Ring out the old, bring it in again as the new?

Last updated on: May 28, 2019 at 8:42 am by Dan Peterson

Ring out the old, bring it in again as the new? 2019-05-28T08:42:34-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Mesoamerica continues to yield up significant new finds:

“1,000-Year-Old Pristine Mayan Artifacts Found in Sealed ‘Jaguar God’ Cave: The cave was first discovered by local farmers in 1966, but was walled off until last year for unknown reasons.”

And it’s possible that Mars will surrender a few secrets, as well:

“Is there life on Mars? Let’s assess the evidence: Since the nineteenth century, people have been obsessed with finding life on the Red Planet, but is there any real basis for supposing is does, or did, exist? Richard A Lovett sifts through the data.”

Continuing on the theme of old things reemerging anew, here’s a delightful piece about the one-party marvel that is today’s California:

“Medieval Diseases Are Infecting California’s Homeless: Typhus, tuberculosis, and other illnesses are spreading quickly through camps and shelters.”

As the state’s newly installed Democratic governor, Gavin Newsome, says, “Typhus. A medieval disease. In California. In 2019.”

(Newsome assumed leadership of the state from Edmund Gerald “Jerry” Brown Jr., who served as California’s 34th governor between 1975 and 1983 and as California’s 39th governor between 2011 and 2019, following in the footsteps of his father, Edmund Gerald “Pat” Brown Sr., who served as California’s 32nd governor between 1959 and 1967, when Sr. was defeated in his bid for a third term by a non-politician named Ronald Reagan.)

***

But let’s change pace a bit, via an interesting interview with the French epistemologist and philosopher of science Mathias Girel:

“Is Science in Crisis?”

Just a quick note on one of the points Girel raises when he speaks of “conflicts of interest in scientific expertise, with recent studies showing occasionally blatant financing bias. One such study revealed that expert assessments financed by the agri-food industry are four to eight times more often favourable to the sponsor than those with independent sources of financing.”

This is, manifestly, something that needs to be carefully monitored.

However, it seems to me that one rather obvious but less sinister explanation that could perhaps be offered for the disparate favorability ratios would be that the agri-food industry might understandably be more willing to fund research that it expected would make it look good than it would be to finance research where the potential results were in genuine doubt — let alone to finance studies that could confidently be expected to make those funding them look bad.

In other words, studies funded by the “agri-food industry” might well be biased or even rigged. But they might well also be quite sound — albeit carefully selected for self-interested monetary support.

Previous Post

March 9, 2019

"The great and abominable church of the Devil"?

Next Post

March 10, 2019 New Testament Notes 94-95

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said: "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Peter Paul James John