tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post2245651004668735383..comments2024-03-21T17:50:42.377-07:00Comments on Hop's Blog: Fact checking Neil deGrasse TysonHop Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12923433894475072056noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-64254622885957808832024-03-21T17:50:42.377-07:002024-03-21T17:50:42.377-07:00Anonymous commenter, there is nothing disingenuous...Anonymous commenter, there is nothing disingenuous in the first section about idiot doctors. Neil Tyson did complain about idiot doctors, pre-med students and the American Medical Association in general. And his complaint was based on his ignorance of how a prognosis is delivered. <br />I linked to the vid so readers could verify this for themselves. I suggest you watch the video again.Hop Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12923433894475072056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-74121289968148083212024-03-14T18:25:31.577-07:002024-03-14T18:25:31.577-07:00I have a feeling there's quite a lot of truth ...I have a feeling there's quite a lot of truth in this article but stopped reading it after the first section because you made multiple disingenuous statements about the video that was attached. I have no great adoration for Tyson but if you're going to spend an inordinate amount of obsessive time trying to discredit someone it is incumbent upon you to stick to the facts in your own arguments. If you can't get through your first section without rhetorical tricks and nonsense there is no way I'm going to trust anything you have to say about anything else.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-89981867309308640522024-03-10T08:11:39.182-07:002024-03-10T08:11:39.182-07:00Anonymous, Tyson has called me a troll. And I do a...Anonymous, Tyson has called me a troll. And I do ask him to pay a toll.<br /><br />He should be held accountable for the misinformation he has given the world.Hop Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12923433894475072056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-85809552909809859342024-01-20T04:37:27.874-08:002024-01-20T04:37:27.874-08:00You left out where he said the word "toll&quo...You left out where he said the word "toll" comes from the word "troll" because trolls used to collect tolls before they let you cross a bridge.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-27668808482521903532023-12-31T15:31:08.100-08:002023-12-31T15:31:08.100-08:00Hey, thanks Dave! I did indeed make a misteak! I m...Hey, thanks Dave! I did indeed make a misteak! I make a bunch of them. But it's corrected now.Hop Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12923433894475072056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-72363845178040877112023-12-26T16:25:33.404-08:002023-12-26T16:25:33.404-08:00Thank you. Peer review was definitely required for...Thank you. Peer review was definitely required for a lot of NDT's comments. <br />I've mainly seen him interviewed by Colbert and I liked him at first. Before long, though, I started to detect the smell of BS. Especially regarding his comments about Newton. HIs meatatarians vs vegatarians diatribe really was the final straw (man) for me. <br /><br />BTW, I think there's a typo in your sentence: "Payload mass grows exponentially with increasing delta v, not payload mass." I don't think you meant to say payload mass at both ends of that sentence... but I'm not sure what you were trying to say and I might just be confused.davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17533873276400685991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-34893135257531540552023-06-06T13:51:33.341-07:002023-06-06T13:51:33.341-07:00Inadequate, I don't know that much about Covid...Inadequate, I don't know that much about Covid. <br /><br />One of the concerns I've heard is that a vaccinated person could be asymptomatic and yet still carry the virus.<br /><br />I know that when I was vaccinated I initially thought I was immune and would not endanger other people. So I went out in public, started going to bars, restaurants, church gatherings etc. again. So I wonder if people emboldened by being vaccinated actually started spreading the virus more.<br /><br />I know that minority opinions sometimes turn out to be correct. And that sometimes people are silenced if their minority opinion isn't fashionable. <br /><br />Do Bill Maher, Joe Rogan, and Patrick Bet-David have legitimate complaints against Tyson's stance on Covid? I don't know. I have not had time to study the topic in depth. At this point I'm still agnostic. Hop Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12923433894475072056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-56014656639334553622023-04-26T08:21:45.368-07:002023-04-26T08:21:45.368-07:00Today I saw Neil's face and decide to just goo...Today I saw Neil's face and decide to just google why did he become such a prick. I stumbled onto this blog and I could not believe he actually responded. I wonder if this is still active but I would be curious on thoughts on his takes on covid etc. He did an interesting interview recently where he was just unbearable and defensive all the time. Covid seems like it has become a silent treatment subject for mainstream scientists now that a lot of the policies and treatments are coming under scrutiny. For me it was interesting that science and critical thinking went out of the window and the new way of thinking is the "consensus" as DeGrasse says. Anyway, let me know what your thoughts are - here's a link to the discussion I saw:<br /><br />https://youtu.be/CquiSjgJNc8<br /><br />Inadequatenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-8980074983127403232019-06-02T20:44:07.879-07:002019-06-02T20:44:07.879-07:00Anonymous writes "What's wrong with descr...Anonymous writes "What's wrong with describing an inverse square as exponential, specifically having an exponent of -2?"<br /><br />The exponent is the variable in an exponential function. For example f(x)=2^x is an exponential function.<br /><br />f(x)=x^-2 is not an exponential function.Hop Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12923433894475072056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-75325135595952313822019-06-01T20:26:25.286-07:002019-06-01T20:26:25.286-07:00What's wrong with describing an inverse square...What's wrong with describing an inverse square as exponential, specifically having an exponent of -2?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-80885191413894020942019-04-09T07:48:21.207-07:002019-04-09T07:48:21.207-07:00Interesting. In some ways quite good, as in the h...Interesting. In some ways quite good, as in the history of calculus, in other ways quite weak as in the history of science and thought in Islam. Admittedly, skeptics are generally ignorant religious fanatics who mindlessly accept any statement which supports their biases. Tyson may be guilty of that. China and Islam stopped having freedom of thought after the Mongol Conquests. Mongol conquerors converted to the religion of the conquered people, Islam in Islam and Confucianism in China and then initiated a strict religious orthodoxy which suffocated progress. There were still some innovative thinkers in Islam, but they had to be very careful not to offend the Orthodox world view, thus stifling progress. I do suspect that any person, like you or Tyson, when commenting on a range of subjects is likely to get some of it wrong.Arroghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12064264391011312489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-51884895470121699002019-01-07T16:54:19.533-08:002019-01-07T16:54:19.533-08:00Ryu238, here is Tim O'Neil's rebuttal to t...Ryu238, <a href="https://historyforatheists.com/2016/11/the-dark-ages-popery-periodisation-and-pejoratives/" rel="nofollow">here</a> is Tim O'Neil's rebuttal to that anonymous blogger.Hop Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12923433894475072056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-62605169887878030152018-12-29T17:11:41.805-08:002018-12-29T17:11:41.805-08:00""The Chart" What Tim O'Neill c...""The Chart" What Tim O'Neill calls<br />The Most Wrong Thing On The Internet Ever." <br />And this guy knows nothing: http://theskepticzone.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-lie-that-never-dies-christian.htmlRyu238https://www.blogger.com/profile/10011281472578951724noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-79834591032986356942018-03-21T21:52:11.602-07:002018-03-21T21:52:11.602-07:00David, thank you so much for your kind words, they...David, thank you so much for your kind words, they mean a lot to me.<br /><br />I was replying to the comment made by Neil on March 14, 2016 but it seems that in haste i have forgotten to mention that.<br />Baderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16110087465251985753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-14794511375360202072018-03-20T13:14:55.262-07:002018-03-20T13:14:55.262-07:00Bader, your English is better than many native Eng...Bader, your English is better than many native English speakers I know.<br /><br />The only ambiguity is who you are replying to. By context it seems like you're replying to Neil deGrasse Tyson's comments.<br /><br />I am happy to receive input from an Arab who has read Ghazali's works. We seem to be in agreement that Tyson is delivering misinformation with regards to Ghazali and the history of the mideast.Hop Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12923433894475072056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-10935887632631513562018-03-20T01:15:31.003-07:002018-03-20T01:15:31.003-07:00An Arab here, living a few hours from Dubai, who h...An Arab here, living a few hours from Dubai, who has read Al-Ghazali's work. I would like to start by apologizing for the bad English as it is not my first language. I also provided the names of books in Arabic for reference as I didn't know what their English counterparts were called, I tried to translate his quotes as accurately as possible, but it is not an easy task.<br /><br />I will give you the benefit of the doubt and say you were misinformed or just read a very bad translation.<br /><br />Al-Ghazali was an admirer of science and math and in his book "مقاصد الفلاسفة" he condemned philosophers who use their logic to discuss the divine and calls their methods "Unlike math, they are inaccurate and based on predictions". His argument was that the divine is a spiritual matter and should stay away from math and logic. He also adds in the same book: "If those philosophers who use their logic and math as a proof against the divine then why are they not 100% on the same page? Math is based on accuracy and is methodical, while their reasoning is based on prediction and in most cases they contradict each other". Math cannot be contradicting, 1 + 1 = 2 is always true. <br /><br />His main argument was that attributing math to philosophy is contradicting, as math cannot deal with the spiritual and metaphysics aspects of life. "If you understand the steps of math then you cannot refute it". Therefore, it should not be used to explain the divine, instead deal with world-ly things, like eclipses.<br /><br />In his book "المنقذ من الضلال", he says: "The math that these philosophers use has nothing to do with proving the divine's existence or not, truly math is a tool to prove earthly things and once you understand the methods you cannot refute them but they are not to be used to prove the existence of the divine". <br /><br /><br /><br />One of Al-Ghazali's most famous quotes "There is no bigger crime than to think that Islam is being supported and made better by refuting science, there is no doctrine against learning these sciences, and these science are not in conflict with the the doctrines".<br /><br />To sum up what Al-Ghazali was saying, logic cannot be used to prove the existence of the divine and this logic that the arrogant philosophers use - who think they cracked the secret of existence- is, unlike math, inaccurate and mostly based on predictions and speculations. Al-Ghazali's main concern was to refute that knowledge in philosophy means you are a logical, smart person.<br /><br />Do you notice the praise he gives to math?<br /><br />In other words, he was pissed off by these arrogant know-it-all philosophers and wanted to put them in their place. Now Al-Ghazali had a lot of wrong opinions, but he didn't say math is the work of the devil and he definitely wasn't the reason the Arab fell. If you read Arabic history carefully it basically boils down to political issues and tribal wars at the end of the 1500's that led to the downfall, Egypt was seeing revolutions, the gulf region was split into more than three regions. Instead of being the hub of trade that it used to be, it became the hub of conflict.<br /><br />Also, 3000 people heard you talk and they applauded you. Do you know who your audience was? In Dubai, Arabs are a minority with 79% foreigners. That leaves 21% Arabs, how much of that 21% you think is interested in a lecture by you? Here in the gulf most of us have only heard of you, wait for it, after your lecture in Dubai because of the backlash it caused, of how misinformed you were, newspapers and blogs wrote about it, and it made faith in astrophysicists sink even lower because of how you attributed the fall of the Arabs to one of the most scientific and respected Arabs! So I assume 10% of the attendants were Arab. How many of those do you think have read Al-Ghazali tomes, which are not really taught in school and are only taught in university if you actually pursue those studies.<br /><br />So saying 3000 people in Dubai applauded you is not to be used as an evidence to how right your statements are.<br />Baderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16110087465251985753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-71360491819181989782018-03-14T12:09:11.971-07:002018-03-14T12:09:11.971-07:00Anonymous wrote "We need more physic educatio...Anonymous wrote "We need more physic education at the boxing website..."<br /><br />Give yourself a tag, please. When there's a bunch of posts from "anonymous" it can be ambiguous which one I'm replying to.<br /><br />I was pleasantly surprised to see such a great interest in space exploration at a boxing forum. And had resolved that I would participate in those discussions more often. But I've been very busy (thank God).<br /><br />Can you remind me what the URL is? Hop Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12923433894475072056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-38799322836584695102018-03-14T09:26:39.853-07:002018-03-14T09:26:39.853-07:00We need more physics education at the boxing websi...We need more physics education at the boxing website. Space & Science thread.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-49603850178033034822018-01-10T18:03:28.445-08:002018-01-10T18:03:28.445-08:00Great work holding Neil DeGrasse Tyson accountable...Great work holding Neil DeGrasse Tyson accountable and pointing out how the I F—-ing Love Science crowd is hostile to skepticism in general. It reminds me of that essay in Wired — also highly critical of Tyson — that pointed out how the natural world itself, not the acquisition of knowledge about the natural world, is considered “science” by IFLS types. As that essayist noted, it's like calling the ocean “drinking” or calling the police “crime.”<br /><br />That’s Tyson’s most enthusiastic supporter in a nutshell. They are not interested in science. How can they be when they can’t define it? What they *are* interested in is creating the appearance that they are “into science,” using it as part of their identity and as a way to signal their intellectual superiority. Thus, a photograph of a wild animal or an enhanced image of a nebula is “science,” it says so right there on the IFLS Facebook post I shared with my friends! Likewise anything can be refuted because science. You don’t have to understand the parameters of the discussion or even familiarize yourself with the topic, because science.<br /><br />I don’t see how promoting that accomplishes the goals of science education or inspires kids to get into STEM fields. Mostly it just gives certain people a way to virtue signal and publicly assert how much smarter they think they are than those nebulous, spectral idiots Tyson mocks in his speeches and tweets.Niknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-89014838275026958792017-08-28T06:22:21.068-07:002017-08-28T06:22:21.068-07:00This quotation from Al Ghazali's autobiographi...This quotation from Al Ghazali's autobiographical "Deliverance from Error" would seem to settle the matter. NdGT is just wrong. "“Great indeed is the crime against religion committed by anyone who supposes that Islam is to be championed by the denial of these mathematical sciences. For the revealed Law nowhere undertakes to deny or affirm these sciences, and the latter nowhere address themselves to religious matters.”<br />URBANhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13244522868108600329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-18732678753588862782017-05-30T11:48:44.600-07:002017-05-30T11:48:44.600-07:00This isn't quite fact checking but it's re...This isn't quite fact checking but it's related in that he's waaaay out of his bailiwick and it shows. Although I had seen his face and knew his name, my first actual contact with the general sloppiness of deGrasse Tyson's thought was his rather bizarre list of “eight book that every intelligent person ought to read.” It's not just that it's a strange list – who puts Gulliver's Travels on a list of eight essential books? – but save Gulliver's Travels I doubt he's actually read any of them. “What an idiot!” I thought to myself as I looked over the list and his reasons why they are important. “Is he admitting that he's not very intelligent?” Or is the emphasis on the “should”? He'd like to read them but hasn't gotten around to it. <br /><br />It would be too long and boring to go through all of the reasons why I'm suspicious for each of the books but I'll make a cursory stab at a couple. <br /><br />First up, the Bible, "to learn that it's easier to be told by others what to think and believe than it is to think for yourself." Wow! Where to start? I know he's never read the Bible because it's IMPOSSIBLE to learn that lesson from reading the Bible. There's nothing “easy” about it. What an intelligent reader ought to come away with is a lot of questions, mostly of the “why” variety. <br /><br />Although not personally religious I have a lifetime fascination with religion so I recognize his reasoning from past encounters with folks hostile to religion. Many people who have never actually read the Bible and only know whatever was read in whatever church they were bored at as children imagine the Bible to consist of stories with idealized characters behaving righteously, 'exempla virtutis' along the lines of Livy's history of the early days of the Roman Republic crossed with Aesop's fables. Nothing could be further from the truth. Either he never read the book or he has severe reading comprehension issues.<br /><br />Adam Smith's “Wealth of Nations,” “to learn that capitalism is an economy of greed, a force of nature unto itself." In truth Smith engages in a great deal of hand-wringing about the potential for his ideas to encourage greed and comes to the firm conclusion that the human sentiments would be all the corrective that was needed to keep greed in check. He was wrong, of course, but you'd never learn that from reading Smith. DeGrasse Tyson wouldn't know that because he never read it. <br /><br />My favorite, Sun Tzu's “The Art of War,” “to learn that the act of killing fellow humans can be raised to an art." He only read the title. Had he read the book he would have known that much of it is about avoiding wasteful carnage, winning through guile and subtle strategy. It is brimming with psychological insights about conflict which is why it is a perennial business oriented best seller. He never read that one either.<br /><br />And then there's the one he probably did read in high school, “Gulliver's Travels,” "to learn, among other satirical lessons, that most of the time humans are Yahoos." Especially lazy blowhards like deGrasse Tyson.<br />URBANhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13244522868108600329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-86206372240151530582017-02-01T20:17:48.688-08:002017-02-01T20:17:48.688-08:00Just to improve the context of the Ghazali bit... ...Just to improve the context of the Ghazali bit... <br />Prof.Tyson's misrepresentation there seems to result from his misconception that in Islam "earthly" is viewed as bad, therefore work of devil. I can't really speculate where that comes from (is it so in some branches of Christianity?), and he toned that down a notch anyway. I am neither an expert of theology, nor of Ghazali's work. But as a muslim I can say our religion asks us to balance the earthly and unearthly pursuits, and not forsake one while losing ourselves in the other. Of course interpretations of religion differ from person to person, and there was a period of history (I would say stretching from 13th to 19th century) through which mainstream muslims preached forsaking earthly sciences. So I think Prof.Tyson tried to use Ghazali as an (easy but apparently incorrect) example of that line of view, so I think that is a C in his error scale (explained by himself above) and his point stands.Kartal Tokernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-84787814261191465842017-01-17T12:59:22.630-08:002017-01-17T12:59:22.630-08:00"And lately, Russia with the dubious claims o...<i>"And lately, Russia with the dubious claims of hacking."</i><br /><br />Yes, "dubious claims" peddled by that well-known leftist organisation, the CIA. Welcome to the post-truth world ladies and gents ...Tim O'Neillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00292944444808847980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-81387230856419417772017-01-17T12:49:22.314-08:002017-01-17T12:49:22.314-08:00Alex,I was being sarcastic. Tyson evidently constr...Alex,I was being sarcastic. Tyson evidently constructed his memory of Bush from inaccurate stereotypes that he subscribed to. The Bush from Tyson's confabulation was certainly a xenophobic demagogue. The real Bush was the opposite. Bush's actual 9-11 speech was a level headed call for tolerance and inclusion.Hop Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12923433894475072056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3596550435682943926.post-64545001346032735442017-01-16T19:48:41.850-08:002017-01-16T19:48:41.850-08:00Outstanding work here. I've observed as much w...Outstanding work here. I've observed as much with regards to Tyson over stepping his area of expertise. His musings on politics, history and philosophy are particularly sophomoric - i.e. 'Rationalia which is basically a sloppy, wrongheaded spin on Plato's 'Republic' and a call for a society ruled by your betters; presumably with a spot for Tyson. I hold a Bachelors in History and have been an enthusiast since I was a lad. I usually find myself under whelmed, if not irritated by how flippant and irresponsible such people are with heavily complicated events like, for example, The Crusades. This event is a perfect punching bag for those who want to rail against Christianity (President Obama also made reference to it in an effort to have us 'keep in mind' about our 'misdeeds' in the West. This one I chalked up to irritating me to no end because Obama painted an inaccurate picture to push his own point). However, I do have a quibble and perhaps you can enlighten me. Specifically this assertion, "We all know a Republican would seize this emotionally charged moment to stir up hatred against Arabs." I was happy proper perspective was brought about Bush's speech, but I may have missed where the leadership 'stirred up hatred against Arabs' because from what I recall, they were generally measured in their words. In any event, the Democrats are up to the task of 'demonizing' as well; just in a different way. They love the class warfare rubbish of 'rigged systems' and 'the rich paying their fair share'. And lately, Russia with the dubious claims of hacking. Scapegoats have featured well in world history. Cheers, AlexAlexnoreply@blogger.com