[extropy-chat] Re Fight for Evolution?

[Pete Bertine]

We have incredible resources now; it takes a few minutes to learn about
anything.  But with all this at out finger tips where is the intellectual
curiosity in people today and then the rational skills to reach a proper
decision?  Has it always been a constant variable? Or does 7% of the
population have intellectual curiosity today v. 5% 100 years ago?

Forget my cell phone analogy, take this one:

Bombarded with hype about global warming does anyone look at the facts, the
data and then make a choice about buying the Prius v. a Diesel VW, weighing
the enormous toxicity of the batteries in the Prius against the fuel economy
of the diesel and the availability of bio-diesel.  No.  They buy the Prius
because it's a sexy meme. Because Leonardo de Caprio drove one to the
Oscars, they like them because they are new and everyone wants the latest
thing.  You ever wonder what happens when a Prius gets in a major accident,
what happens when the cells short out?  I want survivability not
sustainability in a car. Read this link.
http://agebb.missouri.edu/news/ext/showall.asp?story_num=3610&iln=33 
Would any rational person want emergency personel to "De-Energize" their car
for 5 minutes before trying to extract them from a wreck.  How about toxic
fumes from water used to douse a fire.

Or this analogy:

Do we want a sustainable hydrogen economy or a methane economy when the oil
economy becomes too expensive?  Who's making these decisions, running the
think tanks?  Does anyone care?  No, I don't think so. Not yet.  Should
they? Yes.

BTW... I hated physics and chemistry, too much math.  Words were so much
more fun.  Big mistake.  Where was my intellectual curiosity?   

Pete Bertine
www.petebertine.com


> -----Original Message-----
> From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-
> bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of BillK
> Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2006 6:37 PM
> To: ExI chat list
> Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] Re Fight for Evolution?
> 
> On 3/2/06, Pete Bertine wrote:
> <snip>
> > The ignorance of today's "educated" person is staggering. I frequently
> ask
> > people how they think cell phones work.  A frequent reply (other than
> who
> > cares) is that they "talk to satellites." A person in the middle of a
> > concrete building thinks their phone goes straight to a satellite,
> bounces
> > off it and "talks" to their friend's phone in the same room or around
> the
> > world.
> <snip>
> 
> There's no need to know things like that when we have
> <http://www.howstuffworks.com/>
> 
> Back at school I liked physics because you got to work out problems.
> I hated chemistry because you just had to memorize the textbook and
> write it back down on the exam paper. Where's the intelligence in
> that?
> 
> BillK
> 
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