OrionWorks - Steven V Johnson <svj.orionwo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> In all three examples you cite I personally find it interesting that > the "politically correct" replacement phrase being championed strikes > me as being far less descriptive than the original phrase. I disagree about "climate change." That is a better description. I think it is helpful. It educates the public.It helps correct the notion that CO2 only produces higher temperatures, and not more extreme weather including colder temperatures. I doubt that "LENR" or the other proposed replacements for "cold fusion" would enlighten the public or correct misinformation. Even if cold fusion succeeds, I do not think the public will ever know or care what cold fusion is at the theoretical level. The name will not matter. For that matter, most people do not understand that fire involves oxygen, but fission does not. People generally are ignorant. They are as ignorant in Japan as in the U.S. Ordinary folks know only a little more about physics than they did in 1600. They have far less practical hands-on knowledge, because modern life is so divorced from nature. People have always have been ignorant and they always will be. This seldom matters. The only time it bothers me is when people try to replace biology with creationism in public schools. - Jed
