On 03/18/2010 05:19 PM, Jed Rothwell wrote: > See: > > http://pewresearch.org/sciencequiz/ > > This was administered to 1,005 randomly sampled adults. The results are > pathetic.
Oh, I don't know -- keep in mind that the "random" sample is actually self selected. Have you ever consented to answer a phone survey? I haven't. I get too many junk calls, and anyone claiming to want to survey me gets pigeonholed as either a sales call in disguise or someone doing a "focus group" survey for a company, which is first cousin to an ad and something they should pay for, IMO. Consequently, I hang up on all alleged surveyors -- I don't have time to waste on drivel from Corporate America. The people who actually respond to these things either have time on their hands, or are members of a small minority who think it's a moral obligation to talk to everyone who calls them. But with all that said, there's still some interesting information in the results. Here are a couple things which struck me about them: First, check out the (only) three "life science" questions: What prevents heart attacks, what are stem cells, and do antibiotics kill viruses. On those three questions -- and *only* those three questions -- women scored better than men. Lasers and electrons, on the other hand, hold little interest among women, it appears. Second, look at the age groups. It appears that people start getting stupider after they turn fifty (urk!). I think that's strange -- the *only* question where 50-64 year old scored better than 30-49 year olds was the question about heart attacks. > > I'll bet it wouldn't be much better in Japan. Based on the technical > knowledge required to understand their mass media articles, I would say > the education gap between us and them is largely a myth. > > This was linked to from an article about the differences of opinion > between scientists and the general public regarding social issues, > science funding, liberal versus conservative politics, global warming > and other hot button issues. See: > > Public Praises Science; Scientists Fault Public, Media > > http://people-press.org/report/528/ > > These results do not surprise me. I am disappointed to see how many > scientists are unsure of evolution. My guess is the respondents > self-identified as "scientists" (that is people put themselves in this > category) and I wouldn't. Perhaps that is a "no true Scotsman logical > fallacy. > > The public's attitude toward science is important to cold fusion. It is > a depressing subject. As I see it, and as I think most scientists see > it, the public is a collection of ingrates. Scientists and engineers > keep inventing wonderful things that revolutionize life, such as > electricity, airplanes, antibiotics, computers, the Internet. The public > goes nuts at first and praises the inventors to the sky. Edison used to > be a hero and one of the most widely known Americans. Then a generation > later -- or more like a year later -- the public forgets how gratified > it was; takes the discovery for granted; and grouses about how expensive > research is and how scientists have done nothing for us lately. > > - Jed
