Wolfram Alpha !!!!
http://www.wolframalpha.com/
Great fun - watched the video - many new ways to create the illusion of knowing by rearranging data.....
Without detracting in the slightest from the genuine accomplishment of WA, I here repeat my concern that proper critical thinking skills must be taught and practiced. For example, does the average citizen differentiate causality from correlation from co-incidence? Too much psuedo-science popular press depends on the non-appreciation of the distinctions in order to make stories sensational. Check out my earlier post on the book by Berkeley Journalism Prof, entitled "American Carnival" - or better yet, use Wolfram Alpha to search the title!
How often does our culture encourage merely passing along a story without question or examination? How seldom do we underscore and reward reasoning skills. Just one evening of television drama should suffice to heighten concern for the cultural acceptance of non-sense. Personally, I have observed that the typical adult cannot discern metaphor from analogy, never mind simile or allegory, other than a dim recollection that maybe they heard about it in high school English.
Brings to mind a now out of print book, commended to me by a mentor researcher from Michigan, with a title confusingly similar to the Clemens attributed pithe: "Figures Don't Lie But Liars Figure."
Tools to assist in the perpetuation of critical thinking and reasoning are needed now more than ever.
If you know of games that assist in developing and strengthening these skills, please commend them to me.
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