According to author Arthur C. Clarke, "If a scientist tells you that something can be done, he is probably right. If a scientist tells you that something can't be done, he is probably wrong."
I have an addendum to that one: If he tells you that people with dark skin are not as bright as Caucasians, he can expect to get blasted in the media.
Dr James Watson, who shared the Nobel Prize for his work on revealing the secret of DNA, has made the rather startling pronouncement that black people are less intelligent than white people.
This is on a par with claiming that women are more temperamental than men, or that old fools are more likely to make sweeping generalisations than young post-graduates making grant applications.
All in all, it just doesn't sound like the kind of thing I'd expect a proper scientist to say. Usually any scientific statement is tempered with a heavy dose of "ifs" and "buts". In fact, the most reliable way to tell if someone is a scientist is to ask for a straight answer to a straight question.
The genuine scientist will always reply: "It depends. We need more funding - I mean we need to do more research."
I have an addendum to that one: If he tells you that people with dark skin are not as bright as Caucasians, he can expect to get blasted in the media.
Dr James Watson, who shared the Nobel Prize for his work on revealing the secret of DNA, has made the rather startling pronouncement that black people are less intelligent than white people.
This is on a par with claiming that women are more temperamental than men, or that old fools are more likely to make sweeping generalisations than young post-graduates making grant applications.
All in all, it just doesn't sound like the kind of thing I'd expect a proper scientist to say. Usually any scientific statement is tempered with a heavy dose of "ifs" and "buts". In fact, the most reliable way to tell if someone is a scientist is to ask for a straight answer to a straight question.
The genuine scientist will always reply: "It depends. We need more funding - I mean we need to do more research."
Other Nobel laureates include:
- Kofi Annan (Ghana)
- Derek Walcott (Jamaica)
- Wole Soyinka (Nigeria)
- Albert Lutuli (South Africa)
- Nelson Mandela (South Africa)
- Desmond Tutu (South Africa)
- V. S. Naipaul (Trinidad and Tobago)
You may not need to be a rocket scientist to win a Nobel Prize, but neither do you have to have white skin.
And that's a scientific fact.
You can be some white arsehole called Al Gore with irrational ideas about how our planet works, inviting governments to tax the crap out of us, wanker!
ReplyDeleteAnd take that springbok shit off your screen, traitor!
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough - that "white arsehole called Al Gore" wouldn't be mucking about with such invitations if the much larger and eminently more disgusting white overpriviliged arsehold George Walker Bush hadn't had his daddy buy the election for him.
ReplyDeleteA whole lot of dead Iraqi's would probably be happier too - so maybe Al WOULD have gotten the peace prize anyhow, just not with the whole "mucking about with the environment" bit.
Sewmouse, I so agree with you, but the peace prize??
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind paying a carbon tax if I thought it was actually going towards reducing emissions rather than subsidising the oil companies. Grrr!
ReplyDeleteAnd John - I'm no traitor, I'm not English - in case you hadn't noticed. Since Scotchland have lived up to expectations and been knocked out already, I've got two choices:
1) Support my son-in-law's team.
2) Support whoever's playing against England.
Win-win for me!
Now if only I'd been paying attention during that JavaScript class instead of ogling the tutor's long, shapely legs, I'd be able to put up a countdown clock until England's inevitable defeat...hmmmm...