Scientific Illiteracy
There has been some buzz on the Internet about a debate...no that isn't the right word. Neither is discussion because that implies civility. Let's just say there has been a 'back and forth' between the rapper B.o.B and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson over whether or not the earth is flat. B.o.B. claims that it is. Tyson says it isn't.
Tyson is correct.
It is distressing to see anyone still professing the world is flat. Though I have to admit that I know people who might think so. This particular page in the flat-earth debate (who would have believed it would even be a debate any longer) points to the fact that there are plenty of people who are scientifically illiterate.
Yet we reveled in that illiteracy for years by denying global warming or that smoking has negative effects on the body. Like, you know, death. I am sure that at some point persons like Tyson and the EPA want to throw their hands up and say, "Fine. Live in your flat-earth poisoned Flint River carbon poisoned air. See if we care." But they can't say that because they do care. They do care because the illiteracy makes people say things that are just wrong.
Granted, sometimes they choose to say things that are wrong, opting to simply not believe things that are scientifically sound. Somehow dismissing them implies that they aren't true. Global warming, the poison in the water in Flint, and the fact that the earth is spherical are true whether you believe it or not. So is gravity.
So does this mean that our educational system is failing? Well, that may be a whole other debate. I don't know that it is the educational system that is failing so much as it is our desire to learn. Being willing to take information that may or may not conform to your particular beliefs is critical as is being skeptical.
So you don't believe the earth is round? Study up. Then make an informed decision. With more and better data one's opinion develops - it even changes.
If, on the other hand, you seek to deny the information then you can still be president, but you are an ill-informed one that makes poor decisions based on science scoffing. You can enjoy 70 degree weather in February and spring-like conditions for Christmas. And when it starts to fall apart and super storms hit with increasing frequency, then you can wonder how the water rushed in from the edge of the flat world.
Tyson is correct.
It is distressing to see anyone still professing the world is flat. Though I have to admit that I know people who might think so. This particular page in the flat-earth debate (who would have believed it would even be a debate any longer) points to the fact that there are plenty of people who are scientifically illiterate.
Yet we reveled in that illiteracy for years by denying global warming or that smoking has negative effects on the body. Like, you know, death. I am sure that at some point persons like Tyson and the EPA want to throw their hands up and say, "Fine. Live in your flat-earth poisoned Flint River carbon poisoned air. See if we care." But they can't say that because they do care. They do care because the illiteracy makes people say things that are just wrong.
Granted, sometimes they choose to say things that are wrong, opting to simply not believe things that are scientifically sound. Somehow dismissing them implies that they aren't true. Global warming, the poison in the water in Flint, and the fact that the earth is spherical are true whether you believe it or not. So is gravity.
So does this mean that our educational system is failing? Well, that may be a whole other debate. I don't know that it is the educational system that is failing so much as it is our desire to learn. Being willing to take information that may or may not conform to your particular beliefs is critical as is being skeptical.
So you don't believe the earth is round? Study up. Then make an informed decision. With more and better data one's opinion develops - it even changes.
If, on the other hand, you seek to deny the information then you can still be president, but you are an ill-informed one that makes poor decisions based on science scoffing. You can enjoy 70 degree weather in February and spring-like conditions for Christmas. And when it starts to fall apart and super storms hit with increasing frequency, then you can wonder how the water rushed in from the edge of the flat world.
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