{"id":65889,"date":"2018-10-01T19:48:47","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T01:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=65889"},"modified":"2018-10-01T22:47:57","modified_gmt":"2018-10-02T04:47:57","slug":"chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness.html","title":{"rendered":"China’s “Heavenly Eye,” and (Sometimes Willful) Blindness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"FAST<\/a>
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) \u2014 (Chinese: \u4e94\u767e\u7c73\u53e3\u5f84\u7403\u9762\u5c04\u7535\u671b\u8fdc\u955c), nicknamed Tianyan<\/em> (\u5929\u773c, literally \u201cHeavenly Eye\u201d or \u201cThe Eye of Heaven\u201d) \u2014 during its construction in Guizhou Province, China. Begun in 2011, it was finished in 2016 and is the largest aperture single dish radio telescope in the world. It consists of a fixed 500 m (1,600 ft) dish built into a natural depression in a mountainous landscape in southwestern China.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some interesting recent science articles:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting to compare this piece<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cScientists Pinpoint Where Dark Matter Is Hiding in the Universe\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

to this one:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is Dark Matter? Even the Best Theories Are Crumbling\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I like that fact that we\u2019re now learning to read muck from below the seabeds:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Earth\u2019s Memory Is Locked in Ancient Seafloor Muck\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

An intriguing historical \u201cwho [or what] dunnit\u201d:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow Did Anyone Survive the 19th Century? \u2014\u00a0Strands of hair shed light on doomed 19th-century Arctic expedition: \u00a0The final days of Franklin\u2019s 1846 expedition have long been a tragic mystery.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Indeed, how did<\/em> anybody survive the nineteenth century? \u00a0Consider this case of what was, evidently, once considered cutting-edge medicine:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018Father of American Neurology\u2019 Prescribed Women Months of Motionless Milk-Drinking: Virginia Woolf and Charlotte Perkins Gilman were both patients of his infamous rest cure.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In contemporary science, though, it\u2019s that time of the year:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy Nobel prizes fail 21st-century science: It is the ultimate accolade, but critics claim the award is now out of step with modern collaborative research methods\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s a rather longish but extremely thought-provoking essay that ranges far beyond what even the title suggests \u2014 including, no less, a passing reference to Utah\u2019s Bingham Canyon open-pit copper mine:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Happens If China Makes First Contact? \u00a0As America has turned away from searching for extraterrestrial intelligence, China has built the world\u2019s largest radio dish for precisely that purpose.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Browsing through the frequent comments that one especially frenetic misreader of this blog makes (elsewhere) regarding my science-related posts, I\u2019m reminded of a corollary to Murphy\u2019s law:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s a variant of it:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently capable fool.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m often informed (usually by anonymous people online who\u2019ve never met me) that I\u2019m a young-earth creationist, that I hate and fear science, and so forth. \u00a0Now, though, I\u2019ve learned that I believe that, if Charles Darwin was wrong in anything<\/em>, he was wrong in everything<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 which, of course, makes me a hypocrite because I don\u2019t hold the founders and leaders of my church to the same completely absurd standard.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Which reminds me of one of my favorite lines from William Shakespeare\u2019s A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em> \u2014 a line, spoken by Puck, that often seems remarkably apt:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lord, what fools these mortals be!<\/strong> (III.ii.115)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Some interesting recent science articles: \u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to compare this piece \u00a0 \u201cScientists Pinpoint Where Dark Matter Is Hiding in the Universe\u201d \u00a0 to this one: \u00a0 \u201cWhat is Dark Matter? Even the Best Theories Are Crumbling\u201d \u00a0 I like that fact that we\u2019re now learning to read muck from below the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nChina's "Heavenly Eye," and (Sometimes Willful) Blindness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Some interesting recent science articles:   It's interesting to compare this piece   "Scientists Pinpoint Where Dark Matter Is\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"China's "Heavenly Eye," and (Sometimes Willful) Blindness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    Some interesting recent science articles:   It's interesting to compare this piece   "Scientists Pinpoint Where Dark Matter Is\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-02T01:48:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-02T04:47:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/10\/FastTelescope8sep2015.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness.html\",\"name\":\"China's \\\"Heavenly Eye,\\\" and (Sometimes Willful) Blindness\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-02T01:48:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-02T04:47:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    Some interesting recent science articles:   It's interesting to compare this piece   \\\"Scientists Pinpoint Where Dark Matter Is\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"China’s “Heavenly Eye,” and (Sometimes Willful) Blindness\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"China's \"Heavenly Eye,\" and (Sometimes Willful) Blindness","description":"    Some interesting recent science articles:   It's interesting to compare this piece   \"Scientists Pinpoint Where Dark Matter Is","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"China's \"Heavenly Eye,\" and (Sometimes Willful) Blindness","og_description":"    Some interesting recent science articles:   It's interesting to compare this piece   \"Scientists Pinpoint Where Dark Matter Is","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2018-10-02T01:48:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-10-02T04:47:57+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/10\/FastTelescope8sep2015.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness.html","name":"China's \"Heavenly Eye,\" and (Sometimes Willful) Blindness","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-10-02T01:48:47+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-02T04:47:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    Some interesting recent science articles:   It's interesting to compare this piece   \"Scientists Pinpoint Where Dark Matter Is","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/chinas-heavenly-eye-and-sometimes-willful-blindness.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"China’s “Heavenly Eye,” and (Sometimes Willful) Blindness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}