FARK.com: (7515237) Half the facts you know are wrong. Maybe even this one

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		Half the facts you know are wrong. Maybe even this one (reason.com)		79
		More: Amusing, political sciences, PLoS Medicine, Philosophical Transactions, Fields of science, high fiber, solar masses, cities in the United States, PubMed

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St_Francis_P		2013-01-03 08:53:17 AM

Pocket Ninja		2013-01-03 08:59:36 AM

The half-life of truth was 45 years

See, this is why science should be trusted so rarely and faith will ultimately win in the end. I mean, let's look at science versus, say, Christianity. Jesus was born 2000 years ago, and since then Christianity has gone on truckin'. Meanwhile, science has been wrong (2000/45=44.444) almost 45 times. And each time it's wrong by half, so that's essentially a doubling of its wrongness every 90 years. That means that science has been rendered 100 percent wrong (2000/90=22.22) 22 times since Jesus, which is the equivalent of a 2200 percent error rate. It's astonishing people still get sucked in.

Sybarite		2013-01-03 09:07:12 AM

Dinosaurs were cold-blooded - Yes, because even if you weren't a dino-nerd in grade school, nobody saw Jurassic Park.

zedster		2013-01-03 09:11:40 AM

Another reason that personal knowledge decays is that people cling to selected "facts" as a way to justify their beliefs about how the world works. Arbesman notes, "We persist in only adding facts to our personal store of knowledge that jibe with what we already know, rather than assimilate new facts irrespective of how they fit into our worldview." All too true; confirmation bias is everywhere.

Herrrrr...deeeeeeeeerrrrrrr.... the problem isn't the facts or amount of information out there, its that we are not a society that values critical thinking skills so people become sticks in the mud. Information is worthless if you do not have the schema to processes it effectively

Rev.K		2013-01-03 09:31:58 AM

As a Republican knob-slobbers, I'm surprised Reason gives a sh*t about facts at all.

minoridiot		2013-01-03 09:40:01 AM

I know a few people who did work for the government in various surreptitious undertakings.According to them, they told as part of their training to "believe only half of what you read, and none of what you hear".

MaxxLarge		2013-01-03 09:45:12 AM

Respectfully, I have dissented.
Those facts that you ably presented?
While accurate, true,
Just do not cut through
The lies that have kept me contented.

ThatGuyGreg		2013-01-03 09:57:02 AM

This is all Snapple's doing.

therealtruth.info

FirstNationalBastard		2013-01-03 09:59:58 AM

Pluto is still a planet to me, dammit!

imageshack.us

GAT_00		2013-01-03 10:05:24 AM

Reason is not exactly a fan of facts.

KyngNothing		2013-01-03 10:10:59 AM

News at 11: People who don't keep up with current events, and believe what they were taught in elementary school or comic books 40 years ago may not be up to date with the latest in scientific knowledge.

// btw, the author seems to assume that if there's an initial study that shows one thing, and a follow-on that shows something else, the follow on is always the correct one?

SpectroBoy		2013-01-03 10:27:03 AM

Pocket Ninja: The half-life of truth was 45 years

See, this is why science should be trusted so rarely and faith will ultimately win in the end. I mean, let's look at science versus, say, Christianity. Jesus was born 2000 years ago, and since then Christianity has gone on truckin'. Meanwhile, science has been wrong (2000/45=44.444) almost 45 times. And each time it's wrong by half, so that's essentially a doubling of its wrongness every 90 years. That means that science has been rendered 100 percent wrong (2000/90=22.22) 22 times since Jesus, which is the equivalent of a 2200 percent error rate. It's astonishing people still get sucked in.

hopestillfloats.files.wordpress.com

wildcardjack		2013-01-03 10:27:30 AM

Repeat.

But still worth thinking about. Some facts are best current knowledge, and are subject to change as better evidence is found. But it doesn't mean old ideas are valid just because they were held true for years.

MontanaDave		2013-01-03 10:29:05 AM

In before the "this is a repeat" crowd gets enough coffee to start thinking.

Big Man On Campus		2013-01-03 10:29:16 AM

Rapmaster2000		2013-01-03 10:29:37 AM

How come "scientists" can put a man on the moon, but they can't keep my feet from smelling? It's pretty obvious if you think about it. They didn't put a man on the moon. I'm a skeptic. I read Reason.

Deep Contact		2013-01-03 10:30:15 AM

Can you swim after eating?

LarryDan43		2013-01-03 10:31:36 AM

Facts always have two sides which are debatable. You are entitled in a free country to decide which side makes the most sense to you and your life.

karnal		2013-01-03 10:32:17 AM

Rev.K

As a Republican knob-slobbers, I'm surprised Reason gives a sh*t about facts at all.

Don't sell yourself short - you are one hell of a knob-slobber.

ArcadianRefugee		2013-01-03 10:32:34 AM

Everything you know is wrong
Black is white, up is down and short is long
And everything you thought was just so
Important doesn't matter

CheekyMonkey		2013-01-03 10:32:53 AM

Aw, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. 14% of all people know that.

I'm an Egyptian!		2013-01-03 10:33:47 AM

MontanaDave: In before the "this is a repeat" crowd gets enough coffee to start thinking.

SLLLUUURRRPPP. Ah, life's always better after the third cup. Now, to Fark.....hey, this link is a repeat!

bbcard1		2013-01-03 10:33:49 AM

At least my penis is huge.

Rev.K		2013-01-03 10:34:47 AM

karnal: Don't sell yourself short - you are one hell of a knob-slobber.

Yes, such an unfortunate typo.

Carn		2013-01-03 10:35:17 AM

Rapmaster2000: How come "scientists" can put a man on the moon, but they can't keep my feet from smelling? It's pretty obvious if you think about it. They didn't put a man on the moon. I'm a skeptic. I read Reason.

Gold Bond Medicated Foot Powder. You're welcome.

Dead for Tax Reasons		2013-01-03 10:36:18 AM

I'm just gonna have to tell you all the facts
What could that be about, well, here's a clue...

You're so ugly

dittybopper		2013-01-03 10:36:23 AM

Sybarite: Dinosaurs were cold-blooded - Yes, because even if you weren't a dino-nerd in grade school, nobody saw Jurassic Park.

I *WAS* a dino-nerd in grade school, but back then (the 1970's) the consensus was that dinosaurs were cold blooded. The evidence otherwise wasn't really laid out in popular form until 1986 with the publication of "The Dinosaur Heresies" by Bob Bakker, and even then, it didn't filter down immediately into grade schools.

JackieRabbit		2013-01-03 10:37:19 AM

Yes, but the other 50% of the facts I have are 100% accurate. Actually, most people get their science "facts" from a high school science teacher, who majored in home economics or art history. It's no wonder that they get bad information.

StoPPeRmobile		2013-01-03 10:37:35 AM

I know one thing: that I know nothing

lilistonic		2013-01-03 10:38:00 AM

The other half are misleading... liliales.typepad.com

CheekyMonkey		2013-01-03 10:38:04 AM

Rapmaster2000: How come "scientists" can put a man on the moon, but they can't keep my feet from smelling? It's pretty obvious if you think about it. They didn't put a man on the moon. I'm a skeptic. I read Reason.

Oh, they could. It just isn't as high a priority as growing an ear on the back of a mouse, or genetically-engineering cucumbers that make your pubic hair fall out.

Nurglitch		2013-01-03 10:38:30 AM

This sentence is false.

Rapmaster2000		2013-01-03 10:39:30 AM

Carn: Rapmaster2000: How come "scientists" can put a man on the moon, but they can't keep my feet from smelling? It's pretty obvious if you think about it. They didn't put a man on the moon. I'm a skeptic. I read Reason.

Gold Bond Medicated Foot Powder. You're welcome.

I'm saving my Gold Bond to counteract the imminent hyperinflation caused by Obama's Magic Money Printing Press. Gold Bond isn't just a piece of paper. Gold Bond has real, intrinsic value. When the shiat hits the fan, and you're burning dollars to keep warm, I'll be living the high life off of my stash of physical Gold Bond.

wildcardjack		2013-01-03 10:39:55 AM

StoPPeRmobile: I know one thing: that I know nothing

crayfisher.files.wordpress.com

StoPPeRmobile		2013-01-03 10:40:21 AM

LarryDan43: Facts always have at least two sides which are debatable. You are entitled in a free country to decide which side makes the most sense to you and your life.

FTFY

Epicanis		2013-01-03 10:41:14 AM

StoPPeRmobile		2013-01-03 10:41:35 AM

wildcardjack: StoPPeRmobile: I know one thing: that I know nothing

[crayfisher.files.wordpress.com image 315x275]

He was kinda like Socrates.

Carn		2013-01-03 10:41:46 AM

Rapmaster2000: Carn: Rapmaster2000: How come "scientists" can put a man on the moon, but they can't keep my feet from smelling? It's pretty obvious if you think about it. They didn't put a man on the moon. I'm a skeptic. I read Reason.

Gold Bond Medicated Foot Powder. You're welcome.

I'm saving my Gold Bond to counteract the imminent hyperinflation caused by Obama's Magic Money Printing Press. Gold Bond isn't just a piece of paper. Gold Bond has real, intrinsic value. When the shiat hits the fan, and you're burning dollars to keep warm, I'll be living the high life off of my stash of physical Gold Bond.

You can snort it? God damn I've been doing it wrong.

phaseolus		2013-01-03 10:42:08 AM

There simply is no substitute for skepticism.

In my opinion that's actually a very good point, as long as when he says "skepticism" he means actual skepticism rather than LA-LA-LA-LA-I-CAN'T-HEAR-YOU or hand-waving.

mgshamster		2013-01-03 10:42:18 AM

FTA: Increased K-12 spending and lower pupil/teacher ratios boost public school student outcomes.

I like how they throw this little nugget in as if it were false, and never go back to it to explain or defend it.

Public Savant		2013-01-03 10:43:13 AM

Having to deal with ever changing legislation every day at work I concur - half of what I know is now wrong.

Klivian		2013-01-03 10:44:54 AM

Came in looking for a QI reference, and not even a picture to be found. For shame Fark, for shame...

/at work or I'd do it myself

Wasilla Hillbilly		2013-01-03 10:45:54 AM

I only know one fact. What does this mean for me?

vygramul		2013-01-03 10:47:26 AM

The sad thing is that people will take this as license to feel free to reject facts they don't like.

cryinoutloud		2013-01-03 10:47:31 AM

You can tell that by hanging around here. There is always one "fact" that is repeated over and over in multiple threads, that is then debunked by a few people, but keeps being repeated anyway for about 5 years.

As far as I can tell, nothing ever advances. It's SOS day after day, year after year. Actually knowing anything is kind of a waste of time, because nobody cares and nobody actually wants to know. So forget arguing on the internet, post cat pictures or something.

Rapmaster2000		2013-01-03 10:50:05 AM

vygramul: The sad thing is that people will take this as license to feel free to reject facts they don't like.

Facts are meaningless. You can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true. Facts schmacts.

that was my nickname in highschool		2013-01-03 10:51:24 AM

Relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HtUnubXAO4

Carn		2013-01-03 10:51:54 AM

Rapmaster2000: vygramul: The sad thing is that people will take this as license to feel free to reject facts they don't like.

Facts are meaningless. You can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true. Facts schmacts.

Exactly, the proof is in the pudding. I happen to have a special rock that repels bears that I'd be willing to part with for a price, but it's gonna cost you.

mbillips		2013-01-03 10:52:31 AM

Sybarite: Dinosaurs were cold-blooded - Yes, because even if you weren't a dino-nerd in grade school, nobody saw Jurassic Park.

Be quiet, infant. Dinosaurs were cold-blooded until the mid-'80s.

genner		2013-01-03 10:52:51 AM

cryinoutloud: You can tell that by hanging around here. There is always one "fact" that is repeated over and over in multiple threads, that is then debunked by a few people, but keeps being repeated anyway for about 5 years.

As far as I can tell, nothing ever advances. It's SOS day after day, year after year. Actually knowing anything is kind of a waste of time, because nobody cares and nobody actually wants to know. So forget arguing on the internet, post cat pictures or something.

www.thedistractionnetwork.com