One adult American in five thinks the Sun revolves around the Earth

[cubby1223]

Originally posted by: Martin

...only 20 to 25 percent of Americans are "scientifically savvy and alert," he said in an interview. Most of the rest "don't have a clue."
...
Dr. Miller's data reveal some yawning gaps in basic knowledge. American adults in general do not understand what molecules are (other than that they are really small). Fewer than a third can identify DNA as a key to heredity. Only about 10 percent know what radiation is. One adult American in five thinks the Sun revolves around the Earth, an idea science had abandoned by the 17th century.

link

Change that to "One adult American in five thinks it's funny to screw with scientific studies."

Reminds me of those mandatory anonymous surveys from back in high school about drinking & drug use, and whatever else they had - we all just screwed around with the answers.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: 911paramedic
If I ever end up in a trial, I'm requiring an IQ test for the jury pool. I get to be judged by my "peers", right?

No good.
If the quality of people going into and coming out of college is any indication, there are WAY too many folks who are good at guessing on multiple-choice tests.

EDIT:
Also, I have to agree with Babbles. I was an electronics technician in the Navy and now work in the semiconductor field. From my perspective its kind of scary how ignorant people are about basic electrical theory and RF.
But then I think: "I managed to survive many years without knowing anything of electricity."

When my dad told me not to jab a fork in the outlet I listened to him. I didnt need a discussion of how electrons flow from point A to point B and how my body could act as a conductor if I wasnt careful.
I knew I would get zapped and that was enough.

But when I see people who hold the cell phone an inch away from their head or put those silly metal strips on the inside of them I get amused.

 

[Queasy]

Stupid Populations

Nope, I don't think this proves that the French are hopeless scientific illiterates:
Link to YouTube video reference

The video should be self-explanatory, but I'll point out that the question is (approximately) "Which object orbits the earth?" And the choices are: the moon, the sun, Mars, Venus.

Come on. More than 2/5s of the audience got the answer right!

BTW, I'm not (just) being snarky. This doesn't prove that the French are stupid any more than Jay Walking or an opinion poll showing that 1 in 5 Americans think that the sun orbits the earth proves that Americans are stupid. There are profound and depressing examples of human ignorance to be found all over the planet. (Even Europe!) But the simple fact is, as often repeated here, people are getting smarter.

Yep. Even Americans.

You see a lot of hand-wringing about how the US, driven by religious fundamentalism, is becoming increasingly scientifically illiterate. I wonder. We're shocked when we see that half of Americans don't believe in evolution, or that 20% of us are as clueless about how the solar system is set up as 56% of that French game-show audience. But the pertinent question is, what would those same polls have shown 25, 50, 100 years ago? And what will they show 25, 50, 100 years from now?

 

[Flyback]

Does it make a difference in their day-to-day living? Perhaps not. Or perhaps knowing a little more about the scientific world would humble people (or is that too naive?). Ignoring that, is it even asking a significant investment on their part? (These are very simpleton concepts to grasp. No one is suggesting that they understand the actual complicated processes or mathematics behind it; a rather layman understanding is what is being discussed.)

For thousands of years people have sought to understand our place in the cosmos and now, given the chance to know what others would have sacrificed so much to know, people shrug it off as nothing. That is their choice to make but it seems a little depressing that some lack an absolute sense of wonder about these things. Especially given the fact that millions of people invest their time and hopes into faith with things like The Secret, relying on hullabaloo and shying away from the nature of things. *shrug*

 

[Martin]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: Martin

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: Martin

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: Martin

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: KeithP

How does it compare to similar studies in other countries?

The purpose of studies like this is to try to drum up public support for increased spending on education. It is the academic equivalent of a guy standing by a freeway on/off ramp begging for money. They don't really care how we compare to other countries unless they can bend the data in such a way as to make our education system seem under funded.

-KeithP

Bingo. And fear, as the great motivator, sells. So the worst pessimistic illogic is used to justify their study and their funding. Note that the topic title is not 4 adult Americans in five know that the earth revolves around the sun. That's all you need to know that this whole thing is propaganda. Really good propaganda at that, as obviously none of the posters here is among that 20%, so we can feel both superior to and yet afraid of that ignorant unwashed barbarian horde both and at the same time, as we discuss what to do with them as though they were not humans, but animals. Ah, it's good stuff. If there was a study that said that 99% of adult Americans don't understand the psychological power of combining statistical manipulation with media sensationalism and pseudoscience with political agenda, I'm sure it wouldn't sell as well.

Ah yes, good old populist demagoguery. The ivory tower elitists are trying to subvert the volk with their "knowledge" and "edumacation" - after all reality has a well known liberal bias! The volk need not worry their little heads - they just have to put out babies, buy goods and cheer for their local team.

With attitudes like yours, is it any wonder that the US is one of least socially mobile developed countries?
http://cep.lse.ac.uk/about/new...nerationalMobility.pdf

How clueless can you be if you think that was my point? I was arguing against the fact that you're spreading typical "culture of fear" propaganda.
OMG one of your neighbors might be scientifically illiterate!! OMG a European study shows that Europeans are more socially mobile than Americans!! We've gotta do something NOW!!!!

I'm strongly against populism BTW, but nice try. Oh, and pessimism ain't liberal. Liberalism is practically defined by optimism and an emphasis on education. When you're being a fearmongering pessimist, you're not being a liberal, so your jab there was a pretty ironic display of your own scientific (political) illiteracy.

When you start throwing shit like "Culture of Fear" around, its pretty clear you have no coherent point to make and that you're just ranting mindlessly without making an ounce of sense. Deriding a culture of ignorance, stupidity and abysmally low expectations has nothing to with a "culture of fear", but being unable to actually defend it, you just try a nice strawman argument. Maybe you should try and call me a terrorist next, maybe that'll work. :roll:

But maybe you don't actually have a problem with stupidity - how else to explain your idiotic reactionary thinking (study written by europeans - bad, they hate the US!)? Asking someone to read something as simple as that is apparently too much...

I already demonstrated your own ignorance, straw men, and reactionary thinking, oh hypocrite. Nice tapdance though. :roll:

We have the educational system in place. If people won't learn despite all that, we can't make them. The good news is that 4 out of 5 do learn. The bad news is that people like yourselves are among that 1 out of 5, but just in a different category than not knowing that the earth revolves around the sun.

The venerable "I know you are, but what am I?" comeback - sorrry, picking up my words and throwing them back at me isn't all that impressive.

Let's face it, talk is cheap and you can list any number of noble plattitudes you supposedly believe in. But when push comes to shove, you and everone else in the "the people don't need extra knowledge" camp support views which keep people ignorant and malleable, decrease social mobility and keep society stratified.

And here you do it again, making up some position I don't hold, even though this entire conversation is in the nested quotes. I'm a strong supporter of education and have already said as much.
Speaking of education, yours must have missed that old saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. You can provide an education system but you can't make people learn it and actually believe in it without violating their basic rights. Get it?
Oh! and another! In polysci, they say that the easiest way to recognize an extremist is that an extremist will always attack as his enemy (ideological opposite) anyone who even so much as questions their extremist position. Yours is that you can't abide the fact that some people choose to hold false beliefs contrary to science, and despite public education. Sorry, man, that can't be fixed.

Of course you can get people more educated without violating their rights, unless your mind is so warped that you think that kids in places with higher social mobility are somehow being oppressed into education (tell me if that's the case, so I can stop replying). No, the question is one of subtle things like providing opportunities, emphasising education, having higher expectations etc.

But you're a libertarian that claims to value education, so tell me what you think of it. Who should pay for it? Who should have access for it? etc.

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: RelaxTheMind

Originally posted by: meltdown75
Ignorance is bliss. The dumber you are, the happier you are.

You must have never been to a ghetto or trailer park.

Hey, relax your mind already! You'll be happier.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: TallBill
The reason that a lot of people don't know about the science stuff is that they simply dont care. You can teach and teach, but you can't make someone care. When politicians start cutting science funds, the private industry takes over. Look at the multiple firms working on commercial space flight.

I just think about 2nd and 3rd world countries where education really is a problem. I've been to a place where people didn't know that it was bad to take a shit upstream from a drinking source.

Anyways, whoever wrote that you learn all of your life skills by kindergarten is dead wrong. You don't know squat about work ethic, or mission completition. You don't have writing skills or intelligent social interaction. You learn that all the way through college and beyond.

industry may take over, but industry also has to catch up by a LOT. spaceship one isn't exactly the space shuttle, ya know.