[extropy-chat] thinking back to the Gemini program

[Alan Brooks]

    The source of my cynicism goes back to the Gemini space program, at that time there was a feeling even for children that anything was possible, we'd go on to Apollo and then not too much later mars would be colonized. "Mars base by 2010"; "cancer vaccine by 1990", and so forth. It was a decade of hype.
  Several years later the 'back to nature' movement-- and it was a movement and more, it was religious in fact-- kicked in, the weltanshauung changed. It had a profound affect on some of us. Today I am very chary of predictions of any sort. The Mideast? It is up for grabs. We might end up with armaggedon or perhaps with a region less violent yet even more bizarre, say, with streetvendors selling designer drugs and porn; organ harvesters kidnapping tourists; while criminals get their hands chopped off for bank robbery. Women might still be drowned & stoned to death for adultery or driving motor vehicles without permits. No war but instead a hideous gtouping of societies. The future in the Mideast is unfathomable.
  What enrages me concerning antiwar protesters is the hardline leftwing radicals secretly want to sacrifice others for their outdated causes, however they don't like innocent children being collateral casualties. Look, I grew up in the New Left, the many radicals that were around at that time, some still alive today, were a mixed bag; some were sincerely dedicated to peace & justice; some wanted revenge or merely to kill (often there is no real reasoning, just an uncomplicated bloodlust). Some radicals want only to argue the points to learn something or even just only for the sake of argument.
  

gts <gts_2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
  On Sat, 17 Dec 2005 01:29:27 -0500, Jeff Davis wrote:

> With all the religious fundamentalists rejecting
> science in favor of "revealed truth", neglecting their
> thinking skills in favor of their uncritical believing
> "skills", I figure they've got to be skewing
> themselves down some.
>
> It's an hypothesis. Data anyone?

As I reported in another message, the Fordham Institute recently published 
report cards evaluating each state's science standards for K-12, grading 
them A to F.

http://www.edexcellence.net/institute/publication/publication.cfm?id=352

I compared the gradings to the political map of red-blue states and each 
state's electoral college votes.

States with 'A' grades - red/blue - ev

CA Strong Blue 55
MA Strong Blue 12
NY Strong Blue 31
ev = 98

NM Barely Red 5
VA Weak Red 13
SC Strong Red 8
IN Strong Red 11
ev = 37

States with 'F' grades - red/blue - ev

OR Barely Blue 7
WI Barely Blue 10
NH Barely Blue 4
HI Weak Blue 4
ev = 25


ID Strong Red 4
WY Strong Red 3
MT Strong Red 3
NE Strong Red 5
KS Strong Red 6
OK Strong Red 7
TX Strong Red 34
MS Strong Red 8
AL Strong Red 9
FL Weak Red 27
AK Strong Red 3
ev =109

If your state's science standards received an 'F' grade then there is an 
81% probability that your electoral vote was for Bush.

If your state's science standards received an 'A' grade then there is a 
76% probability that your electoral college vote was for Kerry.

This does not prove religious fundmentalism as the cause of poor science 
standards. However it is noteworthy that most of the failing states are 
red and located in the bible belt, and that Fordham (rightly, imo) 
penalizes states that don't teach evolution.

Unfortunately it is difficult to determine exactly scientifically ignorant 
one is likely to be after graduating high school in a failing state. There 
are no science achievement tests for high school graduates. The closest 
test is probably the ACT, aministered near the end of high school, but 
participation is sparce and varies widely from state to state.

-gts

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nattering nabob of positivism since 1976
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