When I Was Your Age, Pluto Was a Planet

The Facebook group "When I Was Your Age, Pluto Was a Planet" is really popular with more the 1,300,000 members and still growing since it's conception a year ago when Pluto was officially determined to not fill all the criteria of 'planet'.

I think this is such a popular group is because it really drives home a point about knowledge; especially scientific knowledge. In today's western society we justify everything with science. Stupid articles in "The Sun" quote 'scientific studies show..." and we beleive them because of science. And the whole science culture. Scientist beleive they hold the truest form of knowledge. Scientific studies are made to have as little confounding variables as possible. As if science were somehow devoid of values, politics and money. This rift in the secular age between what the public knows and what a specialist knows makes for a sort of technocratic empire on which the system depends.

But although we think the science that backs our policy is supposed to be objective, really how variables are defined and what we decide to study comes from arbitrary norms or personal preferences. Pluto was a planet because we said so.

Now it's not. We could have changed the definition of planet. But no, that would make too many planets. We could give some honorary recognition to the planet, but in a decade who will care. So now it's not a planet. This is history in the making. Now if your junk becomes antiques and is found by one of your great great grandson or granddaughter, it will be so foreign to them that your books say there are nine planets. How silly are we to believe in a 9th(!) planet? We called it Pluuuu-toh.

I think this really shakes up ppl's minds because we believe everything we learn in school. I dont recall learning what the definition of 'planet' was in school, and i never thought to look it up. Even if i did, it wouldn't give me the three required criteria of 'planet'. In fact my dictionary offers moon (a satellite) and celestial body (not very scientific) as definitions...

I have this vague recollection of CBC's "Quirks&Quarks" of talking about how it really isn't a planet when growing up. I suppose the scientific community has been thinking about this for a while and felt it really did mess up their discourse when having to refers to Pluto as planet. Thank GOD, it's now classified as dwarf planet, or else things would just be too confusing.

Learn more about Pluto.

Today's Lesson: Science doesn't mean true, just widely accepted.