The Reality Check Episode 38

Politics/Skepticism + Climate Change Questions + Red Bull Myth

Part 1:

Now the world isn't just black and white, or you are a skeptic or not. There are many people who call themselves skeptics and say that their beliefs and political views are supported by science. For example, there was a meeting of skeptics, and one of them asked when are we going to start promoting skepticism into something useful, like public health.

That is actually a really interesting thing to ask, because it's not really backed up by science, it's not an obviously a beneficial thing. There are still a lot of people who think the healthy care system is quite bad, and want to change that. 

The point is that bringing up things like this and politics just deludes the purpose of skepticism. If you are left wing or right wing, it's just a matter of perception. And when you believe something, your mind will biased towards that belief. 

These kind of things are just opinions, such as the health care thing. Rich people would like to get the health care that their pets get, because if you want your pet to get checked up or a surgery, you can get it just like that if you have money. But for humans, it doesn't work that way. Humans have to wait in line to get what they want. Legally, of course.

Being a skeptic is also biased. We can say that because we are skeptics, we tend to lean more on the scientific and the evidence side and think that what other people say isn't really true. 

Part 2:

The Climate Change comments from episode 35.

Is climate change a political idea, or a scientific idea, or both? 

Climate change is just an idea, it is used in different ways and by different groups. Usually people say climate change is talking about human effects. Of course governments muddle the idea to make us think from a scientific point of view, but there are of course a lot of governmental advantage to it. 

Are humans controlling climate change?

No, we cannot control the climate change, or we can just change it to anything we want. However, we do influence climate change, and there are loads and loads of evidence that because of human activities, the CO2 levels are higher than ever. 

Science Myth of the Week:

There is a myth that said Red Bull is made from bull testicles, made from bull urine. The original one, not the ones you see in stores today. 

It's not true at all. Red Bull contains mainly taurine, and those things can be extracted from bull urine, but it is not where the manufacturers get taurine.