Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for January 20, 2016

Actually, many things in science are quite simple.

And the simplest answer is god did it…

It’s asking too much of a Republican/Fox “news” viewer to handle complexity.

Just give them a slogan, like ‘jobs, Jobs, JOBS!’ and they’re happy. You don’t have to provide jobs or anything, just give them the slogan and then blame Obama.

So are both roads leading over the edge in this strip?

Interesting that the left is to the right moving up (higher learning, perhaps?) and the right is heading for a short walk to dive off head first to oblivion. Too bad in real life they will happily take us all with them.

I’m perfectly willing to deal with Republicans who understand and appreciate what science is about.There seem to be no Tea Party Republicans who understand science.

Randy_B and pointspread, we all have to go over that “edge” sooner or later….It just depends on how soon or how much later…..All we can do is make decisions and hope they’re the right ones….

Science indicates the human brain is evolved to accept the simplest answer that proves accurate for immediate consideration, and builds on that in its spare time. This is so you don’t have to perform all the calculations to come to a rational solution, but just act quickly and correctly on the fly.When it fails, it is quite spectacular. You never see a falcon run into obvious obstacles at 40 mph through a woods, but humans often crash into thing negotiating their life options at the speed of temporal flow.

if I may suggest: the science road sign is more like “sometimes complex, sometimes simple, many times right, but often we just don’t know better – follow the road and find out for yourself. And if you find something new, don’t forget to share”. But they didn’t have space for the wording and had to simplify…

Matthew 7:13,14 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Life is rarely that binary. I can’t count the number of articles I’ve read recently about erroneous and falsified scientific studies. Not everything people call “science” is accurate. To blindly follow someone just because they call themselves a scientist is just as wrong as blindly following anyone else…like politicians.

And fear of “climate change” is being used to make us all walk off a cliff

My eyes aren’t so good any more, but isn’t that guy near the bookshelf reading some Robert Frost? Looks like Yogi ’s already taken the fork….

Good satire. Shows why ‘Scientific American’ is an oxymoron.

looks like both end up over a cliff

Reminds me of Jesus’ saying “Strait is the gate and narrow the way that leads to eternal life and few there be that find it.”

Truth – If an Idea, or a Solution to a problem, Fits on a Bumper Sticker, and sounds good; Odds are it’s Wrong!

I truly hate the ones who talk about “dubious science” and such.- They’re perfectly happy with any science they can have fun with – HD TV, smart phones, mini-drone helicopters, electricity, running water, refrigerators, etc.-But if the result isn’t “happy-happy, make life easy” and means they may have to do something differently, then it’s all a plot by “rich” scientists to line their pockets.Global warming, cigarettes cause cancer, seat belts save lives, etc. – all evil plots.

I’m always curious as to what exactly the Right mean when they say “make America Great again”……and even more curious as to when exactly it was “great” in the past…….I’ve asked….but NEVER get an answer.

It’s amazing how many readers do not understand this simple idea.

And science sez, “It all came from an exploding nothing that was everything. We can’t see most of it, or find it, but the numbers say it’s there, and we have faith in the math”.

So much for Occam’s Razor…

lol, the Right will do whatever it takes to believe whatever they want. Let them go. they are complete idiots. what a waste of energy to “try” to reach them. it is too late now, climate wise. to bother. they got what they wanted, and will take the rest of us with them.

like Forrest Gump,

Wiley, you totally nailed it on this one! Needs to go VIRAL!

Not gonna read all the comments on this one, too much to do. Just a quick brush over them has people assuming which side is science and which is everything else. How we interpret this merely reveals ourselves.

I tried to share this strip (Jan 20th) on FB twice and it tried to post the strip from Jan 16th (which is good also) I saved the strip and posted it myself. I think someone with an anti-science bias is messing with FB (!?)

Notice the ones choosing science are going past a bookshelf, picking up books and reading them. The other fork should have a TV

Science changes it’s mind constantly about what is “right.”

Wow. This strip is so filled with errors and misconceptions that it’s sad. Unfortunately, Wiley is following the worldview of “scientism” without doing any critical thinking. I’m wondering what observation of science lead to his conclusion that science = complex = right and everything else = simple = wrong? Clearly that’s not a conclusion of science. So, Wiley’s a hypocrite whose thinking is not guides by science but then he condems the very thought process that he follows. His views are simplistic, naive, arrogant, and uneducated view. And yea, my Ph.D. is in biology. Et tu Wiley?

It’s always easy to be a lemming and take the simple way out.

The route to rationality is always solitary, long, hard and circuitous but rewarding in the end.

I guess he doesn’t believe in Occam’s razor

is this why people think that eating carrots will give them night vision? or, how some people think that the flintstones are a documentary?

“That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way” – Ponder Stibbons

Isn’t it amazing how a simple but accurate strip like this one can polarize the political parties? I don’t see Reps or Dems here, just human nature.

Plato/Socrates said “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Rebuttal of sorts (not by me):

http://tofspot.blogspot.com/2016/01/scientism.html

perhaps it’s a comment on our educational system, eh Wiley?

Jump With Trump!

I just had to add this to my favorites. It so neatly illustrates my own beliefs—particularly spiritual—that there are no easy answers in life.I tip my hat to you, Mr. Miller.

First there is Occam’s Razor: the simplest explanation that works is most likely to be correct.

Then there is Murphy’s Blunt Instrument: the explanation that is the most complex and involves the most conspirators and coincidences is most likely to be believed.

I wouldn’t exactly say that science is “right”, just progressively less wrong.

Very Biblical…Mathew 7:13:“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Science does not change to be convenient, it changes as hypothesis becomes theory and theory becomes fact. It’s a process of learning, experimenting, and accepting the facts whether it proves your theory or disproves it. As what happens often, a combination of both. Versus belief, where one can conveniently manipulate their beliefs and make up ‘facts’ to keep their heads up their…….. And it seems many people are happy to store their heads there. Whereas, Scientists that try to manipulate to get the facts they want, get caught as for science to be written as fact, it must be able to be replicated by others consistently. It’s not a one shot deal to be considered fact. Anyway. Neil deGrasse Tyson said it best: “The good thing about science is that it’s true, whether or not you believe in it.”

@James: While “erroneous and falsified scientific studies” do exist they are rare. What you may be including in your list are pseudoscience studies, or so-called studies by charlatans masquerading as scientists, but are in reality con artists with hidden agendas. These false studies are common in the business world and often emanate from corporate marketing departments and receive a rubber stamp from corporate “scientists” that develop results desired by upper management.

The road to the right is switchbacks going up a mountain.

Oh, I used a microscope to look at the line of people going to the left, and I saw Jimmy Swaggart, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, the Pope, Dr. Ben Carson, Joel Osteen, and all of the people from the Creationist Museum across the river from me.

Just kidding — maybe.

Can of worms opened and cannot close. I will not bite!

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a [partisan philosophical wasteland], and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

(With apologies to Robert Frost . . .)

Local news is what drives the broadcasts here in San Diego. You would think the rest of the state is somewhere off in the ether. Being at the end of the state seems to stultify curiousity.

Wait, wait… I have to wake up in the morning, brush my teeth, get all dressed and presentable, make my own breakfast and coffee, go to work, AND you want me to THINK too?? Screw that. Too hard.

Jesus did this same illustration about find the truth that leads to life (everlasting) or the alternative.

Of course, scientists never lie, skew results, cheat, have hidden agendas, or anything like that which may impact their “findings”. Honest. You can trust them, always. Really.

That’s what makes deriding ‘simple but wrong’ so ridiculous: we’ll all go at about the same time. The same clif lurks in the distance, see? The difference? Some know why…some scream and cry…some simply deny; we’ll all just die. Earth Abides

That is why Trump leads the Republican pack.

A couple of things I haven’t heard mentioned:Science isn’t the destination, it’s the path . If it leads to the wrong destination, someone will come along and correct it. 2015 and December, the warmest year and month since we started keeping records. The Big Bang isn’t predicated just on math. As the math predicts concrete evidence, and our measurements grow more accurate, we find the predictions to be true. And thanks for all the Bible quotes, but they mean nothing.

Now we know why the ideologies are called the Left and the Right.

The cartoon left out the Short Cut to the Cliff for the “Faith Based” people who don’t Need to Wait for the “Answers” because God Whispered it into their ears.

Actually there are very few of us religious folk that are sincere about it. Whatever happened to love your neighbor?

I’ve always been fond of the Readers Digest article that concluded by saying that when the scientists finally ascend to the summit of the mountain of all knowledge, they’ll find that the theologians have been there all the time waiting for them.