Drawing upon her rich experience of life, Prudence (Prudie to her friends) responds to questions about manners, personal relations, politics, and other subjects. Please send your questions for publication to prudence@slate.com. Queries should not exceed 200 words in length. Please indicate how you wish your letter to be signed, preferably including your location.
Hello Prudence,
I have discovered that a 34-year-old co-worker believes in creationism. With all the evidence pointing toward evolution, how can this person accept it? The co-worker's argument is that scientific evidence is not reliable because scientists usually change their position after new evidence is discovered. I have tried various arguments to convince this person but with no luck. How can I convince him/her otherwise? Thank you.
--Darwin
Dear Dar,
How can you convince this person? You can't, and you should stop feeling this is your job in life. Some people cannot be moved from some positions, and that's just the way it is. All scientific advance is done in small increments. The evidence for natural selection as the guiding force for the evolution of species has been accrued over the past 100 years and is compelling. Your co-worker does not understand scientific method and may belong to a religious group that has creationism as part of its credo. Prudie suggests you dismiss the inclination to educate your office mate--and please don't open up any discussions about the shape of the earth.
--Prudie, roundly
Hey Prudie,
Are your infrequent updates due to your contract, an inscrutable sense of timing, or a lack of good questions? I suppose the snarky answer would be "all of the above," but my real agenda is to see your Q's and A's more often, so I'll do my part and lob a plea for advice.
I still have a friendly (like best-friendly, soul mate, love of my life so far) relationship with a woman who is somewhat capricious with her address and my heart. We are no longer "together," but our relationship hasn't really changed except for no sex and that she's dating and I'm supposed to be. I know I should move past her, but no one I've ever met has had this effect on me, nor the rapport. Dating is a pain, and sex with strangers is iffy--not only because of HIV, but also I've been told that hepatitis C (spread in the same ways as HIV) will kill more people in 1999 than HIV.
