Science Illiteracy
"roth.hank" <[email protected]> Thu, 21 Oct 2010 18:39:47 -0000
| Newsgroups | gmane.politics.progressive.news |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
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(posted by Hank Roth)
John D. Croft quotes:
[...]
Scientific illiteracy is huge and it is clearly spreading!
See "Unscientific America: How scientific illiteracy threatens our future" =
by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirschenbaum.
For every five hours of cable news, less than a minute is devoted to scienc=
e, compared to much more on "celebrity and entertainment", "natrural disast=
ers" and "crime"; 46 percent of Americans reject evolution and think the Ea=
rth is less than 10,000 years old; the number of newspapers with weekly sci=
ence sections has shrunken by two-thirds over the past several decades. The=
public is polarized over climate change-an issue where political party aff=
iliation determines one's view of reality-and in dangerous retreat from chi=
ldhood vaccinations. Meanwhile, only 18 percent of Americans have even met =
a scientist to begin with; more than half can't name a living scientist rol=
e model, top scientists listed by those polled "were Bill Gates, Al Gore, a=
nd Albert Einstein, people who are either not scientists or not alive.".
For this dismaying situation, Mooney and Kirshenbaum don't let anyone off t=
he hook. They highlight the anti-intellectual tendencies of the American pu=
blic (and particularly the politicians and journalists who are supposed to =
serve it), but also challenge the scientists themselves, who despite the be=
st of intentions have often failed to communicate about their work effectiv=
ely to a broad public-and so have ceded their critical place in the public =
sphere to religious and commercial propagandists. There is a huge degree of=
disconnection between the scientific community and other influential commu=
nities in American society, in which infotainment is a major culprit. The U=
S populace seems to ignore scientific advances and remain ignorant of scien=
tific principles. The USA is beginning to fall behind India and China as th=
e scientific leaders of the 21st century. This gap between what true scienc=
e is showing (as distinct from the pseudosciences seem on this forum of IDi=
ocy and climate change denial) has become self reinforcing. The anti-intell=
ectualism of your leaders (like Sarah Palin) is a frightening development. =
80% of Americans cannot read or understand the New York Times science secti=
on. Only half of the population of USA knows the Earth orbits the sun once =
per year!
John
See more at http://www.amazon.com/tag/science/forum/
ref=3Dcm_cd_ttp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=3DUTF8&cdForum=3DFxZ58KVEERYS5E&cdThrea=
d=3D
Tx257G9FR0R1B9U&displayType=3DtagsDetail)
from Science forum on Amazon:
"Why are people here so scientifically illiterate?"
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<p>(posted by Hank Roth)<br>
John D. Croft quotes:<br>
<br>
[...]<br>
<br>
Scientific illiteracy is huge and it is clearly spreading!<br>
<br>
See "Unscientific America: How scientific illiteracy threatens our future" by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirschenbaum.<br>
<br>
For every five hours of cable news, less than a minute is devoted to science, compared to much more on "celebrity and entertainment", "natrural disasters" and "crime"; 46 percent of Americans reject evolution and think the Earth is less than 10,000 years old; the number of newspapers with weekly science sections has shrunken by two-thirds over the past several decades. The public is polarized over climate change-an issue where political party affiliation determines one's view of reality-and in dangerous retreat from childhood vaccinations. Meanwhile, only 18 percent of Americans have even met a scientist to begin with; more than half can't name a living scientist role model, top scientists listed by those polled "were Bill Gates, Al Gore, and Albert Einst
ein, people who are either not scientists or not alive.".<br>
<br>
For this dismaying situation, Mooney and Kirshenbaum don't let anyone off the hook. They highlight the anti-intellectual tendencies of the American public (and particularly the politicians and journalists who are supposed to serve it), but also challenge the scientists themselves, who despite the best of intentions have often failed to communicate about their work effectively to a broad public-and so have ceded their critical place in the public sphere to religious and commercial propagandists. There is a huge degree of disconnection between the scientific community and other influential communities in American society, in which infotainment is a major culprit. The US populace seems to ignore scientific advances and remain ignorant of scientific principles. The USA is beginning to fall beh
ind India and China as the scientific leaders of the 21st century. This gap between what true science is showing (as distinct from the pseudosciences seem on this forum of IDiocy and climate change denial) has become self reinforcing. The anti-intellectualism of your leaders (like Sarah Palin) is a frightening development. 80% of Americans cannot read or understand the New York Times science section. Only half of the population of USA knows the Earth orbits the sun once per year!<br>
<br>
John<br>
<br>
See more at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/tag/science/forum/">http://www.amazon.com/tag/science/forum/</a><br>
ref=cm_cd_ttp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=FxZ58KVEERYS5E&cdThread=<br>
Tx257G9FR0R1B9U&displayType=tagsDetail)<br>
<br>
from Science forum on Amazon:<br>
"Why are people here so scientifically illiterate?"<br>
<br>
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