of randomly distributed temps taken over the same period of time around the globe? Seems pretty hard to do, huh, Robert? There seems to be no real method for climatologists around the globe with thermometers and computers to record temperatures over time and share data with other climatologists. That would require some kind of global network of... telephones or even computers. Unbelievable!
Posted by: Christopher | March 1, 2010 2:44 AM
Where I live now, and even more so where I work, the prevailing notion is that the theory of evolution is just another false faith, and that AGW is a hoax perpetrated by grant-farming scientists and abetted by socialist politicians bent on imposing world government. I get along by keeping my mouth shut, and suffering ludicrous nonsense like the foregoing from my coworkers alot.
Thankfully, I'm about to start a new job in a different place, where I expect there'll be lots more reality-based people to talk to. Have brain, will travel...
Posted by: Mal Adapted | March 1, 2010 1:04 PM
Why should such things bother me? I expect humans to be stupid and I'm seldom surprised by them exhibiting intelligence. Intelligence & fecundity are moderately strongly negatively correlated. The 'Idiocracy' is here.
Posted by: darwinsdog | March 2, 2010 10:42 AM
Some of this is really unavoidable for the general public. They do need to have enough understanding to trust scientists and the scientific process, so when they ask 'silly' questions, they will also wonder what scientists know - that they don't. I have taken a couple of shots at giving the general public some science that they can internalize without formal study: at the link (and earlier).
Posted by: Hey! Get This . . . | March 2, 2010 3:28 PM