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Neurosurgeon Ben Carson on the Big Bang
- Thread starter fuelair
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Have you ever seen neurosurgery, its hardy brain surgery! You do a scan then you stick a sucker in, via a hole in the skull, you try not to suck out the good stuff, and try to suck out the bad stuff.
Difficult patients will have been worked up by neurologists who usually are bright cookies, the images are reported by neuro-radioligists.
Donn
Philosopher
Donn
Philosopher
Depends on the meds!
No one cares, but should such a person be appointed to office that's when you care, such a person is named Betsy DeVos who now will be the new Secretary of Education
Well, as Dr. Ben told me the other day, "Thank goodness she's only a Secretary instead of being in charge!"
Surely it does just that - in the room. Once you walk out you take that bodily entropy away with you, and leave the room tidier than you found it. That's always been my understanding anyway.
Wait wait... is this the NEUROSURGEON we're talking about?
He was in charge of the machine that went *ping*.
steve s
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Asimov once said something like "The problem with kindergarten terms is that they're suitable only for kindergarteners."
grmcdorman
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Continuing with the appropriate videos:
p0lka
Illuminator
The moment you become a politician, its all about the followers.
Joey McGee
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It might quite literally be true that Obama had the biggest sacks of nuts that ever slept in the white house.
Cause he faced reality. Our boy Ben, half asleep.
Cause he faced reality. Our boy Ben, half asleep.
Arisia
Graduate Poster
Well, Obama seems to have a decent, layman's grasp of the Big Bang, and other accepted science, and he's an attorney! 
Well, Obama seems to have a decent, layman's grasp of the Big Bang, and other accepted science, and he's an attorney!
I know for a fact, because I watched Carson during the Republican debates, that he understands vaccines better than Obama. When given a question about vaccines and autism, Carson almost choked. He then equivocated. In a way, I have to give Carson credit for this. He didn't blithely accept the equivalence between autism and vaccines. So I suspect that is his medical degree kicking in. He did stammer that there was no connection, although he almost dies saying it.
However, I also note that Carson basically said that he would respect the freedom of people who think that vaccine. A politician listens to his followers, however dumb they are. Even when he thinks the opposite.
So the fact that Obama says that he believes in the Big Bang doesn't mean that he understands what the astronomers are saying. It basically says that more astronomers like Obama, for whatever reason. He would worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster if it had any real followers.
Obama does not know science better than Carson, or Trump. Obama flip flops on matters of science, like most politicians. As someone else said in another post, ‘When you become a politician, it becomes a matter of FOLLOWERS.’
The constituency of a politician dictates his opinions. Some people think it is the other way around. However, I think there are subcultures of people interacting in such a way as to act like a unit. They basically choose a representative.
I also know many attorneys who have this simple opinion about scientists. They call scientists 'whores'. They claim scientists are in the pocket of whatever special interest pays them.
Here are some of the things Obama has said about vaccines. He did change his mind, but what is important is why he changed his mind. He did not ever try to compare risks. He did not look at scientific projections. He looks at what reporters say in the public media. He looks what the biggest alarmist says, right ir wrong. He looks at headlines only.
He responded immediately to the crisis on hand. There was a spike in the rate of autistic births, some reporters said it was the vaccines, so it must be the vaccines. Then there was a spike in the rate measles infections, the newspapers said it was the lack of vaccines, so it must be the lack of vaccines.
Obama never said, let us look at the comparative risks of measles versus autism. He didn't extrapolate, interpolate, or weigh choices. He came to absolute evaluations based on what the reporters were saying that week.
Obama is not different from most politicians, left and right. They respond to headlines, not investigations and not studies. If a politician recommends an investigation, then it is on a topic that he already made a decision on. He tries to bend the investigation toward what the current headlines are saying.
Obama is as guilty on this as Trump. They have opposite opinions because their followers have opposite opinions. They do not pay attention to scientific study.
Here is some stuff on what Obama said about vaccines.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...-Barack-Obama-said-about-autism-and-vaccines/
The exchange occurred on April 21, 2008, in Blue Bell, Pa. Here’s a transcript of the relevant portion:
"We’ve seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Nobody knows exactly why. There are some people who are suspicious that it’s connected to vaccines and triggers, but -- this person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it. Part of the reason I think it's very important to research it is those vaccines are also preventing huge numbers of deaths among children and preventing debilitating illnesses like polio. And so we can't afford to junk our vaccine system. We've got to figure out why is it that this is happening so that we are starting to see a more normal, what was a normal, rate of autism. Because if we keep on seeing increases at the rate we're seeing we're never going to have enough money to provide all the special needs, special education funding that's going to be necessary.”
If you want to hear how he said it, then look at this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYkluT1GbAc
Like most (al?) politicians, he reacts to immediate rather than long range problems. This means that he is sometimes right as shown by this link.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-tells-parents-doubting-indisputable-science/
“I just want people to know the facts and science and the information,” the president said. “And the fact is that a major success of our civilization is our ability to prevent disease that in the*past have devastated folks. And measles is preventable.”
An epidemic of vaccination skepticism*— largely based on unfounded and discredited*anti-vaccine beliefs*— has contributed to the growing public health crisis.
Thanks to the widespread use of highly effective measles vaccination, the disease was effectively eliminated in the United States*in 2000.”
How do you know that Carson understands vaccines better than Obama. So far all you have shown is that Carson, on the brink of going down the rabbit hole of being an anti-vaxxer, finally remembered something of his medical training.
Here's a politifact assessment of Obama's comments in 2008 about vaccines and autism:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...-Barack-Obama-said-about-autism-and-vaccines/
Would you care to complete the highlighted sentence ?
If you were indicating that it's a positive to allow parents not to vaccinate their children (based on their own ignorance and/or prejudice) then I disagree. Herd immunity is very important so saying that it's a matter for personal choice is medically inaccurate and IMO irresponsible.
How do you know this ? How do you know that Obama does not have a pretty good layman's understanding of astrophysics ?
Evidence for this claim ?
Bear in mind that Carson isn't merely ignorant of science, he actually believes something which runs counter to it.
edited to add....
Going back to Obama's comments about vaccines and autism - his comments were made in 2008 before the Lancet published the "stick a fork in that CT it's done" study in 2010. Carson's comments were made afterwards.
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But he's an independent thinker!
I can see how this happens - when your usual job is to be the smartest person in the room and the authority figure making all the critical decisions. It probably works OK, so long as you don't leave your fiefdom.
Which "he" were you referring to, Obama or Carson ?
Carson, as an explanation for why, as an educated man, he seems so lacking when it comes to cosmology.
Aha, thanks for the clarification
It's not just cosmology, it's anything that interferes with his literal interpretation of the bible (hence, I presume, the ludicrous comments regarding the use of pyramids to store grain).
Aha, thanks for the clarification
It's not just cosmology, it's anything that interferes with his literal interpretation of the bible (hence, I presume, the ludicrous comments regarding the use of pyramids to store grain).
He comes across as having a kind of gentle innocence, a naivete. I expect he'd fall for "Did you know the word 'gullible' isn't in modern dictionaries?"
This would make him unsuitable for political office, but not necessarily stupid.