The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date (that links to the Kindle edition; if you want a paperback, change the page)Now I do not know if I agree that facts change all the time. Not all facts I mean. But his example here about smoking makes me think about the gluten, add, sugar is evil and other fads!Facts change all the time. Smoking has gone from doctor recommended to deadly. We used to think the Earth was the center of the universe and that the brontosaurus was a real dinosaur. In short, what we know about the world is constantly changing.Samuel Arbesman shows us how knowledge in most fields evolves systematically and predictably, and how this evolution unfolds in a fascinating way that can have a powerful impact on our lives.
He takes us through a wide variety of fields, including those that change quickly, over the course of a few years, or over the span of centuries.
Alex Polikowsky
Note from Sandra:
For years I've used the examples of hamburger and pizza—every element of both of those, down to salt and oil, has been villified as "the worst part" at one time or another in my lifetime. I don't know that I've heard anything bad about mustard or pickles, but I have about tomato, iceberg lettuce, buns, beef, cheese, ketchup... And then later each was redeemed or praised as the best part.Pizzas, same. When the food pyramid came out, breads and carbs were to be the basic foundation of diet. OH NO, says 2012: Gluten will KILL you. Cheese will KILL you.
Well it can't kill us all at once.
I think that in the absence of a truly for-real lactose intolerance or the rare actual gluten intolerance, people should eat the whole burger, or not; eat the whole pizza, or not. Stop trying to create the fountain of youth out of deprivation.
Scientists Who Found Gluten Sensitivity Evidence Have Now Shown It Doesn't Exist
-=-Honestly I wasn't making assumptions about radical unschoolers when I posted originally asking what your thoughts are on the things scientists say are toxic and/or addicting.-=-My response (Sandra Dodd):
This discussion is all about radical unschooling, though, and nothing else. So when it seems we're talking about food, it's about food-and-radical-unschooling. Same with any other topic, it is that-and-radical-unschooling."Scientists" say whatever they want to say. Scientists say the Grand Canyon was created suddenly by a flood. Scientists say the world is only 6,000 years old. Scientists say body fat is not bad. Scientists say it's terribly deadly. Scientists say a species is extinct, and then scientists say they were wrong.
Facts change.
The Half-Life of Facts, Samuel Arbesman (that link in 2015)
That link in 2022: (forwards to more info, but less attractive; the book is available from audible.com now)
