Funny and Seriously Troubling

I recently came across a website that I am now completely obsessed with. The website is called Ask an Astrobiologist and is a NASA page. At first glance the website doesn't seem like anything unusual until you start clicking through the questions that he receives. As questions are submitted via the internet, the questions are often baffling. The Astrobiologist answering them, David Morrison, does not suffer fools gladly, as the expression goes. He takes a very firm hand with the lunacy that pervades the internet and implores people to develop critical thinking and critical researching skills. With all the disaster movies that have been coming out, or will be coming out, he gets a lot of crazy questions asking if those things are true, or demanding to know why NASA is hiding this stuff from them. There are also heart-breaking questions from people clearly confused by the massive amount of misinformation they find online. I wish more people would speak this clearly with the American people on a whole host of issues. The lack of understanding of many of the questioners points to deeper failures in the education system. Some of my favorite excerpts from the site:

I saw an episode of "The Universe," on the history channel, that showed NASA landing a probe on the asteroid Eris, or Eros. A week later another episode explained that Eris, or Eros, was a dwarf planet in the Kiper Belt. (1) If Eris is a dwarf planet out past Pluto then how could NASA land a probe on it? (2) Is Eris a dwarf planet or an asteroid that NASA put a probe on?

You are confusing Eros (a near Earth asteroid) with Eris (the largest known dwarf planet). Eros and Eris are different just as Washington is not Wilmington, and Paris is not Paros, and in planetary science Titan is not Triton. Different words mean different things. If you do not make this distinction, you will misunderstand many things you read and see on TV. For more information on either Eris or Eros, try Wikipedia.

People are saying that a solar flare is going to hit the Earth in 2012 and "toast" us alive. What is this site http://www.instituteforhumancontinuity.org/ all about? I even saw their commercial on tv! I just want to know the truth and be prepare if something is really going to happened. AND I recently saw a commercial on Discovery's History Channel where a lottery entry has begun to "save yourself" from the 2012 doomsday event; however, it was not specified what this event may be or how these winners would be saved. AND I found this website with very believable information. Is it really true ? http://www.instituteforhumancontinuity.org/#/home. AND I saw this commercial on tv about the institute for humanity continuity and I am very scared.

About dozen people have written to me this week about ads for the Institute for Human Continuity. This is just part of the publicity for the science fiction film “2012” to be released in November. Let me be clear: (1) Nothing bad is predicted to happen in 2012. The 2012 doomsday is a hoax. (2) There is no Institute for Human Continuity. It is a fake website created to generate interest in the film. (3) Neither the film nor this website are based on science. This is fiction. (4) The creation of a fake website to publicize a film is called “viral marketing” by a analogy with a computer virus (look it up in Wikipedia). (5) It is important to learn to distinguish fiction from fact, and Hollywood film plots from reality. Here is what I wrote in this subject a few months ago in my “Twenty Questions” about 2012: The pseudoscientific claims about Nibiru and a doomsday in 2012, together with distrust of the government, are being amplified by publicity for the new film from Columbia Pictures titled “2012”, to be released in November 2009. The film publicity includes creation of a faux scientific website (www.instituteforhumancontinuity.org/) for “The Institute for Human Continuity”, which is entirely fictitious. According to this website, the IHC is dedicated to scientific research and public preparedness. Its mission is the survival of mankind. The website explains that the Institute was founded 1978 by international leaders of government, business, and science. They say that in 2004, IHC scientists confirmed with 94% certainty that the world would be destroyed in 2012. This website encourages people to register for a lottery to select those who will be saved; a colleague submitted the name of her cat, which was accepted. I learned from Wikipedia that creating this sort of fake website is a new advertising technique called “Viral Marketing”, by analogy with computer viruses.

I'm really worried about supernovas and hypernovas. I'm specially worried about stars called Betelgeuse, Eta Carinae, Antares and WR 104, as there is a lot of conroversial information on the internet about these stars. I Know pretty well the situation about WR 104, as you have answered it also, but the rest of the stars i mentioned are still a mystery. This is really worrying me as i can't sleep when I worry about these things (yes I'm a worryer and a bit of a cosmophobic), so it would be very helpful if you could give me the information I need so I could go on with my life.

I can think of no reason why any of the stars you mention should be considered threats. I don’t know what specific information will calm your fears, but these are just ordinary stars going about their business like the other 100 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy...If you are finding many websites that claim controversy about these four stars, my advice is to stop using such misleading sources of information. The Internet is filled with misinformation and disinformation, most of which should simply be ignored. One of the most valuable aspects of Wikipedia is that it is up to date and reflects the knowledge of real scientists. If anyone thinks they are falling for the crazy ideas of cosmophobia or are having trouble sleeping because of fear of astronomy, please check out Wikipedia or other reputable sources (such as Sky & Telescope or Astronomy magazines) and forget the pseudoscience.

Why isn't there more media coverage of the 2012 doomsday? Explain to me what I am seeing in the video for HR 8791. Why did you guys finally decide to coordinate with other countries for the global space station or be in such a rush to find a planet that will support life. The biggest news today is the Health Care Reform but if you look at the words at the bottom on CNN they read that NASA has discovered a planet.

There is not more media coverage of the 2012 doomsday because the media realize it is a hoax. Fortunately most of the media prefer to write about real things, and they understand that 2012 is an Internet and UTube cult phenomenon without the slightest bit of evidence to support it. The only HR 8791 I know of is a Congressional Bill (HR stands for House Resolution) that has been the subject of a spoof by the satirical humor publication Onion. I hope you are not taking this spoof seriously. This sort of humor works only if readers can recognize the spoof...

Usually the astrologers use our planets to explain the present, past and the future life of we humans. Is there really any link between the planet alignment and its movement with the human's life or a person's zodiac sign?

No, there is no link — astrology is not science, or prediction, but an ancient religion that is unrelated to modern science...

There are certain people who believe that global warming may in fact be true, but at our current rate it is too late to do anything about it.... My question to you is, what do you think is the better solution for global warming. Invest billions into trying to find solutions to fix the problem. Or invest the billions of dollars of research into learning to live with global warming?I am surprised that you refer to “people who think global warming may be true”.

Global warming is about as sure as anything in science that deals with a complex system like Earth climate. We know the rapid increase in greenhouse gases is producing a rate of heating that overwhelms any of the much slower “natural” processes that influence global climate...

Taking Action - Getting Started, Getting Informed

Michael Moore's newest release, Capitalism: A Love Story, has stirred a lot of emotion and has been overwhelmingly well-received. The biggest criticism I hear is that he doesn't lay out where to go once you leave the theater. I find this very interesting given that the movie is about raising awareness and highlighting the problems and contradictions in the economic system in the U.S. and to a large extent globally.

The desire to have Moore not only lay out the problem, but also the solution, gets at one of the key reasons that this movie was made. Americans have let themselves be led around for too long, by media, by politicians, by their churches, etc. Only when people take a serious look at their lives and the lives of others will they really be able to say what they actually want. It is critical for Americans, and others, to get a better idea of how the norms of society inform both our individual goals and the appropriate means for attaining those goals.

This creates a situation in which many Americans have a difficult time imagining alternatives to the current system or even realizing the problems inherent within it. In our daily lives, the inadequacies of the current system can seem obtuse and distant. By taking a step back, we can begin to understand that there could be a different way, but this also will require action, not continued resignation. Engaging with history and the current realities in other countries can begin to show that what we take for granted is much more malleable than we realize. Systems change over time, often as the result of events that were seemingly minor at the time.

I am beginning to realize one of the biggest weaknesses of the American education system is teaching the ability to differentiate between good and bad sources of information. While not something that can be taught overnight, the key for me is to verify the expertise of the person or persons presenting the information, and whether their accounts are contextual. By contextual, I am referring to that they aren't simply stating a fact or facts as permanent or infinite. For example, you often hear a current belief expressed as timeless. For example, the idea that the U.S. is and always was a Christian nation. A simple historical review would dispel this notion; however, most people lack the skills to carry out such a review.

In many cases, media outlets underestimate their ability to educate as well as inform. An educated populace is complementary to an informed populace, but they can be very different. I see many people that are clearly informed, in that they are aware of current events, and have taken positions on key issues of the day. But often, these people lack sufficient education, to make their positions coherent. By education, I am not simply referring to schooling. I am also referring to a broader education, which requires engaging with history and taking a broader perspective than is found in most newspapers and textbooks. Similarly, I see many well-educated individuals, who clearly have grappled with difficult issues and are well-read in theory and/or history. However, many of them are unable to take the understanding and apply it in a coherent way to reality. In becoming so obsessed with the details of some historical period, or some theoretical perspective, they lose interest in the complexity of the everyday political and social issues.

I think it is critical for people to think about the deficiencies in their perspectives and try to get a better understanding of why they think what they do. It is important to come to terms with the biases and inadequacies of both our scholarly as well as contextual knowledge. This often requires seeking out new and varied sources, so that we are able to have a more coherent internal narrative. Key to this is identifying that just because you agree with an analysis or the conclusions, doesn't make the analysis accurate or coherent. Similarly, just because you disagree, it doesn't mean that you are missing something. Sometimes alternative perspectives or sources are just inaccurate or incomplete. By engaging with how they came to their conclusions is just as important as what conclusions they came to. Also important is to not fall into the trap that there are two sides to every problem or issue. Problems are much more complex than such a duality would allow. And the solution to any given problem doesn't lie between two expressed extremes. In all likelihood any given solution will favor some and infuriate others. Such are the complexities we face.

Fall in DC

The change from summer to Autumn came suddenly this year. The temperature just dropped quickly and it began to feel like Vancouver weather, though without all the drizzle (which surprisingly I miss). The leaves are finally beginning to change color out here, as snow seemed to be falling in many other places. While I always enjoyed snow, I am not minding living in a more moderate climate.

Work continues to go well. I am on a new engagement which I am enjoying. It requires me to follow the health care reforms very closely; which I find very interesting. I continue to be surprised how quickly and also how slowly things can move. Some aspects of the Baucus bill (Senate Finance) that seemed to be set in stone were changed rapidly just days before it was sent back to the Congressional Budget Office for scoring (their system of estimating the costs of a particular bill).

I can honestly say that I have never felt this close to the action politically and I find it very engaging. My current team is looking at ways to create an analysis that will be useful and hopefully affect the creation of public policy as it relates to parent and child coverage. It is interesting to be in a job where our analysis has to be air tight, because in many instances it will be used to create policy. I am certainly seeing a much different approach than is found in academia, where even the most rigorous peer-review standards are more loose and fluid.

Having to tie nearly every word I write (in the reporting phase) to a reliable sources has made me think about even the early phases of my new job in a different way. The deductive writing style and also the intense review process have also changed the way I approach research. I definitely cast my net more broadly now but I am also much more discerning in the actual sources that I use.

As a cerulean Blue Jay lands outside in a tree with fiery leaves, I couldn't feel more at home, more at peace. This was a good move.

The Anniversary Post - Part Two

Things began to look up as we got into October. The nibbles became interviews and our level of comfort with the city began to grow. When we originally came out, I figured would we end up in one of the many suburbs I lived most closely to for my internship: Crystal City, Pentagon City, or Alexandria. However, we kept an open-mind and were introduced to Silver Spring by my dad's friend. We came out and went to the downtown. My first impression was that it was just an overly- gentrified suburb like many of the other sleeper-cities that ring D.C. (I would later find out how wrong I was).

Searching for apartments is tedious at best. Having to do a walk through with property managers is like a trip to the dentist. We get it, the place has windows, thanks! As the downturn was just beginning in September, apartment places started giving out better and better deals. It seemed like each new week, apartments would be giving one additional free month of rent. This gave us an opportunity to look at some apartments that were slightly more expensive than we were planning originally. Sadly, these ones ended up being the biggest disappointments and we passed them over.

At around this time I had a couple interviews that went really well. One in particular (at GAO) ended up with me pretty sure I would get the job. However, just to be sure we had something, I took another interview the same week with a job I would have only taken to have a job, despite the good pay. One of the managers babbled on for 20 minutes about how he came up with the name and had been thinking about it since he was 13... The name was so generic I couldn't tell which of the 5 companies that came up when I Googled it was theirs (turns out none of them, they didn't have their site up yet...).

The job offer from GAO came at just the right time and offer of employment in hand, we began the apartment hunt in earnest. In our second trip to Silver Spring we visited a few apartments within walking distance of the metro. One really fit our needs and was throwing in free underground parking. We had found a home. Now we needed a bed.

Little did I know, bed shopping is even more tedious than apartment shopping, especially during a downturn. The desperate looks on the salespeople's faces as we would enter was enough to make you cry. Obviously it had been a rough month, because everywhere we went they were ready to pounce and throw you onto the first queen-size in range. Luckily, we knew what we were looking for and ended up finding a better deal than we were expecting.

Job, check! Apartment, check! Bed, check! We were now ready to have our stuff be delivered from Utah, and to start a real life. Our first year has gone by better than expected in most ways and we now feel fully settled in. I am continually amazed by the amount of great stuff going on in town and how easy most of it is to get to.

Looking back, I still get butterflies when I think about arriving at the hotel that first day. There are some times in your life when you realize things could have taken a completely different turn. That was one of those times. I am glad it has worked out for the best.

The Solution: Educating Yourself on the Basics

Upon seeing how many Americans and Britons don't understand evolution and even reject its existence, Richard Dawkins took it upon himself to write a book that would bring the discussion back to its foundation. In The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, Dawkins strips the discussion to the basics and then shows what sorts of evidence would have to be present to show that evolution has taken place. From there he builds the indisputable case that evolution is a fact and that to deny otherwise requires a level of cognitive dissonance, not skepticism.

Dawkins would know about skepticism when it comes to evolution. He has been one of the central authors in changing the way the mechanisms of evolution have been understood. He, like many, identify that Darwin had a good start, but that Origin of Species is far from a complete accounting of the complexity that is evolution (nor was that Darwin's goals). At Utah State University, they offered a course in which you read Origin of Species and identified what things Darwin got right and other areas where he was off the mark.

Until people take the same intellectually curious approach that great scientists take to big issues, we will continue to have moral politics and biblical debates where policy discussions and mutual respect should be.

The Anniversary Post - Part One

It is hard to believe we have now been in Washington D.C. for a year. After we finished our M.A.s, we spent a month with friends and family in Utah and California. We arrived in Washington D.C. with a six week window in which to find jobs, an apartment, and a bed. My dad, in town for work, invited Heather and I to come and stay with him while he was there. Because my mom can't resist a party, she came along as well. We wanted to have at least one of our cars out here, so we drove out from Utah to Fargo, to pick up my Mom, and then from Fargo to D.C.; driving about 16 hours a day. You would be surprised how quickly you can get three-fourths of the way across the U.S.

Once we arrived at the extended stay hotel, familiar feelings of "What the hell were we thinking?" began to arise. Was this crazy idea going to work out? Could we really find something this quickly? Being an extended stay hotel, there was a fridge, stove, and microwave in the room. I will never forget the culinary ingenuity that having only two burners and a handful of utensils will give you. We cooked some surprisingly excellent meals and huddled around the tiny table in the room.

Most days would begin with Heather and I hunting for jobs for the first part of the day, at which point my mom would become totally sick of being in the hotel and we would head out to find something to do. Little did we know, Greenbelt (where we were staying) was about the most boring place in the area. Luckily, during my past stay in D.C. (for my internship), I had accumulated a list of fun places, all easily accessible by metro.

However, we never felt free of stress as the impending deadline of my parents leaving was hanging over our heads. A couple weeks, after having applied to an uncountable number of jobs, we began to get nibbles, most of which were below what we were looking for. We were holding out for careers positions that we would actually want to do for a while that paid well. There were lots of great and funny things between the searching out the best restaurants in Greenbelt (not a task I would wish to repeat...) and all of us being within about 10 feet of each other 90% of the time.

The Problem: Debating an Issue You Don't Understand

Kirk Cameron, the actor turned wacky evangelical, is back peddling his overstated and horribly confused wares. A recent video release by himself and Ray Comfort, author of one of the most poorly written books I have ever read, have teamed up again to take their version of evangelism to a whole new level of absurdity. The video itself is hilarious. Kirk sitting backwards in a chair (what is this a 90s PSA?) making absurd statements about how evolution is the antithesis of Christianity and that Darwin's ideas played a key role in Nazi crimes against humanity. Now I can fathom how evolution makes people who believe the earth is 6,000-10,000 years old uncomfortable, but to make such blatantly untrue and egregious statements is just irresponsible.

Their awesome plan is to take Darwin's original treatise on evolution (which is now part of public domain) and put in a 50 page "special introduction." It appears to be special in the same way people call their dog that can't stop running into walls, "special." They will then hand these out at campuses across the U.S. in an attempt to debunk the "myth of evolution." Now handing out a free copy of Origin of Species is all well and good, but to put in 50 pages of conservative evangelical babble serves no one. People that would even CONSIDER reading the 50 page special introduction would NEVER read Origin of Species, and vice-versa. Cameron's and Comfort's narrow, ignorant, and inaccurate understanding of reality indicates clearly that neither have read the original text that they will be giving away, nor have they read any modern works on evolution. Anyone looking at the evidence, religious or non-religious, with an appreciation of rules of evidence and the scientific method cannot but identify the facts of evolution and how it has given rise to our current biodiversity. To claim otherwise is to simply ignore the vast historical literature and on-going scientific work in any field related to biology.