On Science, the Reporting Of
Feb. 2nd, 2006 10:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beautifulduckweedAbout six years ago, researchers in Princeton apparently demonstrated the possibility of travel at superluminal speeds. Very roughly speaking, a pulse of laser light was shone through some cesium vapor and left the chamber before it finished entering.
What happened next demonstrates what typically happens when Freaky Science is reported.
Here's how it was reported in the popular press, with the Freaky Bits distorted and blown out of proportion.
Here's how the news story was co-opted by an ideologue with some science training, then distorted even further so it could be used to bolster his religious convictions.
And here's where somebody who actually knows what he's talking about explains everything in detail, without distortion of Freaky Bits (which are plenty freaky, but then again, I'm easily impressed).
This is nothing new, of course. One of the more recent (and egregious) examples of this sort of thing happened with quantum entanglement when researchers confirmed it was real. Many, many dipshits immediately latched onto it as proof of precognition, superluminal travel and/or the existence of God, among other things.
One study, three different reports from three viewpoints with three different agendas. There's a lesson in there somewhere. Unfortunately, my brain has currently been evicted in favor of copious amounts of warm snot.
Speaking of which: Time to go see the doctor. Whee!
What happened next demonstrates what typically happens when Freaky Science is reported.
Here's how it was reported in the popular press, with the Freaky Bits distorted and blown out of proportion.
Here's how the news story was co-opted by an ideologue with some science training, then distorted even further so it could be used to bolster his religious convictions.
And here's where somebody who actually knows what he's talking about explains everything in detail, without distortion of Freaky Bits (which are plenty freaky, but then again, I'm easily impressed).
This is nothing new, of course. One of the more recent (and egregious) examples of this sort of thing happened with quantum entanglement when researchers confirmed it was real. Many, many dipshits immediately latched onto it as proof of precognition, superluminal travel and/or the existence of God, among other things.
One study, three different reports from three viewpoints with three different agendas. There's a lesson in there somewhere. Unfortunately, my brain has currently been evicted in favor of copious amounts of warm snot.
Speaking of which: Time to go see the doctor. Whee!
