The following quote from the article is a perfect description of my experience:
The following quote from the article is a perfect description of my experience:
One common story is that this conflict is a societal one, between factions with sharply divergent affinities for science—left versus right, secular versus religious, technocratic versus traditionalist. But there is little stability as to which side proclaims itself pro-science and which the bold challenger to an ideologically exhausted establishment. The capitalist conservative who is skeptical about climate change may have no trouble tarring his environmentalist foes as anti-science for opposing nuclear power. The coastal bobo who sees creationism in Texas classrooms as a harbinger of a new Dark Age may be contributing to keeping childhood vaccination rates in his city below those of Third World countries, owing to beliefs the Texas parent regards as voodoo."
So it seems like people will only accept science nowadays that bolsters their already held viewpoints and ignore/ be skeptical about science that contradicts what they want to believe. People...
So it seems like people will only accept science nowadays that bolsters their already held viewpoints and ignore/ be skeptical about science that contradicts what they want to believe.
Which I feel is a shame because isn't that what science is all about? Science at its core is about admitting we don't know things and attempting to understand them. When thinking scientifically...
Which I feel is a shame because isn't that what science is all about? Science at its core is about admitting we don't know things and attempting to understand them. When thinking scientifically one is forced in a way to keep an open mind to opposing viewpoints that may contradict what is taken for granted as common knowledge.
I feel we need to do a better job of instilling that acceptance of "feeling stupid" in our kids' early education, so long as that acceptance is followed by a genuine desire to better understand our world.
The following quote from the article is a perfect description of my experience:
So it seems like people will only accept science nowadays that bolsters their already held viewpoints and ignore/ be skeptical about science that contradicts what they want to believe.
People don't want to feel stupid.
Which I feel is a shame because isn't that what science is all about? Science at its core is about admitting we don't know things and attempting to understand them. When thinking scientifically one is forced in a way to keep an open mind to opposing viewpoints that may contradict what is taken for granted as common knowledge.
I feel we need to do a better job of instilling that acceptance of "feeling stupid" in our kids' early education, so long as that acceptance is followed by a genuine desire to better understand our world.