MOTION MOUNTAIN

concepts, lies and patterns of nature 291
Challenge 305 e
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‘Not everything is known.’ This statement is quite interesting: modern physics indeed
claims the opposite in many domains. For example, all forms of energy are known; so
are all forms of moving entities. In short, even though this statement is correct – indeed,
not everything is known – it is often used by liars. Be careful when you hear it; if the
statement is made without evidence, it is made by a crook.
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Here is a lie that uses mathematics, from a journalist: ‘Your university exams treat women
applicants worse than men; your statistics show that only 41 % of all female, but 57 % of
all male applicants are admitted.’ The university is small and has only two faculties; so it
checks its numbers.
Faculty 1 admitted 60 % of all males (60 of 100 applicants) and 65 % of all applicant
females (13 of 20 applicants). Faculty 2 admitted 30 % of all males (3 of 10 applicants) and
32 % of all females (16 of 50 applicants).
In total, the university thus admitted 63 of 110 male applicants (or 57 %) and 29 of 70
female applicants (or 41 %). In other words, even though in each faculty the percentage
of admitted females was higher, the total admission percentage for females was lower.
Why? In fact, this is a true story; in this version, the numbers are simplified, to make the
situation as clear as possible. But a large university once got in trouble with journalists
in this way, despite preferring women in each of its departments. Some journalists are
excellent liars.
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A domain in which lies are common is the food industry. It is now possible to buy artificialeggs,artificialtomato,orartificialshrimps.Manybreadproductscontaincysteine;
for decades, cysteine was extracted from human hair! In Europe, most food products
also do not tell the country of origin or the content of genetic engineering. Most Bavarianpretzelsaremadein
China, for example.
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A famous lie: genetically engineered crops are good for the food supply. In fact, they
increase the use of pesticides, have reduced fertility, cost more and increased food problems.Biofuelforcarshasproducedthesamedisastrouseffects.
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‘X is the oldest science.’ Such statements, with X variously taken to be metallurgy, astronomy,geography,mathematicsorsomeotherfield,areregularlyheard.Obviously,
all
are both lies and nonsense.
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Physicists have helped to reveal that many common statements are lies. Examples are:
“astrology holds” – “creation did occur” – “perpetuum mobiles are possible” – “vacuum
is an energy source” – “lightning is thrown by Zeus” – “certain actions bring bad luck”
– “energy speeds faster than light exist” – “telepathy is possible” – “more than three
spatial dimensions exist” – “there are things that cannot be measured” – “miracles con-
Motion Mountain – The Adventure of Physics copyright © Christoph Schiller June 1990–November 2015 free pdf file available at www.motionmountain.net