It's official: An asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs

Why do people mock scientists for doing what scientists are supposed to do?

Our culture has such contempt for knowledge and exploration, it's weird.

 

Well, according to Futurama, it was the Infosphere, so I'm going with that.

 

Does it really matter?

 

Finding out the history of the planet?

Nah, that's stuff is totally meaningless.

 

It matters to people that are interested in the history of our planet.

 

No I mean does it really matter for you if some people choose not to believe it?

 

science is for nerds with glasses and stuff. maybe im biased because I didn't make above a B for that class.

 

That was never the point.

 

Well, I see people chose to ignore the debate between volcanic vs asteroid event leading to the dinosaurs' demise (as though it was that obvious, and it might have been), and focus more on religion vs science (which had nothing to do with the article, poor taste in my opinion). So I'd like to state that the KT extinction is not the largest recorded mass extinction in Earth's history. :grin:

 

SCIENCE??? KNOWLEDGE??? What is this CRAP?!?!?!?

 

Maybe I'm reading this a different way, but I think the contempt is towards scientists who are basically confirming what has been more or less established fact. That people are feeling there's no point in further exploration on this particular subject.

As for cultural view of exploration, I disagree. The US government and private sector invests much more heavily in science than other countries. Sure, there's a vocal "conservative" crowd that really dislike such things. And maybe gives the impression that we prefer to be backwater rednecks. But on the whole, our country's very open to such research.

 

Why don't we achieve world peace first

 

They're certainly using some odd language. "The only plausible explanation..." That sounds like it's meant to deny any competing theories, which isn't very scientific of them. I wonder if there's some kind of turf war going on.

 

Which 'competing theory' are you convinced that wiped out the dinosaurs?

 

I don't think anyone is mocking the scientists in this thread. If anything they are mocking fundamentalists that still live in the 1200's.

However, it is silly to say "it is official", science has been known to change it's mind when new evidence is put forth.

The contempt is silly... at one point science and religion were not enemies and should not be so now, they involve very different issues..

 

You got the equipment and manpower for six billion lobotomies, have at it.

 

It certainly matters that some people choose not to believe scientific truths when those people are elected officials who do things like determine school curricula.

 

If scientists were in complete agreement on the subject, there would be no need to fund additional studies. Scientists need work too.

 

No middle-ground, got it.