• Subscribe
    • Free AJ Newsletters
    • Subscribe to AJ’s Premium Newsletters
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Tumblr
    • RSS
  • Advertising
    • Advertising
    • About AJClassifieds
    • Place a Classified Ad
  • About
    • About
    • Contact
    • Sources

ArtsJournal

  • HOME
  • DANCE
  • IDEAS
  • ISSUES
  • MEDIA
  • MUSIC
  • PEOPLE
  • THEATRE
  • VISUAL
  • WORDS
  • AUDIENCE
  • AJBLOGS

Sorry, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Basing A Country’s Governance Solely On ‘The Weight Of Evidence’ Could Not Work

IDEAS Posted: July 1, 2016 6:15 am

On Wednesday, America’s star astrophysicist sent out this tweet: “Earth needs a virtual country: #Rationalia, with a one-line Constitution: All policy shall be based on the weight of evidence.” Jesse Singal explains that “it is, in fact, a pretty dumb tweet – uncharacteristically so, given how smart the author is – but one which usefully sums up a common misconception held by folks who bang the drum loudest for science and reason.”

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

IDEAS Published: 06.30.16

Read the story in Science of Us Published: 06.30.16

  • Will This Year’s Emmys Finally Show Some Love To Latina And Latino Actors?
    I mean, we’re talking about Pedro Pascal, here, people. And Selena Gomez, Diego Luna, and Jenna Ortega. Before this year, the only – only! – Latinx actor to win a lead actor... Read more
    AJBlog: Seeing Things Published on: 2023-06-04
  • Production Design For The Barbie Movie Wiped Out A Global Supply Of Pink Paint
    Not a joke. To be fair, the pandemic’s supply chain issues, plus the 2021 Texas deep freeze, created a shortage on their own – but still, as filming went on, “there was... Read more
    AJBlog: Seeing Things Published on: 2023-06-04
  • Ghanaian Author And Playwright Ama Ata Aidoo, 81
    Ata Aidoo, “as well as being a writer and university professor, also served as Ghana’s education minister in the early 1980s; she resigned when she could not make education free.” – The... Read more
    AJBlog: Seeing Things Published on: 2023-06-04
  • Old-School Romanian Pottery Has Suddenly Become A Hot Commodity
    A Romanian-born owner of a London design store says “the décor industry is fond of artisanal work right now, adding that if it’s ‘obscure’ — she used air quotes — that was... Read more
    AJBlog: Seeing Things Published on: 2023-06-04
  • The Hollywood Writers’ Strike Is Going Strong, One Month In
    There was a K-Pop themed strike day, and the writers have also held “singles events, Greta Gerwig appreciation day, Pride and drag queen day, and reunions for writers of shows such as E.R. and... Read more
    AJBlog: Seeing Things Published on: 2023-06-04
  • Don’t Learn To Code
    “Computers that we can all ‘program,’ computers that don’t require specialized training to adjust and improve their functionality and that don’t speak in code: That future is rapidly becoming the present.” –... Read more
    AJBlog: Seeing Things Published on: 2023-06-04
  • In The UK, A Statue Of A Black Woman Was Painted White By A Vandal
    But the artist invited the entire seaside community of Bexhill to help fix the damage and restore the statue. “More than 300 volunteers … queued along the promenade to help restore the... Read more
    AJBlog: Seeing Things Published on: 2023-06-04
  • The Best Time To See A Movie Is Before Lunch
    “If the life wisdom espoused by self-improvement columns and my grizzled colleagues was ‘Do the hardest thing first,’ I was taking the opposite approach. I was beginning my day doing the most... Read more
    AJBlog: Seeing Things Published on: 2023-06-04
  • Such a Great Read! The Poet Dying: Heinrich Heine’s Last Years in Paris
    If the opening of Ernst Pawel's biographical study of the 19th-century German poet Heinrich Heine doesn't grab you, don't bother to read on. But it if does, treat yourself to a great... Read more
    AJBlog: Seeing Things Published on: 2023-06-03
  • Holly Bass talks about the importance of the arts in our schools
    Holly Bass, National Director for Turnaround Arts at the Kennedy Center, talks about the important role that the arts can play in our schools.... Read more
    AJBlog: Aaron Dworkin Published on: 2023-06-03
  • Life After The Master: A Steven Sondheim Protege
    “We did this workshop,” Foley told me. “And he came to see it, and . . . he did not like it. It was a really awful experience, because everybody was, like, What did Sondheim... Read more
    AJBlog: Seeing Things Published on: 2023-06-02
  • Whitney Spits Out Its Breuer, While Sotheby’s Salivates
    I could say that I told you so, but in this case, I take no delight in being right. By now you’ve probably heard the (heart)breaking news: “Sotheby’s said that it has... Read more
    AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published on: 2023-06-02
  • Early Stats from the General Social Survey: How Virtual Arts Participation Fared in 2022  
    With all the attempts to put COVID firmly behind us, it can be tempting to lapse into a pre-pandemic view of the arts landscape in America. To do so would be a... Read more
    AJBlog: Measure for Measure Published on: 2023-06-01
  • Two goals to rule them all
    I've been reading and thinking a lot about human cognition – about how we make sense and take action. The useful answer describes a combo platter of species-wide sense-making systems and their... Read more
    AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published on: 2023-06-01
  • William Cody Maher ‘If you don’t have a present, you always have a past’
    'A man is looking into his past. Let's see what he finds there.' — William Cody Maher, poet / writer / performance artist... Read more
    AJBlog: Straight|Up Published on: 2023-05-31
  • Menus Animaux Is Coming Soon from Cold Turkey Press
    ... in a brilliant French translation by Bertrand Grimault.... Read more
    AJBlog: Straight|Up Published on: 2023-05-30
  • Stop the Music! Degas “Little Dancer’s” Alleged Attackers Indicted
    The press spokesperson for the National Gallery, Washington, alerted me late Friday to a breaking development in the case of the attack on its beloved treasure—Degas’ unique, original wax version of “Little... Read more
    AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published on: 2023-05-29
  • Creative Forces NEA Military Arts Network
    This is a two-part podcast: we begin with Christine Bial, the Director of Arts and Humanities Grants at Mid-America Arts Alliance which is a partner with National Endowment for the Arts in... Read more
    AJBlog: Measure for Measure Published on: 2023-05-29
  • Erin Lunsford Norton talks about the complexity of orchestral operations
    Erin Lunsford Norton, Vice President of Artistic Planning at the New Jersey Symphony, talks about their centennial and the complexity of artistic operations in an orchestra.... Read more
    AJBlog: Aaron Dworkin Published on: 2023-05-27
  • The Philosopher’s Sling
    Whatever you load into this self-purging contraption will hit the back of your head.... Read more
    AJBlog: Straight|Up Published on: 2023-05-27
.