Anti-Science Advocates Are a Worldwide Problem

In my lifetime I've watched science slide into a new dark age where societies are plagued with ignorance and lack of understanding about basic facts.

In particular I've watched America sink into an anti-intellectual wasteland where social influences are more important than reality. We have a block of the population that discounts or avoids information that contradicts their beliefs. They don't understand the scientific method which requires proof before beliefs. Facts before fiction.

The United States isn't alone in this assault on science as nearly every other country in the world is contending with misinformation and downright stupidity seeping into their societies via politics and right-wing groups. 

Disinformation campaigns are so sophisticated they can fool just about anyone into believing that the moon is made of Swiss cheese.

Science has always clashed with religions, but in today's world a broad swath of the population questions science - like facts aren't enough to convince them they are wrong if they don't fall into their belief system.

Willful ignorance is common and harmful, with 40% of people choosing "not to know" the consequences of their actions to free themselves of guilt while maximizing their own gains.

Are We, the Human Race, Regressing with No Hope?

No. There's always hope.

There's a growing body of research that shows that the best way to bridge the gulf with science deniers is to engage their values. 

This may involve finding common ground between the scientists' values and the skeptics.

Here's Some Ways to Deal with Ignorance

1. Take a deep breath and remain calm

2. Ignore the comments entirely

3. Allow humor to diffuse the situation

4. Respond with short answers

5. Use this moment to inform or teach

As it Stands,

it's important to understand that attitudes can be changed with the right approach. Respect of another's feelings is important in having fruitful conversations with positive results.

The Power of Olfaction is Awesome

The sense of smell, or olfaction, is the most powerful sense of them all for both humans and animals. It enriches your experience of the world around you. Different scents can change your mood, transport you back to a distant memory, and may even help you bond with loved ones.

Scents go straight to the brain's smell center, known as the olfactory bulb. The sense of smell has many functions, including detecting desirable foods, hazards, and pheromones, and plays a role in taste.

Interesting Facts About the Sense of Smell

* Researchers from Macquarie University in Australia found that people with psychopathic tendencies have a poor sense of smell.

* Hyperosmia is an overwhelming sensitivity to smells.

* Some people naturally have a more agreeable scent due to their unique body chemistry influenced by genes.

* Multiple hormones can affect your sense of smell, including estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, leptin, and ghrelin.

A True Story About the Power of Smell

Meet Joy Milne, a Scottish woman with a rare condition called hyperosmia that gives her an exceptional sense of smell. 

She can detect Parkinson's disease, tuberculous, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer by smell. 

Can you imagine? It proves some humans do have the ability to detect diseases with their sense of smell. 

I recently posted a story about rats in Southeast Asia who can detect tuberculous faster than lab technicians. Thus far I've discovered that there's numerous animals with extrasensory smells that can detect a host of sicknesses.

For decades individuals and businesses have explored ways to harness the evocative power of smell. When I was growing up in the 1950s, we had AromaRama or Smell-O-Vision, in walk-in theaters. They infused the theaters with appropriate odors in an attempt to pull viewers deeper into the story.

People do tend to lose their sense of smell as they age. But don't worry. Your nose is like a muscle in the body that can be strengthened by giving it a daily workout, not with weights, but with sniffs. The more you use your nose, the stronger it gets according to a Harvard study titled, "What the Nose Knows." 

In praise of smell Helen Keller once said, "Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived."

As it Stands, I found out how to stop a skunk from smelling. Are you ready? Hold its nose.

No Brainer: AI is the Biggest Threat to Journalism Today

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the worst thing to hit journalism in a lifetime.

We're already seeing the effects of AI where it generates inaccurate or misleading information in newsrooms across the nation. Public trust in the news is sinking faster than the Titanic when it hit an iceberg. It's already obvious that AI can potentially replace some aspects of a journalist's work with automated content creation. The quality and ethics of AI raises many concerns.

Last year experts warned Congress that AI poses a grave threat to journalism. Media executives and academic experts testified before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law about how AI is contributing to the big tech-fueled decline of journalism.

Those experts explained that the rise of big tech has been directly responsible for the decline in local news. "First Meta, Google and OpenAI are using the hard work of newspapers and authors to train their AI models without compensation or even crediting the source," said Senator Richard Blumenthal during the hearing.

The result? Using these models to compete with newspapers and broadcasters has cannibalized readership and revenue from the journalistic institutions that generate the content in the first place.

Since the rise of the digital platforms a decade ago the tech companies and the news industry have been in conflict, which has resulted in tech platforms profiting as many news organizations have gone out of business. Researchers at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University found that America has lost almost a third of its newspapers and almost two-thirds of its newspaper journalists since 2005.

Fighting Back

Countries around the world are starting to take action to force big tech to support their local journalism industries. I like what Canada did in 2023 when they passed a law requiring tech companies to pay news outlets for any content featured on their platforms. Australia led the way with a similar law in 2021.

Here in the United States, there have been numerous lawsuits between big tech and the news industry. The New York Times vs OpenAI last year has been the highest profile case yet. 

Billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages have been charged against OpenAI who responded by claiming it actually helped support a healthy news ecosystem. The case is ongoing.

The news industry has borne the brunt of having to vet content in order to determine whether AI stories are genuine and accurate. One example; following the Oct. 7, 2024, terrorist attacks on Israel, fake photos and videos reached an unprecedented level in social media in a matter of minutes! Of the 1000s of videos that one broadcast network sifted through to report on the attacks, only 10% of them were authentic and usable.

While Congress dilly-dallies around this AI threat it continues to expand like a cancer in all of the communication platforms. It's no wonder that the American public is losing faith in newspapers and broadcasters. There's never been a greater threat to our democracy than what AI poses today.

As it Stands, democracy does die in the darkness. The Washington Post is a good example because AI tech and a right-wing publisher have turned off the lights.