What is wrong with you people?

[elfs]

This week, the guinea worm, a disgusting disease endemic to Africa and as deadly as polio, was eradicated in another nation. A lab announced developing a strain of chicken that cannot host bird flu. Another lab developed a blood test for Down's syndrome, ending the need for invasive amniocentesis. Thunderstorms create small amounts of antimatter

Comments

[sirfox]

I think you've hit smack on a chunk of human nature that's going to need to be harnessed, because it might be unchangeable.

magical / metamagical thinking is something our species just *does*. As such, it's more accessible and interesting to the bulk of the population than complicated scientific stuff. These self-same people, individually, would likely agree with you that all the advances you listed are of greater impact for the species as a whole, and might even be of direct benefit to them personally, depending on their location, status, and if they understood what you were talking about. They just probably wouldn't care.

I was amused that your post on my friendslist was immediately preceeded by
http://syndicated.livejournal.com/dorktowerfeed/269137.html that.

[bayushi]

I don't know. I'm far more interested in ALL those things than in the astrology chart, but I didn't see any of them in the major news. I think that speaks more to what the corporations that publish news think Americans want than what Americans actually want.

[ionotter]

I dunno?

I think I could deal with being a transgendered healer?

Huh?

[autopope]

What's this astrology thing?

Re: Huh?

[elfs]

Astronomers announced that, what with stellar progression over the past 5 millenia, astrologers have their constellations all wrong and have proposed a 13th astrological sign, Ophiuchus.

Personally, I think this is just an attempt to tweak the astrologer's noses. Although this might be an issue for the Laundry to consider...

Re: Huh?

[mouser]

They miss all the press they had when Pluto was downgraded.

Astrology, precession of the equinoxes, and reality.

[autopope]

This isn't really a brand new discovery, for people who are simultaneously sufficiently knowledgeable about the combination of astronomy and astrology. Oh, wait, who would that be? Me and a rather small number of other people, I guess. Nonetheless, an astrologer published a book a few decades ago called something like "Sky Diamonds" in which she proposed updates to astrology to 'fix' this "precession of the equinoxes" related problem.

So for a small fraction of the population, this 'news' story is like 'chemists announce, water's still wet.'

But seriously, since a well-understood scientific mechanism for astrology actually somehow working has not to my knowledge been publicly proposed, you can't expect to scientifically 'disprove' such a mechanism with _mere actual facts_.

Just say, "I feel that astrology is a mechanism of oppression, man, telling everyone what to do and feel, keeping us from realizing our true potential, man." Or something like that.

[blaisepascal]

In a week, few will care or remember in depth that there are 13 constellations on the ecliptic, yet the guinea worm will still be eradicated, the flu-free bird will still be there, thunderstorms will still make antimatter, and the need for amniocentesis will still be reduced/eliminated.

I hadn't caught that the τ instead of π "debate" had picked up again. Where was this?

[elfs]

Well, New Scientist is trying to rile it up again in their latest article. But reading NS is a bit like reading the Weekly World News for fans of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

[blaisepascal]

That's a great description of "New Scientist;" it's a shame only a few people will get the last reference though.