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This reminds me of my reaction to the evolution/creationism debate- Does it really matter which one people believe? It has pretty much zero practical impact on
by waterlesscloud 13y ago
This reminds me of my reaction to the evolution/creationism debate- Does it really matter which one people believe? It has pretty much zero practical impact on their lives, and there aren't a lot of decisions they can make for others that depend on the information.
Now, I'm not in favor of teaching creationism in schools. Schools should teach what we as a civilization understand to be true. But as far as what individuals choose to believe? I don't really much care. I think it's an odd thing to get emotional over, but both sides certainly do (this is me preempting emotional replies :-) )
Of course, even when evolution is taught, it's almost always taught wrong. Even a large percentage of graduate biology students have deep misconceptions about what evolution is and how it works.
It just occurred to me that machine learning students would probably have the best understanding of evolution of any group of students. Ha!
- girvo 13y agoOr any programmer who works on legacy code... sure destroys the misconception that natural selection must end up with the best option ;)
- derrida 13y agoWe live among the dinosaurs!
- EliRivers 13y agoIf you choose creationism, you also choose the existence of a creator. A great many people who hold this belief seem to base many decisions in their lives on what this creator would want them to do (or at least, say they do). This can be a very, very long way from "zero practical impact on their lives".
- waterlesscloud 13y agoYou've made several leaps that do not necessarily follow.
- EliRivers 13y agoYes I have. Nonetheless, given the number of people who subscribe to creationism and yet do not hold any religious views (vanishingly small in my sampling, but I haven't conducted a large-scale international review), whilst they do not have to follow, they do seem to follow in the vast majority of cases.
- dennisgorelik 13y agoCould you give an example of practical impact on life of person who chose to believe in creationism?
- EliRivers 13y agoA literal belief in fairy tales leading to them making major life decisions based on the collected, millennia-old edited ramblings of a desert tribe. Start with lynching witches and go from there.