The public trusts scientists—but not their conclusions
arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com
And the remaining 16% thinks we are not better off because of electricity, medicine and buildings & bridges that don't collapse?
People who think science is optional in any society have not realized our entire lifestyle has been made possible by science.
The depressing thing is that people who believe in conspiracy theories are generally reasonably smart people, who have nuanced opinions on a lot of topics, and are often well educated. In order to believe in a conspiracy theory you have to have at least a passing understanding of whatever accepted truth it is you don't believe in. That puts those people leagues ahead of the ignorant-and-proud-of-it.
The atom bomb and global warming are peanuts compared to the upside of science. So there's no subtraction to be made.
PS: Granted this is looking at science as the basic theory building based on observation that let us learn how to grow food. And carve a better stick.
I don't disagree that science is a net win, but there's some chance that we will use science to extinct the human race or make the earth uninhabitable, in the long run.
PS: Killing off 99.5% of the world's population would be really hard, and there would still be more people alive than before science.
Obviously. Lets face it, the majority of kids don't actually think through and convince themselves of everything they are thought.
Partly because kids are like little fact sponges for facts that come from adult authority. And partly because they don't have to think to pass exams.
The earth goes around the sun. Sure thing Mr. Teacher, I can see the sun going around the earth but I still believe what ever you say. And that's not fake, that's really how it works most of the time. I'd guess only about 15% or less actually think it through.
But now in some regions, for some groups there are competing authorities and they say the earth is 6000 years old. Sure Mr. Preacher, what ever you say.
Fact is, public education is a mass product, a government provided mass product/service. It's crap. More often then not we get smart kids despite public school, not because of it. What public school does reasonably well is teach you the three Rs. You want anything more? Educate yourself.
Solutions:
1. Improve, and I mean really improve, public education in this union of states which covers most of a continent.
2. Do nothing. Wait for this strange modern day cult of anti-Darwinists to run its course and peter out.
3. Give them more rope to hang themselves. Radically shrink the size and role of the feds and increase the economic competition between the states.
Problems:
1. Extremely difficult will take centuries.
3. Counter to the strong natural tendency of governments to grow and grow and grow.
2. Requires no effort - is most likely scenario.
A humble suggestion. Stop trying to save the anto-evolutionists from themselves. Why not ignore these real life trolls? Please point out where they are doing real world damage that matters? And no, it hurts (their) kids is not something you can help with.
The problem is that it's not just their kids that it hurts. It affects the textbooks and lesson plans of schools across the state and country (especially since Texas more or less dictates what goes into high school textbooks).
If it only hurt their children, I would still be disturbed - I don't think children should be punished for the failings of their parents - but I would be less concerned about it. But it doesn't just hurt their children. It hurts everyone's children, and undermines the innovation economy that the USA has built. Our largest export is brains and ideas - we don't manufacture all that much in the USA anymore. We should be doing what we can to protect our most important resource - our education.
Only as long as Texas doesn't go too far out there and the parents in other states are not too involved with school.
If Texas really goes out on a limb, and you have parents in say Vermont very actively engaged with their kids' school, I bet we can finally split the market and get Texas & Co. off our backs.
And that is better for everyone (except kids in Texas) and also more likely then us being able to pull Texas towards reason.
If it only hurt their children, I would still be disturbed
Sure, but how can you help someone else's child? How could the government rescue children from their parents? I don't see any way in a non-creepy world.
And as far as America's innovative edge goes, the US or key parts of it, still produce amazing discoveries, and they do it with a lot of immigrants. It would be nice if we added more home grown brains, but that's all it would be: nice.
There are the "science gave us nukes and pollution" environmentalists, the medical anti-science types (vaccines -> autism, acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy), and some even weirder types.
I've had people express anti-scientific views to me while extolling the virtues of this product:
When 1 whack job PDH with 3 assistants and a new theory is given just as much air time if not more as what 100,000 PHD's think on the average story people can't tell what the trends really are. It's a breaking story when Bubba and his 6 month study of 50 people says soda might cause or prevent cancer, but it is old news by the time the results of a 10 year 50,000 people study disprove that link.
Similarly, pick up any recent scientific publication on climatology. Now, notice that there are no slogans. Instead, there are peer reviewed studies which present hypothesis, experiments, and conclusions. True science is not "political," and if you believe it is then you are simply the byproduct of the media. Scientists themselves say that the media doesn't cover science well -- so perhaps you shouldn't judge scientific opinions based on it?
There have been many scientists to have admitted that they have kept their mouth shut when they oppose the status quo for fear of losing jobs or failing to gain funding. The concept of "a few bad apples" is certainly not new.