Science vs opinion

 “It doesn't make a difference how beautiful your guess is. It doesn't make a difference how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is. If it disagrees with experiment, it's wrong.”

― Richard Feynman, The Feynman Lectures on Physics

“Let go of certainty. The opposite isn't uncertainty. It's openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.”
― Tony Schwartz

What we are living through will soon be history. I wonder if people in the future will learn anything from this or whether they will be just like us and continue to make the same mistakes over and over. Curiosity and asking questions are important, but I think many of our politicians, corporate leaders and yes, us individuals as well are looking for the answers in the wrong places. If we know the outcome we want for ourselves we do not look objectively for the answer... we are not truly curious, merely trying to prove our point. Why is it so hard to believe that science, nature and history can be worthy guides??? In this information overloaded world why do we listen and argue about things that science and history and experimentation and studying have answers for? Answers we can find by a simple google search, by reading history or by listening to reputable news sources.

Is there an essence of what we can believe in and that we can use as an underlying guide for how to be when we are buffeted every which way by opinions and voices that manipulate emotions and ignore science?

The following message I read on facebook and I reposted and am copying it here because its message is something we all should keep in mind:

Working parents want kids to go back to school because school closures directly impacts them.

Teachers don’t want schools to open because covid spreading round their school directly impacts them.

Hospital staff want a full lockdown because sick covid patients directly impacts them.

Business owners want to carry on as normal because lockdown directly impacts them.

People with physical health problems want everyone to stay socially distant because catching covid could kill them.

People with mental health problems want people to spend time with because isolation could kill them.

Some can’t wait for a vaccine because they believe it will bring back some normality.

Some are terrified of a vaccine because they believe it could harm them.

We are all going through this but none of us are going through the same thing. Some face crippling financial challenges, others face heart break. We don’t all have to agree with what is best because what’s best for us won’t be best for everyone. We don’t have to understand what others are going through. But we do need to stick together and keep loving each other no matter our differences. We need to be mindful when some things go the way we want it to, it could be terrible news to another person. We need to be kind.

-Author unknown-

Bonus Quotes today:

“No one is is sure of his premise as the man who knows too little.”
Barbara W. Tuchman, The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam

“The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing.”
Oscar Wilde

Cheers

Jeanne