Blinded by not science

I'm sure we all remember with fondness that famous tirade Bill Nye gave, in which he unwittingly used philosophical arguments to argue that philosophy is a waste of time. To be honest, I've not seen much of him in the MSM since then. Perhaps coincidence.

It looks like Neil DeGrasse Tyson is quickly stepping into Nye's shoes as the new pop-"scientist" to remind us what science isn't.  He is the latest scientist who speaks to anything because, well, lab coat.  In this article, he leans heavily on the infallibility of the latest progress to argue boys and girls are a thing of the past because we say so.  And today, we must be right.  As opposed to yesterday.  That seems to be his message in a nutshell. It's not a debate worth having.  Since proper science has declared it true - by ignoring or attacking dissenting views - it's true.  Therefore let's get those guys into girls' locker rooms  and girls' sports pronto.

The shocking point in all of this is that it doesn't seem to be helping the transgender cause.  I still see articles about how suicide is a scourge across the transgender community.  Naturally that is blamed on transphobic bigotry.  Just like the story I saw earlier in the year that reported on the most recent stats about HIV.   According to the CDC, the latest stats once again show that the overwhelming majority of new HIV cases are men who have sex with men. Why is this true? Why, because of homophobic bigotry, that's why.  What does that even mean in 2023?  I have no clue.  But Science!

It's quite amazing.  For generations we've been throwing out what Tyson calls 'the old view of the world.'  From human relations to gender roles to raising children to sexuality to moral priorities, we've gone through the conventional wisdom of the ages like a weed eater.  Tens of mullions dead from AIDS later, unprecedented suicide rates among our children, mass killings in our schools, tens of millions dead from drugs, unparalleled drug dependency, mental health problems, depression and staggering levels of physical unhealthiness, and yet we keep trotting along like a tripped out Pollyanna.  Look how much smarter we are. Look how better we are every day.  We're so right about everything.  Isn't it great that we are better than that old world and its old world views? 

In ages to come, ours will likely be the Age of Arrogance.  After all,  as one of my sons pointed out, when your generation has a noticeable dearth of lasting accomplishments, arrogance is all you have left.  Yet people will look back at us and shake their heads.  If we're remembered at all in centuries to come, it will be as a cautionary tale.