I'll Get Back to You on That
One day I post something about "truth, knowing, and ignorance". The next day I read something in USA Today which says a lot of the stuff we "know" is wrong, incomplete, distorted, and subject to revision.
A lot of stuff in medicine changes every day, so I can understand the scientific idea that our knowledge is both incomplete and subject to revision. How many doctors do you see smoking these days? If you had a doctor that smoked in his office, you might get a friendly opinion about your smoking habits, but how good is that opinion? I doubt he would advise anybody to start smoking but they did at one time in medical history.
The article also reminded me that information about our economy like GDP numbers and unemployment numbers are revised almost on a monthly basis and as more information is received they can be revised again.
And politicians are experts in distorting stuff for their own purposes to discredit an opponent or take credit for something they did. This is so common place that there is a new form of journalism that rates political speech for its truthfulness. I don't think spin doctors apply only to music these days.
This maybe pointing out the obvious but I'm sure folks would be better off to look for the information they get from a variety of sources. Be careful with experts and their opinions, and do your own research. Otherwise you might just be a lamb being led to the slaughter house.
Sadly, a lot of the stuff we do and how we react to stuff is just habit and some of the habits we have may not be the best of habits and may be based on bad information.
A lot of stuff in medicine changes every day, so I can understand the scientific idea that our knowledge is both incomplete and subject to revision. How many doctors do you see smoking these days? If you had a doctor that smoked in his office, you might get a friendly opinion about your smoking habits, but how good is that opinion? I doubt he would advise anybody to start smoking but they did at one time in medical history.
The article also reminded me that information about our economy like GDP numbers and unemployment numbers are revised almost on a monthly basis and as more information is received they can be revised again.
And politicians are experts in distorting stuff for their own purposes to discredit an opponent or take credit for something they did. This is so common place that there is a new form of journalism that rates political speech for its truthfulness. I don't think spin doctors apply only to music these days.
This maybe pointing out the obvious but I'm sure folks would be better off to look for the information they get from a variety of sources. Be careful with experts and their opinions, and do your own research. Otherwise you might just be a lamb being led to the slaughter house.
Sadly, a lot of the stuff we do and how we react to stuff is just habit and some of the habits we have may not be the best of habits and may be based on bad information.
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