Sep

2

I saw that the guardian.co.uk website had an interesting if short article in regards to Richard Dawkins and his promotion of the teaching of evolution.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/sep/01/richard-dawkins-evolution-children-five

As no surprise, I am in full support of this proposal as it reinforces the education of today’s children and helps develop a love of science at a young age.  As many studies show, this love of learning stays with them throughout  their educational years leading to better grades, critical thinking skills, ect…  And how marvelous is it that we can instil these things by just simply stating the facts.

There was one quote in the article that peaked my interest: “This is because myths leave the child’s questions unanswered, or they raise more questions than they appear to answer.” So I got to thinking.  Myths and legends are great.  They for the most part provide a fictitious scenario that imparts some moral or ethical teaching that a culture wants to pass on.  But when myths are taught as fact is when the alarm bells start ringing.

Myths do leave questions unanswered. If they are continually posed instead of facts over time it leads a person to stop asking questions.  And to stop asking questions is to promote ignorance.  And to choose ignorance over knowledge is at its core a very immoral concept. To be human is to ask questions to seek knowledge and understanding.  To willingly commit this kind of subterfuge vexing.

But this is done constantly, every day, by many people.  From the parent who tells their child to stop asking why, to the school systems with their low paid and low motivated teachers that barely teach what’s in the book, to the churches promoting magic over science, and even to the every day person who does not garner for some new kernel of knowledge and instead wallows in their day to day existence.  This is wrong and is why we must always keep learning and expanding our understanding of life.

Myths and legends are great. They for the most part provide a ficticious senario that imparts some moral or ethical teaching that a culture wants to pass on.  But Myths that are taught as fact… this is dangerous.
Myths do leave questions unanswered. And if myths are continually posed instead of facts over time it leads a person to stop asking questions.  And to stop asking questions is simple immoral.  This is a crime against humanity.  To be human is to ask questions to seek knowledge and understanding.  To willingly commit subterfuge of this kind is vexing.
But its done constantly, every day, by many people.  From the parent who tells their child to stop asking why, to the school systems with their low paid and low motivated teachers to just teach whats in the book, to the churches promoting ignorance over science, and even to the every day person who does not garner for some new kernel of knowledge.  Always keep learning, and always ask why, if not for curiousities sake, for humanities.
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What is Fractal Wrongness?

The state of being wrong at every conceivable scale of resolution. That is, from a distance, a fractally wrong person's worldview is incorrect; and furthermore, if you zoom in on any small part of that person's worldview, that part is just as wrong as the whole worldview.

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