Wishbone: Really? My first thought was "they sound a lot like George W. Bush, only using English slightly better than he ever did".

lukaszthegreat: i don't think anyone is making fun of people who don't like science.

we make fun of people who are morons.

wpegg: Vestin has a good point, you just didn't read the facebook page carefully enough. If you had you would have realised that morons are relative. To me you are a moron, because I am so much smarter than you. To you I am a moron, because I think I'm smarter than you without really knowing you.

It's not wrong to question science. These people obviously are not at the pinnacle, but the attack on the concept moves science towards religion. This is just teens experimenting with challenging accepted facts. That's part of development, it's part of a good process where they may one day challenge an accepted fact that's wrong. I know, the page hints they won't,

I challenge you now - put yourself on the high-horse. Do Black-holes exist? Do you dare say? I suspect not, they had at least got the balls to venture an opinion.

crazy_dave: You are giving them way too much credit. Did you actually it read what they wrote? It's horrible, really truly pathetic. They aren't grappling with scientific concepts and trying to figure stuff out. They're saying how stupid science is and that it isn't important, that it doesn't matter, and that since Hawking is in a wheelchair he must be a loser - that he is called smart only because he is pitied. That's what they're saying. You need to read what they wrote, again. They're cretins who are proud of their ignorance over the world, nothing more nothing less. I'm not making fun of them, I'm horrified by the baseness of their intellect and the shallowness with which they approach the world.

wpegg: I am giving them no credit. I am responding to the point that they you all are making fun of morons. To suggest that in fact, from someones perspective, we are all morons (possibly Stephen Hawkings, though I doubt it).

sethsez: Kids are stupid. Teenagers are still kids. Chances are good they'll grow up and stop being so goddamn dumb, like every stupid teenager before them.

Blarg: Every stupid teenager before them did not stop.

By my reckoning, most didn't. There's a chance of curing ignorance, but you can't cure stupid, as they say. These kids aren't just ignorant. They're stupid.

wpegg: I am giving them no credit. I am responding to the point that they you all are making fun of morons. To suggest that in fact, from someones perspective, we are all morons (possibly Stephen Hawkings, though I doubt it).

Damnation: Without science, there is no scientific gain, and there is no ground for new applied science, meaning technology will fall behind.

If you postpone Hawking's research, you postpone what it may blossom into - for sake of argument, let's say it will result in a teleporter (I have no clue why, I just think it's appropriate, cause a teleporter would be fucking sweet!).

Based on current science, a teleporter is possible but extremely limited (I remember reading they managed to teleport a gas by a whole 3 centimeters). If you allow the scientists behind this research to continue, we might have a fully functional teleporter capable of teleporter people in, let's say 50 years. If you postpone the research for until the economy is fully stable once again, the future of technology seems vague, and a teleporter might first be available after 50 or perhaps even more years from when they get to pick up on their project again.

the worst scenario for preventing science is a dark age of technology where it doesn't moveb forward and is fragile enough it might deteriorate at a rapid speed. Science is what modern society runs on, no matter what people would like to think.

GameRager: I didn't mean theoretical science should be postponed or that it can't lead to good things, just that they(sadly) were partially right that that kind of stuff isn't useful to us NOW......but it could be someday.

Adzeth: That Europe / USA size comparison got me interested, so I checked Wikipedia. Now, assuming that Wikipedia is reliable:
Europe: 10,180,000 km2
------USA: 9,826,675 km2 (tried to put lines so the number "columns" would match, might be a complete failure since I can't preview (you can also think of it as having USA on a stick if that's your thing)).

Also, since I'm so trying to avoid going to bed because after waking up I'll have to go to work, I looked up a world map (googled) and made this handy picture where I moved stuff around and colored 'em. Sorry Icelanders, I misplaced your country so hard... so hard...

The map I used might have been wonky.

Anyway, I'd say that it is reasonable to say that USA is almost as big as Europe, and it's also reasonable to say that a 353,325 km2 difference is a big deal. For comparison's sake, Finland has a total area of 338,424 km2 (wikipedia, again).

rampancy: ...but that doesn't make it worthless or unworthy of pursuit, which is what they're saying among all of their backslapping and laughing.