Science for Stupid Idiots

By Randall Hoven

You might be a stupid idiot, like me. At least I must be a stupid idiot, since I'm called that quite often. You see, I have doubts about some things. Things like catastrophic, man-caused global warming; neo-darwinistic explanations of evolution; the safety and efficacy of at least some mandatory vaccines; etc. I'm not always called an "idiot." On global warming, I'm a "denier." On evolution, I'm a "creationist." On vaccines, I'm an "anti-vaccine nut." But you get the idea. I'm not rational and fact-based, like they are. Here's my thinking on a vaccine, before injecting one of my kids with one: what are the chances of harmful effects without the vaccine, and with the vaccine? I want two numbers. My nutty logic is that I want to minimize the chances of harmful effects on my child. To calculate that for a particular vaccine, I need those two numbers. An emotionless robot or computer would need those two numbers. Yet we are rarely given even one of those numbers, much less.... (Read Full Article)