2013-08-24, 04:46 | Link #30221 | |
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Join Date: Jan 2009
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The politicization of science and the resurgence of fundamentalist interpretations of religion seem an unsatisfactory explanation of this phenomenon to me. Especially since it occurs simultaneously in different developed countries. I'm more tempted to blame the fragmentation and dumbing down of mass media content. It's still the primary source of information for the general public. Sumeragi also touched upon another point; everyone is an expert on everything. We are capable of creating our own reality bubble around ourselves and we can keep it alive by selective consumption of information. The internet in particular is great place for crackpots to meet and enforce their own beliefs. I encounter it frequently in my line of work. Outdated economic concepts never seem to remain dead for long, even if disproved centuries ago. To waylay the same misconceptions regularly get's old pretty fast. Last edited by Bri; 2013-08-24 at 05:24. Reason: grammar |
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2013-08-24, 05:08 | Link #30222 | |
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: قلوب المؤمنين
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2013-08-24, 05:49 | Link #30223 | |||
Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 38
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This isn't to say that things are too complicated for the public to understand. It makes things more difficult for teachers to explain, though. And we're reaching depths where the general public may not care or appreciate the knowledge gained. Quote:
According to some psychological development theory, most people don't develop the ability to do this. Developmental theory aside, I suspect the education system is also partly to blame. We've all written reports that had to be backed by book sources, so be honest: when did you ever read the source before taking a stance to write about? Maybe the schools and universities that I went through were unique, or maybe the things I saw were skewed, but based on how the vast majority of people behave I'm going to guess that everyone will nod in agreement with this: you chose your argument, and then went hunting for sources that backed it up. If you came across dissenting sources, you either ignored them or included them in your report simply to put them down. That mirrors what I see many people doing today.
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2013-08-24, 06:31 | Link #30224 | |
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Dai Korai Teikoku
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2013-08-24, 06:56 | Link #30225 |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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Bank intern's death raises questions over workaholic race to wealth
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...97K11V20130821 Ukraine leader ignores Putin warning on EU path http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...97N05P20130824
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2013-08-24, 07:33 | Link #30226 | ||
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Join Date: Jan 2009
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We have plenty of media outlets that keep us informed of every little detail that happens on the financial markets, but scientific discoveries that could have far greater impact on our lives in the near future often end up in the back sections of quality papers. In my opinion popular science is not as mainstream as it once was. Quote:
Another problem is that the population lacks the mathematical literacy (or even basic numerical skills like reading graphs or understanding percentages) to check most scientific source material and are therefore vulnerable to opinions of self-proclaimed experts. |
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2013-08-24, 08:10 | Link #30231 | |
Absolute Haruhist!
Artist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Age: 37
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What Mythbusters is educating is something more important than knowing science itself. It is teaching people the scientific method, searching for evidence to back up anything no matter how weird or mundane the claim is. In fact Mythbusters is way more efficient at spreading scientific literacy than pure science documentaries that throw facts at the audience, which I also support, but it requires the audience to already be scientifically literate to a certain extent. Its really insulting to see Mythbusters grouped together with Ancient Aliens, where one is based on thorough experimentation and evidence based skeptical reasoning while the other is made up of people who claim to be scientists. If Mythbusters didn't exist, the amount of scientifically illiterate people would be much more than it is now.
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Last edited by C.A.; 2013-08-24 at 08:37. |
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2013-08-24, 09:05 | Link #30232 | |
(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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1. The media does a poor job of explaining everything. In America especially, "news" is heavily driven by talking head, personality driven, repetitive talking point drivel. You can thank the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine for a lot of this. The massive deregulation of telecoms has played a big part too, removing a lot of competition and corporatizing a lot of media. 2. There's nothing for society to rally around as a big science moment. The last time this happened was the space race, and two huge pop culture moments: Star Trek and Star Wars. Then the 80's and 90's happened. Science became less about the big stuff and more about the little stuff, and much of that little stuff was pushed by companies as "it's so amazing, even stupid people can use it", as well as the disposable generation "don't bother fixing it, just go get a new one". There's also some interesting psychology that people have. For example, once settled on a position, for example "global warming is a hoax", it becomes more difficult for someone of the opposite mindset to convince them otherwise. In fact, the more facts and evidence used to support your point, the more likely the other side will dig in and cling to what they feel is "right" - even if they have to distort evidence and logic to do it. Notice the amount of historical revisionism that occurs today, for example. So in essence, logical, reasoned, fact based arguments can actually backfire and make attempts to bridge differences of thought worse. Many of you have seen this phenomena even on these very forums. That said, I'm a firm believer in silent majorities. People do eventually put their foot down, deal with their fuck ups, and get the progress train back up and running. That's why things like this give me hope:
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2013-08-24, 09:21 | Link #30233 |
Absolute Haruhist!
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Age: 37
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Dr Tyson being one of the greatest inspirations of my life, he is the exact reason why I am talking about scientific literacy.
He believes that children are inherently curious, born scientists, they are not the problem of society. Instead the adults are the problem, they force children to do things that they are not interested in, the education system crushes out their curiosity, social conformity forces people to grow away from the scientific thinking and questioning. Being scientifically literate is to be able to reason before accepting anything as fact, questioning something before doing it. Society is losing this sort of skepticism and critical thinking. Alot of documentaries throw in lots of beautiful images but with scientists that speak jargon that doesn't engage. What Carl Sagan did in the 70's to Neil DeGrasse Tyson and many other would be scientists is that he was able to engage and invoke their curiosity and wonder. Mythbusters is doing the same thing and may even be much more effective because it has entertaining hosts and content. Dr. Tyson is a very intelligent and charismatic personality, he can definitely make the new Cosmos both educational and entertaining. But more importantly he is cunning, in his own words, he knows that FOX has the adult audience that he should be targeting, the very problem of scientific literacy.
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Last edited by C.A.; 2013-08-24 at 09:33. |
2013-08-24, 09:30 | Link #30234 | |
We're Back
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Location: Redgrave City
Age: 35
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2013-08-24, 09:32 | Link #30235 |
(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2006
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The sad part is that there are scientists who think people like Neil are "dumbing down" science by using layman's language. There is definitely some ivory tower attitudes out there. I met a number of them during college, unfortunately. I love science, but the scientific community can be equally as full of problem children and idiots as any other group.
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2013-08-24, 09:38 | Link #30236 | |
NYAAAAHAAANNNNN~
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 35
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Until they get the A. Then the science students to offer the arts people tuition in Math.
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2013-08-24, 09:43 | Link #30237 |
Absolute Haruhist!
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Age: 37
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At the time of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, ivory towers are definitely a big problem as he was heavily criticised. But he still managed to create a whole generation of people interested in science and there are now more science documentaries than ever before. Arrogance in the scientific community is less now but maybe its also needed so that we can be sure that there are scientists who are serious about their job.
And because of that I am actually quite surprised that scientific literacy seem to have decreased. Especially since I've been subscribed to dozens of great science channels on youtube that provides me with science and mathematics across all spectrums, it seemed to me that science is definitely getting very popular with most of these channels having millions of subscribers.
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2013-08-24, 09:52 | Link #30238 | |
I disagree with you all.
Join Date: Dec 2005
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2013-08-24, 09:59 | Link #30239 |
Absolute Haruhist!
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Age: 37
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lol Richard Feynman is another scientific badass.
But yea, Mythbusters are now recognised by the science committee and has got several papers published that cite their findings. They even helped NASA solve several aeronautical problems where they couldn't come up with an experiment cheap enough to work, namely how ice can form on wings and how much damage the ice chunks will cause when they hit ground. EDIT: Oh and Jamie and Adam now carry honorary doctorates, they are officially mad scientists.
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2013-08-24, 10:03 | Link #30240 |
Megane girl fan
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Diagonally parked in a parallel universe.
Age: 55
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Ah the heady days when Cosmos, one of the best shows ever, had me glued to the TV. That show, and the emergence of the Space Shuttle did wonders to pique my curiosity in science. I spent a lot of time learning everything I could about Astronomy. Nowadays, it's various websites that keep me informed.
Endless "Inspired" Soul
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