Monday, November 1, 2010

How gullible are we?


H2O: Dangerous Chemical!

A student at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair, April 26. He was attempting to show how conditioned we have become to alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear of everything in our environment. In his project he urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical "dihydrogen monoxide."And for plenty of good reasons, since:
  1. it can cause excessive sweating and vomiting
  2. it is a major component in acid rain
  3. it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state
  4. accidental inhalation can kill you
  5. it contributes to erosion
  6. it decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes
  7. it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients
He asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical.
  • Forty-three (43) said yes,
  • six (6) were undecided,
  • and only one (1) knew that the chemical was water.
The title of his prize winning project was, "How Gullible Are We?"He feels the conclusion is obvious.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

lol nice one, proves how "dumbed down" ppl have become

Pro said...

great point. that kid deserves the prize.

Anonymous said...

nice post
smart kid

xaltruismx said...

What? That really went down? It's a perfect display of social psychology and human stupidity combined!

Willow said...

Some people scare me....

The Greater Spartan said...

Derp chem 101

Gorlotch said...

Ugh, sadly it's not surprising.

level85nerd said...

wow shocking facts!

Innovations said...

omg! ill never drink water again!!

Mamin odabir said...

OMG O.o
And nice blog, follow :)

anon1337 said...

I saw this on Penn and Teller, funny stuff.

comradejoker.blogspot.com/ said...

Wait what, haha oh this is supposed to be funny.

Allan said...

I'm not surprised about this at all. People see a complicated word and automatically think it's some volatile concoctions made in a middle eastern basement by angry men with unwashed beards. You'd think they'd ask for some more information before signing something they obviously know nothing about.

skweeker123 said...

lol i know right?!

Light Weight Baby! said...

that's a unique perspective on that

Anonymous said...

I seen this happen in a video people signing petitions for banning water lol

Jimmy Volmer said...

yup, we are pretty gullible

Come At Me Bro said...

I need some!

Nerd Life said...

this is kind of scary

T.dot said...

lol pretty cool

Phil McKracken said...

Great post!

Unknown said...

haha, I've read this like a thousand times and it's still funny.

Aaron said...

That is a revealing study. I love it! I want to call water that from now on. Thanks :)

Crammarc said...

this has been done before, at my school and many shcools, whats sad is I thinks it becoming worse our school was more like 2/3 still terrible though

Oxygen for Everyone! said...

having a major that is rooted in chemistry, I can't believe people are this dumb.

Justin Z said...

I love this. Penn and teller did an episode of bullshit about this same sort of thing. check it out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi3erdgVVTw

http://thisisdefinatelyalongtitleforablog.blogspot.com/

The Viber said...

very interesting.

Martin Cage said...

My forehead hurts from face-palming...