#science works

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

[mudwerks]

(via After 17th court hearing, woman with TB ordered to jail for refusing treatment | Ars Technica)

A judge in Washington issued an arrest warrant Thursday for a Tacoma woman who has refused to have her active, contagious case of tuberculosis treated for over a year, violating numerous court orders. The judge also upheld an earlier order to have her jailed, where she can be tested and treated in isolation.

Illustrating why you would want to get vaccinated against TB and a lot of other things that will fuck you up...

[frangipanidownunder]

Scully had her baby! A girl. And whilst fandom dictates the cria should be named Grace or Katie or Esther, we have settled for Luna. She was born on the first day of the full moon and our other drops this season have all been named for goddesses too.

Grandma Maggie (really, Scully's mum was called Maggie May but she died and we had to handrear Scully) would have been so proud. Scully is a good mum and Luna is our first grey. 💜

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Richard Dawkins - Science works bitches!

Audience member #1: So, the question's about the nature of scientific evidence. You both said, and I think most people here would agree with you, that we're justified in holding a belief if there's evidence for it or if there are logical arguments we can find that support it. But it seems like this in itself is a belief which would require some form of evidence and if so, I'm wondering what you think would count as evidence in favor of that and, if not how do we justify choosing that heuristic without appealing to the same standard that we're trying to justify.

Richard Dawkins: So, how do we justify, as it were, faith that science will give us the truth. Is that the--

Audience member #2: How you justify scientific method?

Audience member #1: Basically, what he said.

Dawkins: It works. It-- it works. Planes fly, cars drive, computers compute.

Host: It's an inductive argument.

Dawkins: If you if you base medicine on science, you cure people. If you base the design of planes on science, they fly. If you base the design of rockets on science, they reach the Moon. It works… bitches.

==

Timeless.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

“One of the reasons for [science’s] success is that science has a built-in, error-correcting machinery at its very heart… When we are self-indulgent and uncritical, when we confuse hopes and facts, we slide into pseudoscience and superstition.” -- Carl Sagan

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

"Science boosts its claim to truth by its spectacular ability to make matter and energy jump through hoops on command, and to predict what will happen and when."

-- Richard Dawkins

No prophecy, mortal or "divine," has ever come anywhere close to the predictive power of science.