Obama's third point — 'Facts, evidence, reason, logic, an understanding of science — these are good things' — drew massive applause even before he arrived at the punchline. He noted that America's founders were 'born of the Enlightenment' and 'sought to escape superstition, and sectarianism, and tribalism.' The same rational spirit had informed Edison, the Wright Brothers, George Washington Carver, Grace Hopper, and Steve Jobs. Then he diagnosed the paradox of the information age: 'We have access to more information than at any time in human history, at a touch of a button. But, ironically, the flood of information hasn't made us more discerning of the truth. In some ways, it's just made us more confident in our ignorance.' He mocked a senator who had brought a snowball to the Senate floor as 'proof' that climate change wasn't real: 'Imagine if your 5th grade science teacher had seen that. He'd get a D. And he's a senator!'