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dimreepr has been suspended for a week for doubling down on some trolling.

Yes. It’s inaccessible if you aren’t a subscriber, but some people might be. If all you can do is provide quotes, it suggests you don’t understand the article well enough to discuss it. How, then, can you draw any conclusions? And yet you do, rather than ask what the author meant. A lot of discoveries are surprises. What implications are you referring to? That we descended from earlier forms of life? No, that seems unchanged. That species change over time, affected by the environment? That seems fine. That some individuals will be better suited to the prevailing conditions, and have a better chance to survive and reproduce? No, that still seems to hold. What this looks like is looking for instances of certain phrasing, trying to twist a discussion to make it sound like support for an agenda

The way I see it, Wikipedia (or other encyclopedia) articles, textbooks, and research papers are distinct sources of information in terms of their scope and purpose. They are not interchangeable. For example, if you want to learn about a broad subject, then you should study a textbook, not a Wikipedia (or other encyclopedia) article, and not a research paper. It is not about the quality of the information, as each of the above sources can be considered high quality sources of scientific information. Nor can it really be said that it is about the assumed level of knowledge of the reader. It is more subtle than that. A textbook comprehensively covers a subject in way that is specifically designed to teach a student about the subject and may include worked problems or problems to be solved. By contrast, research papers are about specific research topics, covering why the research is being done and the various experimental procedures and results of the research. The target audience may be interested in the particular research topic, or they may simply be interested in some particular aspect of the experimental procedure. For example, a chemist might only be interested in the procedure for synthesising a specific compound used in the research without any interest in the research topic itself. I think a scientist would consider themselves lucky if the entirety of their research papers makes it to a paragraph of a textbook. A Wikipedia (or other encyclopedia) article is in some sense intermediate between a textbook and a research paper, but not really a substitute for either. For specific topics, a Wikipedia article will provide more detail than a textbook but isn't organised in a way that facilitates learning for students. On the other hand, a Wikipedia article does not provide sufficient detail required by a researcher. For example, although Wikipedia does provide synthesis pathways for specific compounds, it doesn't provide specific procedures for each of the steps. Nor does it cover as many compounds as the chemical literature, focusing more on compounds of general interest rather than any compound that has ever been made (and published).

I was born in '84 and raised catholic in New Orleans.... the connecting thread of all of this "anti-establishmentism" in the US during my lifetime seems to be [though I may well be biased here between upbringing and geographic handicaps] the various collective of christian churches [particularly of note, the catholic, southern baptist, evangelical, and so-called nondenominational churches are likely most to blame here in america]. though I lost my faith as a child, I kept up with the church for a lot of reasons, most of them social. if something is not done with or through the churches here in the southeast, they vote to defund it so that only the churches and tax-dodger businesses can offer assistance with it. the only thing most locals ask me more than where I go [went] to church is my race/nationality [it's human/american, and yes I get asked this more than anything since I came here]. I am a third degree yadda yadda yadda and was quite visible in my parish as a volunteer for many years; from mowing lawns to handing out misselletes [church flyers]. friends who knew me from work or social interactions or even old school mates [my church life was quite separate from my secular one by design; the duality of me removing my tie out in the parking lot and lighting up a cannabis cigarette before leaving services {to complete MY sunday meditation, rest, and worship} would have been far too much for my fellow parishioners to handle] EVERYONE, was always perplexed by literally all of this, given my attendance to leftist causes and progressive political action and by the fact that I was a jovial, fun-loving service industry worker more or less known locally as a liberal, freespirited, longhaired bartender from New Orleans.... I guess people change. I made it to the pandemic. they had been calling Francis I "the socialist pope". they believed Obama was literally the antichrist.... [until after the election, of course] they celebrated white nationalism openly. they celebrated violence by sharing war videos during mass on their phones [yes, I speak of adults with school aged children, not the schoolchildren]. they hated the Latino parishioners unless they spoke english, then they were okay. they refused calls from the clergy to stop openly idolizing trump. then, they refused to mask. they refused vaccines. I got every vaccine [and maintain a great collection of face masks for every mood, outfit, and football playoff scenario!], but also COVID twice. I am a caretaker. she is more important than... them. then after losing my sense of taste and smell for almost three months [the second time], I finally had to admit something.... I knew I wasn't going to see these people ever again after I died [even if they were right about the faith], and I was very happy of this fact. then I realized I didn't want to see any of them half of every damned week anymore either. however.... I still remain a jovial, fun-loving service industry worker more or less known locally as a liberal, freespirited guy who could use a shave and a haircut by most local americans' standards. the fact of the matter is, america has not changed as much as we like to claim we ever have. the idea that the minority orthodox religions group who moved Britain to civil war in the 16th century, found themselves regulated by the [surviving] crown after it was over... only to claim unfair subjugation after their rebellious deeds had literally seen an overthrow of the government.... COMPLETELY explains modern america in a microcosm, for our part in this thread. for those who are lucky enough to not know, during the holiday of Thanksgiving here, we present a very fractured take on how the Plymouth Colony came to be; particularly those of us raised under a christian tradition [which, sadly, does permeate much of public education throughout the US]. giving credit to "the bad actors": russia's attendance as something of a "christian nation" [?] along with putin's inexplicable catholicism has led to american [and canadian] christian circles openly encouraging that governments like russia's are "more free" as they ban the openness of the LGBTQIA+ communities [which literally terrify christians, I do not remember a time when most white straight men around me didn't say things like "I don't hate gay men but they better not be doing any of that around ME!" as if whatever gay and/or trans people were doing in public was legitimately an open threat to passersby]; "promote christian values" [likely a nod to their Calvinistic beliefs that authoritarianism equates to freedom and godliness, and that no person can ever truly self-discipline]; and because such governments are openly fighting birth control in all its forms [which the vatican, for one, formally established opinions on around 60 years ago, give or take, so about as classically traditionalist as the Woodstock Music and Arts festival], "the feminism", and any other ideology or groups or people which promote healthy, happy childfree lifestyles [see also the minority in this forum who simply won't leave that idea alone]. also, I'll just say the word "racism" and go no farther, because that part of this is definitely present; yet its machinations [even here in america] are far more nuanced than I care to indulge at the moment; particularly as they pertain to the rest of the global community writ large. and of course the most to blame which, while not being specifically a policy of any church I know of, it is a policy championed by the only political party in the US that any church will cosign [every damned election]: austerity. as the veritable crocodilian christian pleas of "won't someone PLEASE think of the children!?" won't sway young atheists or agnostics [nor the apolitical]; since I was young, they have employed poverty as a weapon against all others as well. so now, they've even hijacked populist politics to take advantage of the most gullible among us, yet again. I never thought I would live to see the day where personal liberty, checks & balances, or sound economic philosophy has all been reduced to "ya know, the hollywood elites run all the banks too" or "only the richest men are honest enough to save us all!" or "oh no! now 'the liberals' are trying to [one of several things that international intelligence communities have warned for almost a decade that the russian and chinese governments have been attempting, what an amazing coincidence]". some of the only people I know who would have refused to vote republican refused to vote democratic this year as well; because their sole voting issue was healthcare, and true: the democrats in 2024 made not so much as a specific stated promise to even take a look at fixing medicare or medicaid; and certainly nothing to provide healthcare to the vast majority of americans who do not have it or gave up on privately funded do-nothing policies years ago. I have been my own doctor and dentist with few exceptions since the age of 18; and I owe more in medical debt than I do in student loans. god.... bless america. actually.... ya know what, I am lying. when I was talking to an analyst for the first time as a kid in the early 1990's, I told her: "I am concerned about the thread of anti-intellectualism in this country leading us to a point where people decry medicine and science as heresy against god; push bogus theories like flat earth concepts again; and move to elect a dangerous, ignorant bully as president because they equate popularity with experience and intellect." [I have nothing to gain here by lying, I did indeed say this all of this back then] so... yea, I guess I did always know this would happen, I.... just didn't think I would live to see it, I guess. oh, and in case anyone was wondering, she laughed and replied "you're just too young to understand how the world works." I hope she got vaccinated, COVID was way worse on NOLA's people than even The Storm in 2005 was.

I was just pointing and laughing...

There's a reason I just pointed and laughed at you... 😪 You can't possibly have any understanding of the reasoning behind this/any feeling/decision, unless you're one of them...