What Dinosaur Bones Teach Us

About 5 years ago I had the opportunity to assist a UT paleontologist whose team was looking for dinosaur fossils in southwest Texas. I actually found three separate bones on one of the outings and it was awesome. Although they were not scientifically significant fossils, they caused me to contemplate my small place in the universe. I was holding 75M year old fossils of an exotic real-world creature. My human primate hands had uncovered fossils that were being seen by human eyes for the first time. The following thought might seem naive to some, but as I was examining these bones out in the field, I was thinking: "Dinosaurs are real. It's not simply a story."

This inspiring scientifically rigorous TED talk by Paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara brought back my memories and my intense feelings from that week out in the field.

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Purity Tests, Friendship and Thomas Jefferson

I see the opposite of Jefferson's wise approach commonly being celebrated on FB.

A few months ago, I was booted from a decades-long friendship by a woman who insisted, out of the blue, that I needed to acknowledge the unparalleled wisdom of the Roman Catholic Church. Ideological purity tests everywhere I look these days. This is exactly what Terror Management Theory predicts when death is in the air, when mortality is "salient."

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Manipulative Intelligence

Evolutionary Psychologist Diane Fleischman, in an article titled "The Dark Side of Smart":

Human intelligence is incredibly useful but it doesn’t safeguard you against having false beliefs, because that’s not what intelligence is for. Intelligence is associated with coming up with more convincing bullshit and with being a better liar, but not associated with a better ability to recognizeone’s own bias. Unfortunately, intelligence has very little influence on your ability to rationally evaluate your own beliefs, or undermine what’s called “myside bias.”

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The Eight Stages of Critical Race Theory Courtesy of Woke Temple

At Twitter, the Woke Temple is is known for ridiculing Wokeness through the use of cartoonish graphics, but don't be fooled. Despite the cartoonishness, the lessons of the Woke Temple are well-researched and accurate. They repeatedly get at the heart of the misguidedness and perniciousness of the Woke movement. As I've researched the Woke movement over the past few months, I've come to appreciate all the serious work that goes into analyzing the Woke movement, then cleverly boiling down this unwieldy-looking movement into the brash-looking cartoons.

I agree with this approach. The Woke movement needs to be ridiculed because it is wrong-headed in numerous ways that are not obvious.  The Movement consists of many well-intended followers, who are being intentionally deceived by many of its leaders.

But it can't be easily ridiculed because the movement has it's own language that has been developed for decades in critical studies departments at major universities. The movement often defines terms in ways that conflict with (or sometimes are the opposite of) the common meanings of words. The Woke movement abhors critical analysis and evidence, especially of its own concepts and tactics. It is a movement that thrives on ad hominem attacks, revised history, anecdotes in place of statistical analysis and the refusal to engage in good faith dialogue. It is a movement that celebrates the use of feelings in lieu of careful fact-gathering. It is a seductive movement that has taken root in many colleges, government offices and corporate HR departments. How does one clearly and quickly communicate the problems and dangers of the Woke movement with those who unfamiliar with what it is really about?

With that introduction, I'm pasting below The Woke Temple's recent graphic setting forth the Eight Stages of Critical Race Theory (one of several manifestations of the Woke Movement). These stages accurately capture my personal journey in trying to understand and engage with the Woke Movement.  There is a lot of important information embedded here, so take your time in order to appreciate this:

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U.S. Department of Education is Being Taught to Abolish U.S. Society

Here's the latest chapter in Woke indoctrination of federal employees, reported by Christopher Rufo. View the actual training documents in the comments:

If you were told to throw away your (workable but imperfect) car and buy an entirely new one, you would demand to know the details about the new car before throwing away the old one.

It is stunning to see that Woke ideology urging professionals at the Department of Education to do the opposite regarding the current social order.  This class is urging the audience to simply abolish society and have faith that something new and better will rise in its place. No details, no safeguards, no respect for traditions that have worked reasonably well, no assurances for the safety for people during the transition, no assurance that we won't be plunged into a society dominated by warlords imposing their will capriciously, a society much worse than our current situation. There's no consideration that we might possibly be able to reform the current imperfect society from within the current structure, reform that the U.S. Constitution invites in orderly fashion by the amendment process. This class is rife with vague terms and empty promises that would amount to a revolution that would lead to an unknown and violent place. It is specified to be a society in which people will be categorized by "race" and judged by skin color (and other immutable characteristics), as though it makes sense to judge each other by immutable characteristics. This is what is passing as education for our educators at the Department of Education these days.

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