In Honor of Mike and Tammy's New Kitty

Bath Time for Whimzy

So the name is different, but this is pretty much the way Whimzy is when it is time for her monthly bath.

The Dunning Kruger Effect

So I don't want to get this blog too political and it will probably be too long, but I was just reading an article about a congressman from Georgia:  

Georgia Rep. Paul Broun said in videotaped remarks that evolution, embryology and the Big Bang theory are "lies straight from the pit of hell" meant to convince people that they do not need a savior.     
The Republican lawmaker made those comments during a speech Sept. 27 at a sportsman's banquet at Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell. Broun, a medical doctor, is running for re-election in November unopposed by Democrats.  
"God's word is true," Broun said, according to a video posted on the church's website. "I've come to understand that. All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell. And it's lies to try to keep me and all the folks who are taught that from understanding that they need a savior."   
Broun also said that he believes the Earth is about 9,000 years old and that it was made in six days.   

Now, I've already discussed previously this bizarre notion that faith in the bible requires a Christian to doubt evolution. The Clergy Letter Project started several years ago when wacky folks in Kansas and Missouri were forcing their school boards to teach creationism (or "intelligent design") along with evolution. Letters signed by Christian clergy from all over the country say that teaching creationism in school is wrong and that science and religion can coexist on this issue. Here's part of what the letter says: 

We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as “one theory among others” is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children. We believe that among God’s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator.

So how many Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran, and other denomination ministers signed the letter?     12,822 
 
 And Rep. Broun's story happened to coincide with the Congressman Todd Akins' incredibly bizarre  outburst about rape:

Akin, a six-term GOP congressman, is challenging Democratic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill for her seat. His chances looked fairly sunny -- up until he told an interviewer with Fox affiliate KTVI that a woman's body can typically prevent pregnancy during a "legitimate rape," as he argued against allowing abortions in cases of rape, claiming such pregnancies are uncommon in the first place.    

Of course, the next day, we were inundated with scientific articles explaining in clear language why he was being an idiot on this subject. A paper published in 1996 in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology stated that among adult women an estimated 32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year.  

And the juxtaposition of those two stories is also weird because in each case the longer story finishes with the same statement: Congressman _____ is a member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Here's the home page for the House Committee. You can see them there.  

So why would the House Committee on Science contain two people who are devoutly opposed to science. Do they have an argument for why their lack of faith in science is so strong. Or is it just because that's the way it is; no evidence is needed because it is so obvious to them. 

And that's when I ran across the Dunning - Kruger Effect described. Wikipedia says it is a cognitive bias in which unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability much higher than average.    

For a given skill, incompetent people will:

1. tend to overestimate their own level of skill;
2. fail to recognize genuine skill in others;
3. fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy;
4. recognize and acknowledge their own previous lack of skill, if they are exposed to training for that skill  

Also in the article: quotes on the subject from Charles Darwin and Bertrand Russell (one of my heroes):  Charles Darwin ( "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" ) and Bertrand Russell ( "One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision" ).   

These people seem supremely confident when they speak on these topics, so I guess Darwin is right on one more thing. They speak from ignorance. I would like to say they are stupid, but their handlers inform us within a day or two that they misspoke. So we leave it at that. And maybe that's our mistake. Let's call a knucklehead a knucklehead. If the Congress wants to sit down and decide what goes on in schools under "No Child Left Untested Behind", then maybe it is time to start asking for accountability from our Congressmen. I'm sure any high school science teacher could put together a basic skills test of science that we can give to those who want to serve on the House Science Committee. 100 questions about basic science understandings and processes, multiple choice so we don't look too closely at their writing skills on the essay questions. No peeking at your cell phone; no having your 24-year old aide use your photo ID to get in to the test. Maybe the time has come to expect more from our congressmen. Yeah, right.  I forgot. The vast majority of members of Congress come from being lawyers, politicians, or businessmen.