Transcript: TWIS.org Oct 13, 2009

Justin This show is brought to you by you, the listener, and other people like you who listen. We couldn’t do this show if it wasn’t for you listening because then we’d just be talking to ourselves. So thank you.

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

There are, by my own account, only two ways of being in the world: as though it is the first day or as if it is the last. If it is the last day, then what we do now has little consequence for tomorrow never comes. Our debt is reasonable, we can spend well beyond our means; for tomorrow never comes. Our use of natural resources does not need to be sustained beyond today for tomorrow never comes.

The climate of the earth, pfft! If it’s suitable today is all that you’re concerned with; for tomorrow never comes. And there’s little reason to learn that which will only be useful tomorrow for tomorrow never comes. But if you see this day as the first day, that can have unreasonable consequence.

Natural resources are precious commodity to be managed and sustainably watched over, not squandered. And the environment is something worth stewarding. And any knowledge gained is useful. However intangible, its benefit is in the now.

And while being a sustainably squandered commodity – much like the following hour of programming – does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of California at Davis, KDVS or its sponsors; be it the first day or the last, the choice is always yours: to be at the beginning of your life or near the end.

To give you a little perspective today, we’ll let you in on a few things that started many yesterdays ago and will continue to develop over many tomorrows. Here on This Week in Science coming up next.
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Transcript: TWIS.ORG March 31, 2009


Justin: Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

Getting it wrong is one of the most important things you can do in the pursuit of science. The more things you get wrong, the less places truth has to hide. More than simply a process of elimination, getting it wrong can actually produce new facts.

For instance, if we go back in time to the days of early men, we can imagine an early attempt to reach the moon by throwing a rock while it is directly over head. Not only does this attempt illustrate the wrong way to reach the moon, it also produces facts about gravity, acceleration, and potentially head injuries that could be later studied.

And while throwing rocks at the moon much like the following hour of our programming does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of California at Davis, KDVS or its sponsors.

We should all feel like great Liberty to get things wrong on a daily basis. For every wrong answer is a step towards the truth. Every dumb question – one less that needed to be asked. Every failed experiment eliminates the need for it to be done that way again.

And every intuitive false belief refuted finds us a more objective understanding upon which to stand. In fact, wrong thinking makes the impossible possible.

If only by learning new ways of not going about attempting it, it could be said and therefore it’s about to be that getting things wrong is the easiest way to learn new things.

And while you ponder the possible wrong things you can think today, we will eliminate a few facts so as not to make your efforts in vain. You’re on This Week in Science, coming up next.
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