# Do you correct a casual real life friend when she/he makes an agree just scientific error? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2018, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418 "2018-06-04T16:36:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/21 "2018-06-04T19:14:23Z")
Depends on what I think is going on. If someone’s just trying to score points, I’ve gotten a little bit better (not much, just a little) at internally rolling my eyes and shutting up. No percentage in beating my head against the wall, despite my instincts. If they’re asking a genuine question–like, they’ve heard this thing from creationists, and it puzzles them–then I might try to explain my understanding. “So, I think evolution doesn’t say that monkeys turned into humans the way that I turn into a wolf under the light of the full moon. It’s more like over thousands of years some primates had kids who looked more like chimpanzees, and other primates had kids who looked more like humans. Does that make sense?” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/22 "2018-06-04T19:15:15Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > The correct answer is because that’s what God wanted. Athena has no interest in the length of my grass. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/23 "2018-06-04T19:50:14Z")
After 31 years in education, I conclude that the proper place for correcting the scientific errors of others is in the classroom (or other educational setting) and the proper motivation for doing so is that it is your job to instruct that person. Casual social settings and getting a piss-shiver out of feeling superior are right out. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/24 "2018-06-04T19:56:27Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Athena has no interest in the length of my grass. Of course not; your grass is in Demeter’s portfolio. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/25 "2018-06-04T20:14:52Z")
So, he asked, and… what? You said “ah, you got me”? I would have answered the question on his level with the aim not to make him feel stupid at all. Though, the question kind of looks like creationist 101 refutation of evolution. If I answered and sensed creationist pushback I’d probably just “agree to disagree” and finish the conversation there. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/26 "2018-06-04T20:47:24Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > After 31 years in education, I conclude that the proper place for correcting the scientific errors of others is in the classroom (or other educational setting) and the proper motivation for doing so is that it is your job to instruct that person. Casual social settings and getting a piss-shiver out of feeling superior are right out. FWIW, I disagree. He asked a question and it deserves an honest answer. If he finds the answer unacceptable, so be it. But perhaps he really wants to discuss it in a serious way. Then you owe it to him to try to explain it perhaps oversimplifying it a bit. For example, in this case you could point out that apes were living in trees and went on doing so. But the ancestral hominins happened to live in part of Africa where the trees mostly disappeared and so were forced to adapt to a new environment. Which they did. Brilliantly. This is the kind of explanation that might start him thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/27 "2018-06-04T21:10:39Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Of course not; your grass is in Demeter’s portfolio. 🙂 Demeter does agriculture, not lawns. Your confusion on this issue exposes your essentially Elvish education. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/28 "2018-06-04T21:13:13Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > So, he asked, and… what? You said “ah, you got me”? > > I would have answered the question on his level with the aim not to make him feel stupid at all. Though, the question kind of looks like creationist 101 refutation of evolution. If I answered and sensed creationist pushback I’d probably just “agree to disagree” and finish the conversation there. No, I answered his question. I made an analogy between my cousins and myself, pointing out that we descend from the same grandparents, and explained that the human-monkey relationship is similar. I just didn’t pursue the issue very hard because I am not Jason’s School teacher or his daddy, just his friendly customer. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/29 "2018-06-04T21:16:12Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > No, I answered his question. I made an analogy between my cousins and myself, pointing out that we descend from the same grandparents, and explained that the human-monkey relationship is similar. I just didn’t pursue the issue very hard because I am not Jason’s School teacher or his daddy, just his friendly customer. I think in this particular circumstance there was good reason to try to educate this young man because of the use of evolution as a justification for racism. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/30 "2018-06-04T21:17:26Z")
He asked, so while you weren’t obligated to answer, you would have not been wrong to at least have given him the Evolution Cliff’s Notes. i.e. Evolution isn’t a straight line, but rather a path with many forks. Some successfully navigating the obstacles of survival and some heading to sinkholes and quicksand and the occasional lion’s den. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/31 "2018-06-04T21:55:05Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I think in this particular circumstance there was good reason to try to educate this young man because of the use of evolution as a justification for racism. To clarify, I meant the use of false concepts of evolution to justify racism. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/32 "2018-06-04T22:12:10Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > FWIW, I disagree. He asked a question and it deserves an honest answer. If he finds the answer unacceptable, so be it. But perhaps he really wants to discuss it in a serious way. Then you owe it to him to try to explain it perhaps oversimplifying it a bit. For example, in this case you could point out that apes were living in trees and went on doing so. But the ancestral hominins happened to live in part of Africa where the trees mostly disappeared and so were forced to adapt to a new environment. Which they did. Brilliantly. This is the kind of explanation that might start him thinking. Here’s something that you might not have considered: Generally, people fucking hate to be corrected. In an educational setting, they are conditioned to be more accepting of it from people who are their designated instructors. In social settings, one might correct another on something both factual and noncontroversial, like the atomic mass of Deuterium maybe, without it being an issue. Correcting another on a controversial topic, such as evolution in the OP, won’t change any minds but may well generate ill feeling. Don’t believe me? Look how well “correcting” each other works out on this board and we are, supposedly, smart. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/33 "2018-06-05T04:33:44Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Demeter does agriculture, not lawns. Your confusion on this issue exposes your essentially Elvish education. The Elves taught me that wheat is just a modified grass. That said, I’m sure that there’s a household god of lawns – Jondeere, or something like that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/34 "2018-06-05T04:39:44Z")
I rarely (if ever) let a error pass. If it’s an honest error, I will try to politely correct the person making the error. If it’s dishonest, or a “talking point,” I am not so polite. I once corrected my bosses’s wife - we were having a discussion about evolution, and she said, incredulously, “you believe that we are descended from apes?” My response was “Were you asleep in high school? Darwin never said we were descended from apes, just that we both had a common ancestor.” She was honestly flustered by that, since she had always been “taught” (probably by her church) that Evolution meant we were ape-spawn. I think I once lost an extremely sexy girlfriend when I scoffed at something she had picked up at a conference. The speaker had said that the absolute _worst_ thing that people consume was Nutrasweet. When she said that to me, I instantly responded with, “Oh, that’s ridiculous.” She asked me how I could say that, and I said “Think about it - there’s a HUGE experiment going on every day - millions upon millions of people consuming Nutrasweet, day in and day out. If it was _that bad_, you would see people dropping like files." ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/35 "2018-06-05T05:15:36Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Yesterday morning I was talking to the kid who cuts my lawn. “Jason” is about 22 and reasonably intelligent, though not currently possessed of a high school diploma; he is studying to get his equivalency diploma and aspires to eventually become an x-ray technician. We often shoot the shit on completely irrelevant topics; he seems genuinely interested in how I cope with my legal blindness, for instants, but we are just as likely to converse on hot actresses (a topic in which I could no longer hold my own). > > Yesterday, for no apparent reason, Jason inquired whether I believe in evolution. From habit, I replied that I provisionally accept the theory of evolution as the best explanation for the variety of species on Earth and that I believe humans evolved from earlier, non-extant primates. Jason replied to this in a fashion that would have gotten him excoriated on the dope: he said “If man evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?” > > I did not trouble myself to correct Jason’s ignorant remark. I just didn’t see any benefit to me in doing so. But it did seem to me that such a huge error in the thinking will not do him well in the career he aspires to. And I did wonder whether I was breaking the middle-aged-black-dude code in not correcting an error made by a Younger brother the way I might if he had, four instance, boasted about avoiding paying child support. NB: Jason has never done such a thing to my knowledge; that was just an example. > > And so I decided to start this thread. Thoughts? I fail to see how belief or lack thereof in evolution will have any bearing on the work that Jason will be doing as an X-ray tech. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/36 "2018-06-05T05:18:34Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > I fail to see how belief or lack thereof in evolution will have any bearing on the work that Jason will be doing as an X-ray tech. His ability to ever get certified for such a job depends on an ability to understand a simple concept like evolution and understanding why there are still monkeys. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/37 "2018-06-05T06:01:24Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Yesterday, for no apparent reason, Jason inquired whether I believe in evolution. From habit, I replied that I provisionally accept the theory of evolution as the best explanation for the variety of species on Earth and that I believe humans evolved from earlier, non-extant primates. Jason replied to this in a fashion that would have gotten him excoriated on the dope: he said “If man evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?” > > … > > And so I decided to start this thread. Thoughts? Nobody has ever asked me that question IRL, and my gut reaction would be to answer in a way that is specifically considered a bit rude on this message board, because my answer (to a person asking the monkey question) would be “You can’t have even bothered to Google that question”. To test my gut reaction, I just googled “If man evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?” - the entire first page of results was useful (in fact I had to wade through quite a few results pages to find anything that wasn’t useful) - so I’m fairly comfortable with “Google is your friend, if your question is genuine” Despite being formed as a question, the utterance is evidence of a severe lack of curiosity. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/38 "2018-06-05T06:51:32Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > I fail to see how belief or lack thereof in evolution will have any bearing on the work that Jason will be doing as an X-ray tech. Yes you sure do. How about his belief in floors, or his belief in electricity? There is no such thing as not believing in evolution. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/39 "2018-06-05T09:05:16Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Demeter does agriculture, not lawns. Your confusion on this issue exposes your essentially Elvish education. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The Elves taught me that wheat is just a modified grass. > > That said, I’m sure that there’s a household god of lawns – Jondeere, or something like that. 🙂 Careful, there, **kenobi**. You got off easy with the Elvish education line. Next, he’s liable to accuse you of coming from Etruscan stock. > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Yesterday morning I was talking to the kid who cuts my lawn. “Jason” is about 22 and reasonably intelligent, though not currently possessed of a high school diploma; he is studying to get his equivalency diploma and aspires to eventually become an x-ray technician. We often shoot the shit on completely irrelevant topics; he seems genuinely interested in how I cope with my legal blindness, for instants, but we are just as likely to converse on hot actresses (a topic in which I could no longer hold my own). > > Yesterday, for no apparent reason, Jason inquired whether I believe in evolution. From habit, I replied that I provisionally accept the theory of evolution as the best explanation for the variety of species on Earth and that I believe humans evolved from earlier, non-extant primates. Jason replied to this in a fashion that would have gotten him excoriated on the dope: he said “If man evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?” > > I did not trouble myself to correct Jason’s ignorant remark. I just didn’t see any benefit to me in doing so. But it did seem to me that such a huge error in the thinking will not do him well in the career he aspires to. And I did wonder whether I was breaking the middle-aged-black-dude code in not correcting an error made by a Younger brother the way I might if he had, four instance, boasted about avoiding paying child support. NB: Jason has never done such a thing to my knowledge; that was just an example. > > And so I decided to start this thread. Thoughts? ISTM that you missed out on an opportunity to inquire if you had lost him with the term “non-extant primates.” That needn’t have come across as excoriating, and would have been a suitable response to his query (rhetorical though it may have been). ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418/40 "2018-06-05T09:41:49Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Can we correct a causal straight dope acquaintance for letting an agree just error survive in the title? Or should we let it go?.. Did anyone else, upon reading this, recollect the time George W chastised the blind reporter for wearing sunglasses indoors? mmm [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-correct-a-casual-real-life-friend-when-she-he-makes-an-agree-just-scientific-error/815418.md?page=3)