The Truth Hurts: People acting like lawyers rather than scientists

When emotion takes hold, humans tend to act like lawyers, furiously working to justify their beliefs, cherry picking their evidence. This tends to be exacerbated by the echo-chamber of the internet media, but this tendency existed long before modern times. Chis Mooney suggests that we are wired this way, because we have evolved to act quickly. The following PBS video uses the examples of global warming and the purported end of the world to explore the way many people are wired:

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

I agree with many of the points made in the above video, but I there is also a well-documented social component to "motivated reasoning." If trusted others are believing X, you will be tempted to do likewise.

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Passed by the biggest church in St. Louis last night

I decided to upgrade my trusty camera to a Canon S95 (retail about $400), because I often find myself shooting in low existing light conditions, and I sought a larger aperture and higher ISO. One of the first shots of the box, hand-held, was the one below. It's pretty amazing to see the detail in this photo, which was taken about 9pm, just outside of the biggest church in St. Louis. I'm impressed with the detail, which you can also see if you click for the "full" image, which is actually a less than full-res shot. The 2.3 mb image on my hard drive shows even more detail.

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Sheep mowing

Grass needs to be cut, and sheep need to eat. Hmmmm.

Sheep are taking over some of Carlisle Area School District groundskeeping chores. They are saving the district up to $15,000 a year and cutting local air pollution . . . .Instead of workers spending six hours a week mowing and trimming near solar panels, sheep have moved in for the summer.

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