The unicorn story is a foolish justification for anything one opposes. I don't want to have my tooth taken out because a dentist in Denmark once took out a tooth and caused an infection. I don't want to live in a house because they burn down, proven by the fire in Des Moines last week. Nonsense, though the unicorn story is kind of funny.
Thanks for a very interesting story and the balanced analysis. I agree that there is room for healthy skepticism of scientists and that scientific experts should not be viewed as Infallible Oracles of Science. However, it seems your point is that there's also an unhealthy skepticism that rejects all scientific discovery, and I agree with that as well.
I watch true crime shows at times and I recall one case that involved a bunch of old skeletons found in a basement. Turned out they weren't victims of a serial killer, but likely left over from dissections done long ago, as they tracked down the provenance of the house and found a doctor used to live there and rent rooms to medical students in the 1800s.
What I found ironic was how the program went in-depth about a grey market that used to exist in dead bodies at the time, because basically no one was willing to "donate their bodies to science" back then. But the bodies of executed criminals as well as people who died "intestate" were fair game. Even this wasn't enough supply to meet demand so many medical students resorted to grave robbing, or buying bodies from grave robbers.
But what was ironic was that a scientist who had examined the bones and concluded they bore marks of dissection, was interviewed who expressed sympathy for how poor people of the time really feared being dissected after death, with a real " people back then were so primitive compared to Us Modern Enlightened People" attitude.
But my reaction was, "Somehow, if these poor people had known that not only would a doctor dissect them right after they died, but that a century later you would dig up their bones and examine them, I doubt they would see you as any better than that primitive doctor!"
I suppose that is one reason I could never be a progressive. Never bought the idea that humans automatically become more enlightened and more moral as the ages pass.
Today's special animal friend is the Amami Oshima frog, Odorrana splendida. This cute little tree frog is found only on Amami Oshima island, which is the most populous of the eight inhabited islands in the Amami island group. The Amami islands are a subgroup in the Ryukyu chain and are located slightly northeast of Okinawa. Several unique animals are found on these islands, which are made of coral limestone rather than being volcanic as Okinawa is.
O. splendida was first classified in the 1990s as a subspecies of Ishikawa's Frog, O. ishikawae, which is native to Okinawa. However, genetic evidence and failed attempts at interbreeding them in captivity have established them as separate species with a fair amount of confidence. Shawn Miller, the publisher of the website Okinawa Nature Photography, says the Amami Oshima frog is considered "the most beautiful frog in Japan." (Japan doesn't have poison dart frogs.)
O. splendida can grow up to 4 inches long. Its back is avocado green and rough-skinned, with black patches and brown lumps. The underside is smooth and beige-colored. It has large, intelligent eyes and a long nose, for a frog, which is characteristic of the Odorrana genus. It spawns in forest streams in Amami Oshima's modest mountains and climbs up the trees, where it eats insects, worms, and millipedes. Mr. Miller has some cute pictures:
These frogs are considered Endangered by IUCN due to their very limited and fragile habitat. Threats include forest clearance, vehicular smushing, and invasive animals such as the small Indian mongoose, Herpestes auropunctatus. The mongoose was introduced in 1979 in an attempt to reduce the population of habu snakes, which bite people. It didn't work, but the mongooses eat a lot of small, endemic animals, including frogs.
Here is a little promotional video from Japan's tourism ministry:
"humans trying to come up with explanations for the world around us, and trying to work it out from the information that’s available to us, even if that information is flawed and incomplete"
Our information is always "flawed and incomplete." Not knowing that, or pretending one does not know it, is a feature of Believing The Science rather than using the scientific method.
I love unicorns...I sure wish they were real....lol
Just stopping in for a quick Hi! Another crazy day at work and I was up tool late last night and am falling asleep at my desk...lol
The unicorn story is a foolish justification for anything one opposes. I don't want to have my tooth taken out because a dentist in Denmark once took out a tooth and caused an infection. I don't want to live in a house because they burn down, proven by the fire in Des Moines last week. Nonsense, though the unicorn story is kind of funny.
Thanks for a very interesting story and the balanced analysis. I agree that there is room for healthy skepticism of scientists and that scientific experts should not be viewed as Infallible Oracles of Science. However, it seems your point is that there's also an unhealthy skepticism that rejects all scientific discovery, and I agree with that as well.
I watch true crime shows at times and I recall one case that involved a bunch of old skeletons found in a basement. Turned out they weren't victims of a serial killer, but likely left over from dissections done long ago, as they tracked down the provenance of the house and found a doctor used to live there and rent rooms to medical students in the 1800s.
What I found ironic was how the program went in-depth about a grey market that used to exist in dead bodies at the time, because basically no one was willing to "donate their bodies to science" back then. But the bodies of executed criminals as well as people who died "intestate" were fair game. Even this wasn't enough supply to meet demand so many medical students resorted to grave robbing, or buying bodies from grave robbers.
But what was ironic was that a scientist who had examined the bones and concluded they bore marks of dissection, was interviewed who expressed sympathy for how poor people of the time really feared being dissected after death, with a real " people back then were so primitive compared to Us Modern Enlightened People" attitude.
But my reaction was, "Somehow, if these poor people had known that not only would a doctor dissect them right after they died, but that a century later you would dig up their bones and examine them, I doubt they would see you as any better than that primitive doctor!"
I suppose that is one reason I could never be a progressive. Never bought the idea that humans automatically become more enlightened and more moral as the ages pass.
I'd like to share with everyone something delightful I saw over the weekend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e4BdiJPLW8
It's really great.
Today's special animal friend is the Amami Oshima frog, Odorrana splendida. This cute little tree frog is found only on Amami Oshima island, which is the most populous of the eight inhabited islands in the Amami island group. The Amami islands are a subgroup in the Ryukyu chain and are located slightly northeast of Okinawa. Several unique animals are found on these islands, which are made of coral limestone rather than being volcanic as Okinawa is.
O. splendida was first classified in the 1990s as a subspecies of Ishikawa's Frog, O. ishikawae, which is native to Okinawa. However, genetic evidence and failed attempts at interbreeding them in captivity have established them as separate species with a fair amount of confidence. Shawn Miller, the publisher of the website Okinawa Nature Photography, says the Amami Oshima frog is considered "the most beautiful frog in Japan." (Japan doesn't have poison dart frogs.)
O. splendida can grow up to 4 inches long. Its back is avocado green and rough-skinned, with black patches and brown lumps. The underside is smooth and beige-colored. It has large, intelligent eyes and a long nose, for a frog, which is characteristic of the Odorrana genus. It spawns in forest streams in Amami Oshima's modest mountains and climbs up the trees, where it eats insects, worms, and millipedes. Mr. Miller has some cute pictures:
https://okinawanaturephotography.com/category/animals-of-amami-and-tokuna-island/
And here are some others:
https://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/WesternPacific/AmamiOshimaFrogIMG_8571.htm
These frogs are considered Endangered by IUCN due to their very limited and fragile habitat. Threats include forest clearance, vehicular smushing, and invasive animals such as the small Indian mongoose, Herpestes auropunctatus. The mongoose was introduced in 1979 in an attempt to reduce the population of habu snakes, which bite people. It didn't work, but the mongooses eat a lot of small, endemic animals, including frogs.
Here is a little promotional video from Japan's tourism ministry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcRXTuh6I6Q
"humans trying to come up with explanations for the world around us, and trying to work it out from the information that’s available to us, even if that information is flawed and incomplete"
Our information is always "flawed and incomplete." Not knowing that, or pretending one does not know it, is a feature of Believing The Science rather than using the scientific method.