{"id":86337,"date":"2023-10-31T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=86337"},"modified":"2024-09-16T10:40:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T15:40:32","slug":"purity-test-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=86337","title":{"rendered":"Purity Test"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCENE: Mitch BERG is cleaning out his garden boxes. Busy hauling stalks to the truck, he doesn’t notice Avery LIBRELLE, patrolling the alley, looking for over-filled recycling bins to report to the city.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LIBRELLE: Merg!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BERG: Hey, Avery…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LIBRELLE: Shut up. The GOP’s new Speaker of the House is anti-science. I have proof!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/zaibatsu\/status\/1718589247727210703\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

BERG: Huh. So since the Speaker’s job has nothing to do with developing theories, formulating hypotheses, designing and conducting experiments and documenting results, much less trying to figure out how the universe “really” formed, what difference does it make?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LIBRELLE: Who wants our leaders to believe fairy tales?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BERG: Let’s ignore for a moment that theology, like mathematics, logic, physics, even history, are different ways of analyzing different evidence about the universe. Let’s say that you have a brain tumor, and you need brain surgery, or you’re going to die, but quick. So you go to the world’s leading brain surgeon – the one person who can save your life. So far so good?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LIBRELLE: OK…?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BERG: That person has got <\/em>to be a person of impeccable scientific credentials, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LIBRELLE: Of course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BERG: So you meet that surgeon, and he explains his record – overwhelmingly successful – and his technique, his reasoning, and his plan. And everything sounds right. So far, so good?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LIBRELLE: Right…?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BERG: Then he tells you he believes the universe is 6,000 years old and was created in six days by an imnipotent God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LIBRELLE: Oh, I’d cancel the surgery instantly!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BERG: Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LIBRELLE: He clearly doesn’t believe in science! But why are you wasting time with a hypothetical example?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BERG: Nothing hypothetical about it.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LIBRELLE: When I <\/em>know more about science than the world’s leading brain surgeon…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BERG: Your degree was in what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LIBRELLE: Grievance studies with a minor in Sociology!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BERG: Right. Hey, look (points down the alley<\/em>) I think the Gruenbergs mixed green glass in their clear glass…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LIBRELLE: (Looks down the alley. BERG makes his escape. LIBRELLE doesn’t notice, heading down the alley and getting his…er, her…er, a smart phone camera ready to go…)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And SCENE.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCENE: Mitch BERG is cleaning out his garden boxes. Busy hauling stalks to the truck, he doesn’t notice Avery LIBRELLE, patrolling the alley, looking for over-filled recycling bins to report to the city. LIBRELLE: Merg! BERG: Hey, Avery… LIBRELLE: Shut up. The GOP’s new Speaker of the House is anti-science. I have proof! BERG: Huh. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,18,49],"tags":[236],"class_list":["post-86337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faiths-and-their-followers","category-pc","category-science","tag-dramatization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86337"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86354,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86337\/revisions\/86354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}