Imagine that you are on a rocket ship that might be headed into the sun. One of the leading scientists on board tells everyone that the ship is going to become trapped in the sun‘s gravitational pull within ten years. The scientist shows everyone a picture of the rocket ship’s trajectory into the sun. He uses evenly spaced dashes to denote flight path. There is also some hard math to go along with the pictures. After revealing this evidence, the scientist spends the next few years throwing up his arms in defeat and shouting, “Doomed! Doomed!” even at parties.

Now, let’s imagine that another leading scientist comes in and says, “Yeah. We might hit the sun, but we can avoid this tragedy by making a few simple lifestyle changes. Enacting these changes will give us enough fuel to get out of the sun’s gravitational pull. The important thing is not to worry.” (End ham-fisted metaphor.)

Which one of these scientists is more helpful? According to a couple of Michigan researchers, neither scientist is very helpful.

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