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The Three-Legged Woman and the Imp of the Paranormal
- University Press of New England
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135 making earth its garden in the galactic countryside. Some day, these giants are going to return. When they do, they’re going to look at the place and exclaim, “Damn! We’ve got humans.” Then they’ll spray. And that will be the end of us. o p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p thethree-leggedwomanand theimpoftheparanormal In my course in introductory biology I include a few lectures on the structure of the atom as a basis for understanding the chemistry of living things. In an effort to convey how incredibly small these particles are, I point out that although the modern atomic model was described by the brilliant Danish physicist Niels Bohr in 1913, we were not able to actually see an atom until the 1980s, when researchers at ibm photographed atoms using a new invention called the Scanning Tunneling Microscope. Soon after—as a sort of encore—this instrument was used to manipulate thirty-five atoms of the gas xenon—and later, the very heavy metal thorium—into a pattern, a corporate logo to be exact. And which logo would that be? Why, ibm, of course. When I tell my students about this, many—but not all—of them are duly wowed. On one occasion, a young man spoke up and decreed that atoms did not exist. His reasoning: if they were so elusive and virtually invisible, how could they constitute substances as dense as metals? Further, he asked how such exceedingly small things—mere will ’o the quantum wisps—could be shuffled around, even by ibm? 136 p f o r b i d d e n f r u i t s I would like to begin by reaffirming my belief that skepticism is necessary in any discipline, but especially in science, where experimental findings must rest upon a veritable Masada of data if they are to be taken seriously by the scientific community. It is the duty of every scientist worth his or her salt to listen to new information with an attentive but always critical ear. For every nod of the head as one considers a new piece of data, there should be four or five impatient taps of the pencil upon the desktop (I think this is the correct ratio). The result is a set of results that emerges from the crucible of cross-examination, ready for general dissemination. In short, I, like most teachers I know, encourage critical thinking in my classes. “Dissect the knowledge, don’t worship it,” I tell my students. Challenge me. Ask questions. Hold me to account for what I teach. (Niels Bohr used to tell his students, “Every sentence that I utter should be regarded by you not as an assertion but as a question.”) This is, more or less, what my student, that atomdoubter , did, and although it would have been nice if he hadn’t ruled out the existence of atoms with such finality, how could I object to his putting my intellectual feet to the fire and compelling me to explain the concept further, to the point where understanding was a real possibility? However, I was troubled by his tendency—shared by other of my students over the years—to reject scientific information out of hand. Atoms, genetics, plate tectonics, evolution (especially evolution!)—all have fallen victim not only to their doubts, but to outright disbelief. They are not usually hostile to the information ; they simply convey the impression that I must be, somehow , mistaken. This I can live with. What bamboozles me—and this is the main point at which I have long last arrived—is that the same students who sniff at the role dna plays in determining our physical and, to an extent, behavioral characteristics frequently embrace paranormal and even atrocious, Enquirer-caliber claims [54.172.169.199] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 07:57 GMT) The Three‑Legged Woman p 137 whole hog. Secret human/animal hybrid experiments, crop circles , Martian civilizations, invisible atmospheric jellyfish creatures , and jackalopes make their way down my students’ mental gullets without a hitch. Why, I once asked myself, if they are willing to accept such unsubstantiated things at face value, can’t they at least be receptive to that which has been arrived at via the scientific method? How can a student doubt that the continents are adrift, yet seize the idea of alien abductions with such dire passion? This very thought was...