It's the second time I apologize for my English, nevertheless I feel the urge to complete This article I wrote yesterday.
I understand it sounds like a "Holy War for Science" so the point is: why people should go for this battle? Why is important? At the end, we think democracy is very robust, we think "flat earth" is just a fairy tale for idiots , and so on. It cannot harm, just because "it's just a minority of idiots", right? If we ignore it, it will disappear, right?
Well... not exactly. Let me stay in my comfort zone, and see elections as data transfer.
Take by example the last american elections. The new president won because a number of voters ~50 Millions. Forget how many Hillary has: what makes Trump a president , in term of causality , is the amount of votes HE has. So Trump has ~50 Millions of votes.
Given the fact the choice was (almost) binary (Trump vs Hillary) and who didn't voted wasn't relevant for the result, we have each vote is a single bit of information. So that, voting means to transfer ~50Mb of information from "the people" to "the government". If we go from bit to byte, we have ~6.25 MB of data. Not so much, right? (and very inefficient, by the way, in term of costs).
And worst: if we consider the amount of Americans , like ~300 Millions, ~50 Millions are, more or less, ~17% of people.
Under the point of view of "data", "Democracy" is more a "Voter-o-cracy" and the "robustness" in terms of information is not that strong: we are talking of 6.25 MB of data transferred in such a long (and expensive. And error prone.) process.
Lesson: who is spreading wrong information on the web doesn't needs to impact the vast majority: it only needs to impact ~20% to be very successful. Which means, even if you convince 80% of population to "ignore" them, they will succeed.
This is how WEAK democracy is.
Now let's discuss how bad STEM can impact democracy. I could mention economics (globalization vs protectionism) , by example, but I am not that much into this issues. So I will do an example I see spreading around.
Let's take the following fairytale:
Unlike in the West, in the Muslim society is very common to get married with cousins. This introduces some inbreeding genetics, which damages their genome , and makes them more violent. This explains terrorism.
You know , where we have heard something similar in Europe? Uhm... let me think....
So we know this is dangerous. And this is running on several "Alt-Right" channels, right now, in several languages.
Now, I will keep into my comfort zone, and let we check this.
First: "Unlike in The West". Fine. Where we've got data about inbreeding with cousins? Uhm.... public registries of new births are precise since the 1900s , more or less. To go back , we need to make use of the Catholic registries of baptized people. Which are not aggregated, mostly on paper, and not available at all for big data. Also the modern birth data are still not digital or, when they are, they aren't available. This is why to make your family tree is so hard , right?
Conclusion: we have no data about inbreeding between cousins in the West.
Let's check about the "Muslims". How do we know how frequent it is inbreeding with cousins in the Muslim society? Which data do we have? Uhm... even worst. Since they do not have a tradition of documentation of baptism, neither a single organized church like the Catholic one, and most of their registry about birth is not such precise (and not very old) , the situation is even worst.
Conclusion, II: we have even less data about inbreeding between cousins in the Muslim society.
Then we go to the "genetics": as far I understood, inbreeding is not creating any damage in the gene pool, while it is just keeping existing damages. And (is not my field so correct me if I'm wrong) this happens because inbreeding prevents corrections of broken alleles/genes.
Conclusion III: inbreeding cannot cause a specific mutation to happen, can only prevent it to being fixed.
To make inbreeding to hit always aggressiveness (adrenaline + testosterone? ) we need this damage to exist already, so inbreeding can preserve it. Is there any data about this specific error into Muslim's DNA ?
Uhm... unlikely that anyone sequenced 1.2Bn of people's DNA. I would wonder.
Conclusion, IV: we have no evidence that this specific mutation exists already, so it can't be preserved.
Now, let's put all together:
Unlike in the West, in the Muslim society is very common to get married with cousins, this introduces some inbreeding genetics, which damages their genome , and makes them more violent. This explains terrorism.
- we have no data about inbreeding between cousins in the west.
- we have even less data about inbreeding between cousins in the Muslim society.
- inbreeding cannot cause a specific mutation to happen, can only prevent it to be fixed. (to be validated by biologist).
- we have no evidence that this specific mutation exists already , so it can't be preserved..
now is pretty clear this is bullshit. Nevertheless, this is spreading in the "Alt-Right" community, and "makes sense". When I say "it makes sense" mean that it proposes some kind of "cause-effect" , which is also "science-sounding" , so the "logic" filter is OK with it. We "know" inbreeding is harming the gene pool , we've heard of wedding between cousins in the Muslim society... one filter passed. Sort of.
Then it doesn't passes MY personal filter about data. It's my job to ask myself about quality of data, so yes, this is 100% bullshit. I'm not alone. A skilled biologist could possibly find another 50 fallacies in this, the same for other kind of scientists.
Seems easy , right?
No. Of course, people which knows about "null hypothesis" will reject it. Others with studies will reject it. Young people is NOT voting. So we feel confident this opinion will never win the elections. Uhm... no.
Because it takes just 17% of population to win.
This is the point. Is not like you need to convince 50%+1 of people. You need to convince 50%+1 of VOTERS. Nevertheless, this bullshit science will run into POPULATION. On population's perspective, it only needs 17% of people believing this bullshit to mess your next elections.
This is why, fighting bad STEM is important. Ignoring is not enough: even if 80% of people will ignore it, they could win.
I could mention many things I see, which are not supported by data: "Euro is damaging the Eurozone". Really? May I see a source of DATA, pls? "Globalization is giving more problems than payout". Seriously? Do you have a raw idea HOW MANY DATA you need to say something like that? Do you have such a data?
Do you have a raw idea HOW MUCH PROCESSING POWER you need, just to end in such a conclusion?
Nevertheless, I see this kind of statements spreading : in many countries , not only 17% is thinking this. We have peaks of 40% of people, persuaded about statements which cannot even be the product of any "science". We don't have enough data available (data on economics are existing, sure, but they are from different sources, different formats, and not always available) to support such a statements.
This is why I think "to ignore" is not enough. Doesn't works. Is like "boycotting": I am "boycotting" Rolls Royce since I was born, never buy a single one, still this company runs well. Why? Because it runs on people which DOES buy it , and the people which is NOT buying is not relevant for their success.
The same for votes: 17% is enough to win. How many people did NOT voted Trump is not relevant: only the positive data matters.
This is why "to ignore" doesn't works. This is why to discuss doesn't works: even if you are the best speaker on the planet, able to convince 80% of listeners ( wow! What an attorney! ) , still you may lose.
Somehow, we need to shut down this. If don't , get prepared to have a government which thinks earth is flat, "because of science". And you may ignore them as much you want, this 20% of idiots are enough to do a mess.
First you laugh at Berlusconi. Then you start worry with Farage. And finally you see Trump. What's next?
"Vaccinations are proven dangerous". "Cancer comes from low self-esteem, according with studies". " Doctor says Jews are aliens". "Creationism is proven by science". "Some scientist says Global warming is a fairy tale". What else? Sky is their limit, I'm afraid.
And ALL of this could be your next government, until the STEM community doesn't understands to ignore is not enough. Propaganda must be filter out. And, if you think propaganda is hard to individuate, hereby I propose my personal definition:
Propaganda is using the freedom of speech against freedom of thought.
I'm not an expert of propaganda, neither a philosopher , so take it like it is: my personal opinion.
(still better than saying earth is flat, I guess. I hope. Whatever.)
I have to say I've entertained the idea that the earth is flat, who knows :D , it was entertaining tho, even prime time "philosophers"had to dedicate a portion on the flat earth
I still respect him , but he's also a showmen mr.Stephan Molenyoux , heres his podcast on Youtube Stefan_Molyneux, so yeh even he went the Trump way albeit it's natural with the pressure there is in America and Hillary wasn't the better candidate , neither of them were, Trump will be a interesting president , even simpsons though so 15 years ago :D , predictive programming to the 100% limit.
But I have to say the problem would be letting kids get their mind filled with bullshit and taking "care" of them not letting them live and learn , they need to face the world and learn to think , otherwise the bullshit on TV will make them into a 80% that doesn't are and lets 17% choose for them , can't imagine how a kid's show is LazyTown, I'm not sure what is on TV since I've never watched , I have maybe 1-2 years alltogeter on TV , but yes the name it too much and the stupidity inside isn't fun either , now that I think about it I have quite the animation database in my mind :D , but yes can't be compared to Voltron , or Tron :D where you have to be a hero nd beat the game , or save the universe with your band by uniting and fighting, now they are throwing softballs into soft people, how that will incite Euro-Atlantic values I'm not sure.
two questions how did simpsons get the trump right and what is eu-at values , I've never heard of such things before they started pushing it in politich schoolbooks and tv and I'm not in those spheres and still it leaks out, just goes to show that propaganda is as real as it has been for the past 80 years.
following from @kus-knee :)
Cheers to you , for the real talk, I didn't care much about muslims , my 2 points would be early wedlock and subjication of women and just in general islam = submit , somewhere i've heard that translation , sure its to peace and god , but maaan can that be a open door for crazy especially when you cant read and some can't
I wasn't discussing about Trump, being honest. Trump is boring and fake. I'm Italian, and we had Silvio Berlusconi much before Trump was a thing: to me, Trump sounds like a Chinese fake of Silvio.
For many reasons:
Tanning. Silvio had a proper tanning. A complete tanning of the whole volume, not just the surface. Silvio's tanning starts at a sub-atomic layer: when Silvio does suntanning, you can be sure each and every damn quark on his body is darkened. What about Trump? Trump has the worst tanning in the whole History, after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Maybe this kind of tanning was pretty trendy in Chernobyl around 1987, to get the same with modern technologies you need to have a bukkake while in the tanning process, or something similar.
Hairs. Silvio Berlusconi's quantum leap gravity hairs are a case study for the whole scientific community. Silvio's hairs are not growing, they are "entangling": it is a pure wonder of the Universe. LHC people are still collecting data to understand whether he has hairs or not. Prof Immirzi is getting crazy to explain that. When it comes to Trump, it seems a German Soccer Player from the '80, after a car crash with Edward Scissorhands. This fake of Silvio is soo ridicolous, even Karl Heinz Rummenigge would have beaten its hairdresser for... much less than this, right in 1985. I mean: german. Soccer. Player. From th '80s.
Women. Silvio Berluscony personally collected an amount of data about women. He did experiments. He has numbers, to do statistics. Hard numbers. Silvio, being (also) a big scientist, did his homework: when Silvio tells you where you must grab a women from, HE KNOWS. Because of data. Big Data. What about Trump? He thinks women have a handle right in the Vagina? Really? Sounds like he only read some cheap chinese manual translated with Google, like the ones which are saying you "sock the horse spin" when starting a dishwasher. Well, no: there is no "horse spin to sock" into a dishwasher, neither there is an handle in women' vagina, then sorry, you can not grab a woman from there . Is not a suitcase. Silvio Knows because he did lot of homework and practice, because he is a scientist, then collected lot of data. A LOT of data. Trump most likely just read some cheap chinese (bad translated) manual about women: this is why he thinks they are suitcases with handles.
Putin. Silvio Berlusconi was the best friend of Putin much before Putin realized it. In Italy nobody is asking wether Putin helped Silvio to get in power: we KNOW that Silvio helped Putin to get in power. We don't even discuss it: it is a fact. Besides, we don't need any fake news of Silvio doing pissing with prostituted in Moscow, because we have REAL news doing that. Silvio is a professional, he does FACTS, not rumors. This amateur you mention needs the CNN to invent things Berlusconi was doing for real, like a real man, much before Trump was cool. Because when you hire Silvio, you hire a bloody PROFESSIONAL Silvio Berlusconi. Facts, not rumors.
Jobs. Your fake is promising to "bring back" jobs. Amateur. Silvio promised to CREATE jobs. When you are "The Chosen One" you don't "bring back" jobs: you CREATE them. Just using quantum floating, like the Big Bang. (Which is amateur too: when Silvio Berlusconi does a Big Bang, he does a HUGE Bang. Big bang is for pussies. ) Just for your information, Silvio Berlusconi created so many jobs you need complex numbers to describe them: all that jobs are 90° shifted in the complex field, which shows the genius he is. Real jobs are for beginners, when you are a pro you do Complex jobs.
I could mention many and many evidences to show where Silvio is the original , Made in Italy, high quality product , built with care of details, long tradition, innovation and inspiration, where Trump is just a fake built somewhere in China, or Mexico.
Now, I don't know why you want to bother me with this boring chinese fake of Silvio Berlusconi: please keep in mind, when you talk with Italians, Trump looks like "just another fake of some Italian product". Why the heck you didn't just buy the original one? Are you running out of money in the USA? Why you need such a cheap copy of Silvio, when the original is still alive and kicking?
Last but not least , Silvio Berlusconi lasted in politics almost 20 years: I wonder if this fake you mention will resist 8. Which is what happen when you buy a chinese fake of some Italian product: quality is never the same.
Supercazzola prematurata con scappellamento a destra come se fosse antani , RULES.
ok :D I wasn't arguing , but I can't argue with that , have to say all i've heard of Berlusconi is that he was a slimebag and the lots of data part :D , many many venues he wanted to exploit and many he did, just a question what do you really think about tv shows and just the future generations in general, I'm not sure it's all that rosy in Italy, as far as I know it's gotten to be a "diverse" place at the moment , I just want to know how people are handling it , I'm almost certain , the kids are all studying unlike other countries and your economy should be okish after a 20 year political mafioso rule , you had time to recover , I'm not acquainted at all just asking
Well, Berlusconi was simply the original Trump, before of Trump being cool. Whatever Trump says, we've heard the same 20 years ago. The whole planet was possibly astonished when Trump won, but italians. Because we know how this kind of people works to win.
Actually, Italian school is worst than before (when I did mine) , still Italian highs schools are 5,6 times better than the USA ones (well, not that hard actually) , so I won't be afraid for high schools. Maybe universities are underfunded, yes, but most of them aren't deserving funds in my opinion, so this is highly questionable.
The point is Italy survived Berlusconi: but Italy survived almost 2,500 years of history, so we always take it easy. I mean, in our history we were devastated by barbarians from the north, arabs from the south, french so-called-culture, american so-called-culture, and we are still alive and kicking.
It's all about the LULZ: Trump is more ridiculous than dangerous, like Berlusconi. People like this aren't really dangerous, they are just buffoons voted by lower classes, claiming to be successful people voted by the middle class. Once you see the bluff, they just deflate like baloons.
Still, they are very funny, albeit harmless.
how do you fee about your eastern neighbors like serbs, if you are talking about barbarians and consider yourself roman, It's both parties fault, Rome was quite invasive too.
I agree about the universities , they should produce goods and give to the students, for all the money it costs, where I'm at it's mostly theories and no practice and mostly underdeveloped and old theories at that. But what can you do money brings power.
nice way to define Trump, have to say this time around their selection for candidates was well questionable at best, once again as with the elections in my piece of land , there were almost no good candidates apart from the unknowns , they have some good sides, Hilary would have continued the downslide and lies and debt coverup , Trump maybe not so much , but he's strict and tough or that i what he wants to portray I guess.
First, according with my maps, the neighbors are croatians or slovene, not serbs. Second, at the age of Rome, there was nothing like "serbian" or "croatian" identity. Last but not least, you are talking about people used to have no guts in their villages, to shit in their own roads, no literature, no written laws, no math, only smelling barbarians used to don't wash for the whole winter because they weren't able to build any water facility.
Rome didn't "invaded" them , just bring some civilization, like "having guts is better than raw shitting in your own streets", "having written laws and courts is better than dueling for everything", "washing your body at least once a year may help against sickness", " having water pipes is better than drinking punk water" , "roads and bridges may help you to commerce instead of starving because of a bad harvest" , " having the Annona may help you to have food reserves when you lost one harvest " , "register your son helps you to don't inbreed your own sister", and others things which comes together with "civilization". Which where missing there: those populations weren't even able to use a shovel to have better plants: they were so ignorant romans called them "Slaves", which meant: "slaves". Only good for their bodies. Or, according with Tacitus, "talking tools".
I can understand lot of Americans in the rural areas are dreaming of living like those barbarians, with no laws , inbreeding sisters, duels and so. Nevertheless, still I think some civilization is good. At least when you are the sister, you know?
About university: university is for the elites. "Practice" is for servants, or if you prefer, the "working class", also known as "the losers" . If you want "practice" in Italy there are lot of high schools dedicated to practice, like the "Istituti Tecnici", it makes a little sense to practice at 25 when you can be a good servant right at 15. Ok, ok, you can call well paid servants as "middle class" if you want, Romans were calling them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plebs .
Again, Trump versus Hillary is a movie in Italy we have seen in 1984, when we had Berlusconi versus Achille Occhetto. Silvio tricked them with the same strategy: you talk in a way which triggers the noisy, phony , annoying extreme left, and when the extreme left comes into the stage, the moderate left always lose elections. You go in the stage triggering feminists, communists, lesbians, minorities, especially the most extreme areas, and they will join the leftist party, setting it to be "the horrible looking, hated by everybody" party.
This trick works always the same since when Rome had their "Tribunus Plebis" , which means 484 Before of Christ. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribune_of_the_Plebs) To trigger angry idiots from the lower classes, is a well known trick since 2500 years, so stop pretending there was some other reason behind the Trump's victory: Trump tricked the population in way Romans were doing 2500 years before. Unfortunately, Trump is not the General Mario. (Mad Dog in Rome was an insult, btw).
This discussion is not even interesting in 2017: Trump is just a tax for people which never studied enough History of Rome, which means, 99.99% of the history of politics. (The remaining part was invented during the Renaissance: Machiavelli, Lorenzo and others.) American politics is mostly boring, something very, very, amateur and barbaric. Not interesting at all, but for The Show.
I admit Trump is quite a good showman.( Well, not at the level of Silvio, which can actually play piano and sing pretty well, with some documented experience as a pro, while working on cruising boats. You know, he KNOWS what a cuckold is. From the wife side.).