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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 04/30/2002 : 08:36:05
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Did you realize that a poll showed that some half of those spoken to didn't know that the earth orbited the Sun? I didn't and wonder where the poll was taken. None the less, science has an uphill fight.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/30/science/30ESSA.html
f
"He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice."
- Albert Einstein
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Lars_H
SFN Regular
Germany
630 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2002 : 09:54:26 [Permalink]
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quote:
Did you realize that a poll showed that some half of those spoken to didn't know that the earth orbited the Sun? I didn't and wonder where the poll was taken. None the less, science has an uphill fight.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/30/science/30ESSA.html
f
"He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice."
- Albert Einstein
Actually if he is referring this years NSF's 'Indicator' report he is misstated it.
The relevant portion of the most current poll can be found here.
More then 70% knew that the Earth goes around the Sun and about half knew that it takes a year to do so. Not very good results if you consider that they only had two options to choose from and, that people not knowing the correct answer had a 50% chance of guessing it right.
True from that we can conclude safely that lmore then 50% of those polled either gave wrong answers on purpose or did infact not know that 'the earth orbits the sun' AND 'That it takes Earth one year to go around the Sun'. So this is not a lie:
quote:
But at least half of Americans polled in a recent survey by the National Science Foundation did not know that Earth orbits the Sun, and that it takes a year to do so.
But the way he phrases it makes it appear, as if there had been one single question that had been answered wrong by the majority and not the combined results of two questions. This two is either intentionally misleading or the result of scientific illiteracy.
Another interesting tidbit from the poll: (the percentage are those that answered correctly)
quote:
Earth takes one year to go around the Sun (66 percent of men compared with 42 percent of women).
Earth goes around the Sun and not vice versa (86 percent of men compared with 66 percent of women).
Edited by - Lars_H on 04/30/2002 09:56:55 |
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2002 : 10:19:46 [Permalink]
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quote:
Earth takes one year to go around the Sun (66 percent of men compared with 42 percent of women).
Earth goes around the Sun and not vice versa (86 percent of men compared with 66 percent of women).
How much of this ignorance is religiously motivated? Are the 14 and 34% of those biblical literalists? Was there any data relating this 'knowledge' to the question. That is something I'd like to know.
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...no one has ever found a 4.5 billion year old stone artifact (at the right geological stratum) with the words "Made by God."
No Sense of Obligation by Matt Young |
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@tomic
Administrator
USA
4607 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2002 : 10:30:48 [Permalink]
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Sadly, I run into this ignorance almost daily. I don't think you can just wag the finger at religious fundamentalism but I do question why so many have high school diplomas. I would think a high school diploma is an indication that you know the answers to simple 6th grade stuff like this.
@tomic
Gravity, not just a good idea...it's the law! |
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2002 : 11:06:40 [Permalink]
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quote:
Sadly, I run into this ignorance almost daily. I don't think you can just wag the finger at religious fundamentalism but I do question why so many have high school diplomas. I would think a high school diploma is an indication that you know the answers to simple 6th grade stuff like this.
I'm not (at least I don't think), I'd just like to know if there is a correllation between the two. Simply because a teacher tells you something, doesn't mean you have to believe that something, especially if your parents are telling you something else. Well, then throw the authority of mom and dad against the teacher and have mom and dad backed by the preacher.... See, just wondering....
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...no one has ever found a 4.5 billion year old stone artifact (at the right geological stratum) with the words "Made by God."
No Sense of Obligation by Matt Young |
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Lars_H
SFN Regular
Germany
630 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2002 : 11:22:36 [Permalink]
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quote:
I'm not (at least I don't think), I'd just like to know if there is a correllation between the two. Simply because a teacher tells you something, doesn't mean you have to believe that something, especially if your parents are telling you something else. Well, then throw the authority of mom and dad against the teacher and have mom and dad backed by the preacher.... See, just wondering....
I don't think that at least in case of this poll there are religious teachings responsible for the result. Just ignorance of basic facts.
I don't think I have ever even heared of a religious group advocating geocentrism in the recent past.
Of course we should not jump to conclusions about the motivations of those men and women. They might not even all be uneducated fools. There might geniuses among them who just like Sherlock Holmes just did not consider the Copernican Theory worth wasting memory on, considering astronomy irrelevant for their life and profession. Who knows?
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@tomic
Administrator
USA
4607 Posts |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5311 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2002 : 12:44:06 [Permalink]
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I don't think that is so odd, when you see how colleges are turning out people that don't know how to spell, much less high schools.
"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn |
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Boron10
Religion Moderator
USA
1266 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2002 : 14:43:52 [Permalink]
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Wait a minute! The Earth doesn't take a year to orbit the Sun. It takes a very small bit longer, eh? Maybe some of those people were overestimating the question.
Hmmm.... Then again, maybe there really are that many ignorant people out there.
-me. |
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Lars_H
SFN Regular
Germany
630 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2002 : 17:25:11 [Permalink]
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quote:
Wait a minute! The Earth doesn't take a year to orbit the Sun. It takes a very small bit longer, eh? Maybe some of those people were overestimating the question.
I always thought that once around the Sun was the definition of a solar year. 365 Days a Year plus 97 leap days in 4 centuries makes the average calendar Year extremely close to the actual duration of a solar year. Even I am not enough of a nitpick to care about the rest.
If somebody answered 'no' because he thought of sidereal years instead, he was rightfully counted among the ignorant. The only frame of reference given in the question is 'around the Sun' and the only duration is 'a Year'. Nobody said anything about the rest of the Universe and what kind of year (calendar/solar/sidereal) was meant.
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2002 : 18:16:10 [Permalink]
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Depressing, isn't it?
And it's a sad commentary on our society that so much, perhaps not ignorance, but a lack of curosity is so wide spread.
It seems that, against all logic and proven fact, all too many of us would rather take in the crap spread by the popular media than try and find the facts. All too many of us find thinking stressful.
Which is why Creation Science, UFOs and Miss Cleo have enjoyed such popularity and prosperity.
I fear for the future of my species.
f
"He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice."
- Albert Einstein
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Slater
SFN Regular
USA
1668 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2002 : 19:31:34 [Permalink]
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quote:
Wait a minute! The Earth doesn't take a year to orbit the Sun.
Here take this paper towel, you've got a little egg on your face.
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My business is to teach my aspirations to conform themselves to fact, not to try and make facts harmonize with my aspirations. ---Thomas Henry Huxley, 1860 |
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Badger
Skeptic Friend
Canada
257 Posts |
Posted - 04/30/2002 : 21:54:06 [Permalink]
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I'm sitting here chuckling because we're still the "most evolved" oganisms on the face of the earth.
Seriously, though, I'm really glad to be here amongst a group of people who expect MORE out of the human race.
The results of the poll don't really surprise me, but the general perspective of our culture is that we expect to be smarter than we (as a whole) really are. It gives me hope.
Ya, we're pretty stupid, as a general population, but at least the witch burning has subsided....
If you think it's work, you're doing it wrong. |
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Boron10
Religion Moderator
USA
1266 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2002 : 00:19:56 [Permalink]
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Damnit, y'all know I was referring to 365 da.... Thanks for the towel, Slater.
-me. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2002 : 06:49:56 [Permalink]
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"I'm sitting here chuckling because we're still the "most evolved" oganisms on the face of the earth."
I too, chuckle. But are we really the most "evolved" species, I wonder? It seems to me that sapience has yet to prove itself to have a long-term survival value. Our species has been around for less than a blink of the cosmic eye while creatures such as crocodiles and cockroachs saw the dinosaurs come and go. The coelacanth and sharks still thrive while many other more 'evolved' animals have passed into fossil history. Will our 'evolution' ultimantly lead to our extinction?
Just a thought (yeah, I know. I got to be careful with that).
f
"He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice."
- Albert Einstein
Edited by - filthy on 05/01/2002 06:52:37 |
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Lars_H
SFN Regular
Germany
630 Posts |
Posted - 05/01/2002 : 07:49:17 [Permalink]
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quote:
"I'm sitting here chuckling because we're still the "most evolved" oganisms on the face of the earth."
I too, chuckle. But are we really the most "evolved" species, I wonder? It seems to me that sapience has yet to prove itself to have a long-term survival value. Our species has been around for less than a blink of the cosmic eye while creatures such as crocodiles and cockroachs saw the dinosaurs come and go. The coelacanth and sharks still thrive while many other more 'evolved' animals have passed into fossil history. Will our 'evolution' ultimantly lead to our extinction?
Just a thought (yeah, I know. I got to be careful with that).
The fact that concepts like 'more or less evolved' are so widespread is another indicator for the scientific illiteracy in our society.
Evolution does not have some sort of goal and this is why humans can not be closer to it then crocodiles.
There is no such thing as being 'more evolved'. Evolutions is completely random. If we see patterns or general directions when looking at the chaos, then they only are in our heads.
You can't even say that something is more changed from the beginning than somebody else. Humans are not more evolved then monkeys, we both evolved from common ancestors. Even creatures, that we call living fossils, because they appear to have been around for a long time in pretty much the same state, are not 'less evolved' then those that have recently emerged.
The misunderstanding, that evolution is a process going towards a specific goal, has lead to much of the animosity against darwinism that creationists and others are using.
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