No, We Don’t All Have a Basic Grasp of Science, But the Problem Lies Even Deeper
Actually, I never assumed that everyone, or even most people, had a basic grasp of science.
What has shocked me is how many people openly reject entire scientific disciplines that fly in the teeth of their political or religious beliefs.
When I was young, nuttiness like this was confined to minute and roundly discredited bits of society. Christian Scientists, for example, refuse medical treatment for disease, on the basis that their faith in Christ will heal them. Again, that was, and continues to be, a negligible part of our total population.
The problem is that now we have tens of millions of anti-vaxxers and climate deniers. We have the believers in the stolen election, and those who hold that education represents an overall harm to our children. And let’s not count out those who believe the stories in the bible are literally true, and that the Earth is 6000 years old, despite all the evidence that we’ve gathered from molecular biology, anthropology, archaeology, paleontology, etc.
I’m not asking that everyone read up on chemistry, physics, and biology, but it sure would be a blessing if the scientifically illiterate could somehow be prevented from ruining our civilization.
That bit about the earth being 6000 years old — along with probably the rest of the crap listed above — is actually being taught by “Professors” at a small “college(?)” in Salmon, Idaho.
I met one of the “graduates” — and she was admittedly totally brain-washed and was a “totally lost to reality” individual — created by her “professors”.
so as far as that pocket of idiocy, along with a lot of the people in that state — look no further.
That’s on place that is “growing this bunch — and when she got fired — she just “wandered off” somewhere.
This all boils down to “we are waht we are taught”, and if you want too find one of the sorces for that in Idaho — go to the college in Salmon – which happens to be a beautiful little town — but everyone I’ve ever interacted with over there while traveling through — is totally “somewhere else” as far as PLanet 1 reality” is concerned.