April 2006 »

So the energy issue has has hit the mainstream again, with varying reactions. We have both the pro- [via Michelle at Andrew Sullivan] and anti-nuclear forces mustering, as well as the anti-wind and anti-everything else forces.

This sort of thing reminds me of something that I heard Chancellor Wiley of the University of Wisconsin say a while back, that extreme environmentalists may wind up indirectly causing more environmental damage than all the various energy sources they oppose. These are the environmentalists that Anne Applebaum refers to as “BANANA-ists”–Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything environmentalists–in her column linked above.

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There is a concept in social psychology called the self-fulfilling prophecy. Basically, because you believe something to be true (although it may not actually be true), you act in a way such that it eventually becomes true. There are many examples of self-fulfilling prophecies in literature, from Oedipus to Harry Potter.

How do we know that Iran’s current stance on nuclear weapons isn’t a direct result of Bush threatening to invade everybody and their mother? From an Iranian point of view, Bush’s threats against Iran might now create a dire need to develop nuclear weapons for self-defense.

Which then Bush interprets as stubborn defiance of Bush’s will, and he responds with more saber-rattling, which then confirms the Iranian view that they need to get serious about their nuclear program and create a convincing show of arms, ad infinitum, or until someone pushes the big red button and annihilates us all.

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This study was reported under headlines like, “Intercessory Prayer Has No Major Effect on Recovery” (BeliefNet) ², “Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer” (New York Times)³, “Study Fails to Show Healing Power of Prayer” (Yahoo! News)⁴, and “Prayer Does Not Heal the Sick, Study Finds (Times Online)⁵.

These headlines may be catchy, but they do extreme violence to the actual science. This brings me to my first main point: Be skeptical. Often journalists (and sometimes scientists) exaggerate or omit certain facts in order to tell a better story.

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