Science vs Lore (1/2)

NOTE: A lot of complaints on two issues that I want to address:

1. Big Bang
"The universe began with a giant explosion." First, this was not MY wording, it is from the NSF S&E survey of literacy, so there is nothing I can do to change it. "Explosion" was possibly used because "expansion" was tested to have a very low word recognition. "Explosion" can mean any sudden increase in volume or release of energy, or it can be narrowed to refer to only chemical reactions. The Big Bang can be called an explosion in the broad sense of a rapid expansion.

2. Witches.
Again, not my wording. Wicca is a religion/cult belief/tradition. Witches are magical beings who have mystical powers. Perhaps some people got the two mixed up, but I think the results are still fairly in line with belief in magical powers. Muslim, and many Christian groups strongly advocate a belief in the active demonic agency of witches. Note that witches are at the bottom of a long list of paranormal beliefs.

Despite great strides in our understanding, the average person still does not understand science in the facts or in the practice, and instead fills the void with pseudoscience. This reflects a worldview that values an emphasis on commonly accepted, traditional lore, and a general disinterest in the role of science and reason in our lives. Science is perceived by the media, government, and popular conciousness as something that happens to other people.

This is unacceptable. We need to find a way to reach out with reason to the unreasonable, with knowledge to the ignorant, or else we will be unprepared when the moment of crisis finally arrives. There has never been a more important time to value and respect science, technology and reason. Those who value science can not retreat into their academic towers. We are dependent on popular, political support for this effort, and we will never advance to the next stage without overwhelming public momentum. Outreach is essential, and it can start anywhere, and at any level.

I have a message and a challenge to all viewers. Do something to raise awareness of the role of science in our society, the importance of reason. Take it as a personal responsibility, or no-one will.

Figures are mostly from the 2008 NSF Report on Science and Engineering Indicators. I highly recommend this site.
"As the scientific and technical content of modern life grows, citizens increasingly need to be more scientifically literate to make sound public policy and personal choices."
http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind08/start.htm

Chapter 7, Public Knowledge
http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind08/c7/c7s2.htm

AAAS
http://www.aaas.org/
NSF
http://www.nsf.gov/
Union of Concerned Scientists
http://www.ucsusa.org/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Science
• literacy
• public
• knowledge
• lore
• scripture
• politics
• media
• popular
• global
• warming
• disease
• cancer

[TrevorBlack79]

But...the big bang WASN'T an explosion. I would have gotten that one "wrong," assuming it to be a trick question. It's merely worded improperly. The big bang was an expansion, not an explosion.

[C0nc0rdance]

@TrevorBlack79

It's mostly a matter of semantics. Explosion has a lot of connotations that expansion doesn't, but both correctly describe what we think happened:

Explosion: A rapid or sudden increase in amount or extent

Expansion: The action of becoming larger or more extensive

I think the scientists involved were looking for a word that people could conceptualize better. Unfortunately, I agree that it could skew the results.

[LarsJanZeeuw]

6:18

Mr C0nc0rdance: “...and they [ignorant people] control the media...”

Mr. C0nc0rdance,

as much as I enjoy your videos, I think that that is a rather stupid statement; because that is the same (pseudo-)argument that ignorant people use.

[C0nc0rdance]

@LarsJanZeeuw

Not "ignorant', but the 90% of people who rank lore as equal to science; non-skeptics. People like Oprah, Dr. Oz, and Deepak Chopra get more air time than Carl Sagan ever did. That's because most people don't differentiate between evidence based medicine and a series of anecdotes and plausible-sounding technical jargon.

Witness the proliferation of shows on ghost hunting, psychics, UFOs or religious miracles.

[Xeonophon]

I have a degree in biomedical science but I didn't know how long it takes the moon to orbit the sun. Im ashamed of myself.

[C0nc0rdance]

@Xeonophon

The moon doesn't orbit the sun, it orbits the Earth, and it does so about every 27.3 days. Hey, you can check out some great videos here on YouTube about basic astrophysics and correct this deficiency right now!

[nactan]

personally, i think one's attitude towards authentic knowledge & understanding matters more than how much trivia you've got memorized, especially in an age where wikipedia is a click away. (also, if you got an answer wrong, google: khan academy)

[a575981735977018]

The big bang theory does not say that the universe BEGAN with an explosion. The theory just says that the universe once was in an extremely dense state that expanded. How this extremely dense state got to be is unknown.

The universe could have begun with a quantum leap to that state, and a quantum leap is not an explosion.

[fdasherv]

Wow! I'm much smarter than I thought. Paging Drs. Dunning and Kruger.

[adafuns]

@wilfredthebold 5% of Americans don't believe in surveys?

[wilfredthebold]

A Gallup poll in 2005 showed that 37% of Americans believe in haunted houses, while only 32% believe in ghosts.

How does that work?

[Kuymal]

Throughout history, most people were illiterate. Most people live w/o needing to know geography and forget it along with "who ruled England in 1776?" Sherlock Holmes does more to show deduction and analysis has importance than the average History class memorizing lists of names and dates. Science is often suborned to politics and so is distrusted. Make it meaningful, interesting and practical and people will learn it.

[ShawnsterVideos]

It's nice to watch your vids, Con. So many charlatans doing pseudo-science in their own office, makes for dreadful viewing here. Your stuff, is not dreadful.

Simply asking for 3rd party verification, and double blind experimentation gets me labeled a "bigot" when I refuse to buy into a YouTuber's vids or a book of his personal telekinesis vids.

[M4dM4rx]

I'm pretty sure that europeans misundertood the word astrology as the science of the celestial objects. Maybe because astrology is most seen through horoscope and not through the actual practice of it.

I can't relate to those numbers from my personal experience.

Magasines tend to use horoscopes as a page filler more than a true service in my opinion. It's entertainement though it happens that some people believe really hard in it, usually afterward, which makes it somewhat laughable to others.

[TheDigitalStone]

@TrevorBlack79 It was a extreme rapid expansion... which is the definition of an explosion.

[amberview30]

I know you have your disqualifiers, but I would have probably answered false on the explosion for the big bang. I would have thought of it as the expansion and thought it was a trick question. :-)