Last Tuesday, renowned astrophysicist and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson held a special presentation at the Greensboro Coliseum, North Carolina. Besides talking about Voyager or Carl Sagan, Tyson also took a few minutes to address the audience about one of the biggest perils the nation is facing. It’s not terrorism. It’s not Russia. It’s not occult vested interests. It’s plain old ignorance.
“Americans overall are bad at science. Scared of math. Poor at physics and engineering. Resistant to evolution. This science illiteracy, is a threat to the nation,” Tyson said.
“The consequence of that is that you breed a generation of people who do not know what science is nor how and why it works,” he added. “You have mortgaged the future financial security of your nation. Innovations in science and technology are the (basis) of tomorrow’s economy.”
Tyson illustrated why such concerns are no trifle nor without precedent.
“Just look back 1,000 years ago at the Middle East, where math and science flourished in Baghdad. Algebra and algorithms were invented in the Middle East. So were Arabic numerals, the numbers we still use today,” Tyson said as quoted by Scientific Literacy Matters, an organization which stands for a more educated general public
“But when a new cleric emerged during the 12th century, he declared math and science to be earthly pursuits, Tyson said, and good Muslims should be concerned about spiritual affairs. The scientists drifted away, and scientific literacy faded from that part of the world. Of 655 Nobel Prizes awarded in the sciences since 1900, Tyson said, only three have been awarded to Muslims.”
“Things that seem harmless can have devastating effects,” he said.
The dusk of science literacy in the Arab world sits in stark contrast with Europe’s scientific enlightenment, a continent which has produced scientists of incredible caliber every generation since the days of Newton. Tyson mentions European money — such as the new discontinued Deutsche Mark which used to bear the portrait of mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss and his most famous contribution, the bell curve — to highlight how scientists are valued in Europe versus the US.
“It is a not-so-subtle message from the government that math matters,” Tyson said. “If it’s on your currency, it is part of your culture. You think it. You feel it. Whether or not you’re a scientist or a mathematician, you’re not going to be the person to stand in their way when they’re trying to get math and science done.”
So, what’s to be done? Obviously, we need more science reaching the public. This means less so-called ‘UFO sighting’ in the media and more real science in the news. It means actively involving children in school with science instead of feeding them creationist bullcrap like they do in some schools in Texas, and elsewhere. It means having genuinely capable people leading and organizing the nation’s educational system instead of having a religious nut like Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary. It means fostering critical thinking. It means honoring real values instead of superficial platitudes — or worse.
We each have a part to play else we risk diving into another dark age for science.
"… Tyson also took a few minutes to address the audience about one of the biggest perils the nation is facing. It’s not terrorism. It’s not Russia. It’s not occult vested interests. It’s plain old ignorance."
Not only is Tyson right… we are seeing the result of this collective self-imposed ignorance that is often motivated by ancient God-mythology, right now in the houses of government and in President Trump. This danger is very real and very present. The greatest nation on earth? Not hardly.
….but we got good bombs and bullets technology.
AND we incarcerate more people per capita than any other nation on the planet…
You see a correlation between rising religious fervor and and declining math and science competence?
News flash: U.S. religious belief has been on the decline for some decades. Are you using bath salts?
Tyson's thing is over simplified pop history and science, often wrong. He should be grateful the U.S. is clueless. Else we wouldn't be putting him on a pedestal.
USA religiosity is in decline but much higher than most developed countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Importance_of_religion_by_country
The USA is about 70, most of the EU is around 30.
Correct.
It is no coincidence that the people running the U.S. government now and who are living in a fantasy bubble, as well as the people who elected these clown car Republicans into office, who are equally or even more delusional and living in an unreal fantasy, are also generally christian evangelicals and other religionists who have years of religious training in how to deceive yourself about religion, Gods, and other myths.
Once you adopt lying to yourself about one area of non-reality it becomes trivial to lie to yourself and deny any other reality.
I have noted that most Republicans don't have the capacity to interpret simple graphs, and can't manage numbers greater than 20 or 30. Certainly they don't have a clue at to what a trillion is, or even how to divide such a number by say 1000.
I see Americans regularly using calculators to multiply a number by 100 or 1000.
The world will be better off without them.
Which does nothing to refute my point: There is no correlation between rising U.S. religiosity and declining U.S. competence. The evidence seems to indicate the opposite. Not that correlation demonstrates cause and effect, there are other factors. But there isn't even a correlation for Michael James to build his case on.
Regardless, let's take a look at your red herring. Sweden is at the top of the list for the fraction of population that regard religion as unimportant. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pisa-rankings-2013-12">Here</a>'s data on math and science test scores. Sweden tests below the U.S. in science. And Sweden didn't even make the top 35 list for math.
Thank you for sharing your insight on this challenging issue. How sad our country and culture… which was once admired by all the people of the world… has descended into the chaos of ignorance.
You are deluded and detached from reality.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1a469117f0079d576cb4bf10c6165ad7711d152512b4a1ff2ff13ae410febcbb.jpg
feel free to use this- via charlieecallahan.com
I had just finished this sculpture to bring to the Earth Day March on Washington.
feel free to use this- via charlieecallahan.com
I had just finished this sculpture to bring to the Earth Day March on Washington. My response to this particular fascism
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a7c8adab3171a56176c612b80cca73feb637808bf84a7f55494bae230f56f0e7.jpg
Your culture.. Not mine.
As to sad, well… I find it neither sad nor happy, There are consequences to allowing the ignorant to take over a country. That consequence is the ultimate fall and destruction of that country.
Warnings of the imminent demise of the U.S. due to a growing ignorance, was given back in the mid 70's. I remember reading an article written by a university science prof back in the early 80's who correctly predicted that as the American people were to grow ever dumber, the U.S. economy would falter and then fail, and the result of the political turmoil would ultimately destroy the U.S.
Tyson certainly isn't the first to make the observation.
And now as a people Americans have elected someone who is clearly mentally diseased as their president.
What do you intend to do about it?
Every disaster is an opportunity. Clearly, liberals were wrong in their perception of America and Americans. Trump's popularity shows we have a big problem and now that we know we have one, we can get to work fixing it. First we need to remove this madman from power before he destroys the global peace and order we have worked so long to maintain. It will take decades of progressive leadership to fix the damage inflicted upon ourselves but if we truly value the principles of enlightenment our founders set forth in our founding documents, we must continue to engage to raise the level of education for Americas and remain ever vigilant to intercept the forces of ignorance when they arise.
So; what can we do about this? Every disaster is an opportunity. Clearly, liberals were wrong in their perception that America and Americans collectively valued truth and education. Trump's popularity shows we have a big problem and now that we know we have one, we can get to work fixing it with the support of leaders like Mr. Tyson. First we need to remove this madman,Trump from power before he destroys our education system and the global peace and order we have worked so long to maintain. It will take decades of progressive leadership to fix the damage inflicted upon ourselves but if we truly value the principles of enlightenment our founders set forth in our founding documents, we must continue to engage to raise the level of education for Americas and remain ever vigilant to intercept the forces of ignorance when they arise.
I list Tyson's errors and I use cites and evidence to demonstrate my arguments. http://hopsblog-hop.blogspot.com/2016/01/fact-checking-neil-degrasse-tyson.html
Neither you nor Tyson are fond of cites and evidence. Just unsubstantiated insults. Tyson's fans and the IFLS crowd pay lip service to science but these hypocrites are actually anti-science. You are among the dumbest humans on this planet.
Tyson will say stuff like gravity falls exponentially with distance. People like you won't bat an eye lash. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/09/27/neil-degrasse-tyson-admits-he-botched-bush-quote/"><u>Tyson delivered fake history on Bush's response to 9-11</u></a> for <i>eight years</i> before it was debunked in 2014. And to this day Tyson's fans continue to upload this fake history as an example of Tyson's cleverness.
Yes, America is getting dumber. But Tyson and his following is part of the problem, not the solution. Tyson's fans are among the stupidest people on earth.
The short term is declining, but the long term religiosity correlates with the Reagan start of the end. Schooling is not related to wisdom.
LOL Do you actually think ANYONE gives a damn about what a moron like you has to say about any of this?
Caps and insults are the substance of your arguments. Still no cites, no math, no evidence. Please keep it up, you're supporting my arguments.
Those who value science give a damn when evidence is presented. I will give Tyson credit that he has acknowledged some of his errors that I have listed.
What do you mean by "long term religiosity"? You look at data like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_religion_in_the_United_States#Gallup_data"><u>the Gallup poll</u></a> and other measures and religiosity has been declining.
You see the underlined hyperlink above? That's what you call a cite. People who truly value science value cites and evidence. You don't use cites. Michael James does not use cites. Tyson does not use cites. This toxic cult of personality pays lip service to science but not much else.
The <a href="http://thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=youre_not_a_nerd"><u>IFLS crowd</u></a> aren't that well informed. <a href="http://hopsblog-hop.blogspot.com/2016/01/fact-checking-neil-degrasse-tyson.html"><u>Tyson is often saying obviously wrong stuff</u></a>. His fans don't bat an eyelash. Most of Tyson's audience are Kardashian fans who slept through their high school math, science and history classes.
I grant there are ignorant Christians. But it amuses me to see people like you patting yourself on the back for your imagined superiority. Stupidity afflicts non believers as well as believers.
(Taking a look at your website…) <a href="http://www.deepseanews.com/2013/12/three-reasons-why-fukushima-radiation-has-nothing-to-do-with-starfish-wasting-syndrome/">Starfish wasting syndrome doesn't seem connected with Fukushima</a>. I expect there will be a lot of people at the March that know very little science.
I want to participate in the pro-science march. I dislike Trump and am concerned about global warming. But there are many clueless xenophobes like yourself who want to make Christians their scapegoat. You are little better than Trump's followers who want to blame our problems on Mexican immigrants. If we want to solve our problems we need to stop look for scapegoats and look in the mirror.
Not sure why you'd classify me as a xenophobe, but I agree with you that there will be many people at the march who don't know much about science. Art pretty much is a revelation of the subconscious- I'm not a christian, or a scientist, but I appreciate the process of science.
Recently and a small amount, and we are twice most of the civilized countries. You think we got here in a day?
Ommmm…. Many blessings on your journey into self imposed ignorance.
Still no cites. You cannot support your position with evidence so you resort to insults.
Very typical of the IFLS crowd and Tyson's fans. These so called defenders of science actually know very little about math or science.
The American voter elected Drumpf, knowing full well what he was.
Your country is now gone. You must now fight to keep whatever sliver of it that you can protect from the corrupt, traitorous, scumbags that now rule you.
"Stupidity afflicts non believers as well as believers." – Hollister David
It does. But it afflicts almost all religionists since they are trained from a young age to lie to themselves.
Lying to yourself is the true basis of all faith.
This is not so much true for the faithless.
It is true. Religionists are a dying breed. They are being replaced by more rational generations who have a fuller view of the world around them and greater experience of bigger issues.
The Christian God is quickly going the way of Zeus and Apollo.
"So; what can we do about this?" – Michael James.
America has a significant education problem. It exists primarily due to America's ongoing cultural failure.
You are going to have to remake your entire culture in order to solve the education problem.
Why should children strive to learn when low grade morons like George Bush and Donald Drumpf – who can barely read – are elected president?
I agree completely. This is an enormous challenge to our society. That does not mean we should not embark upon that journey though. What is important is that we agree we have a problem and that we commit ourselves to working on it.
More rational generations who are less competent in math and science, evidently.
Being rational doesn't imply being any good at math.
On the other hand I note that the majority of conservatives I encounter can't even add or subtract numbers that are over a hundred, and don't have a clue what a proportion is.
LOL.
VendicarDecararian0 writes "LOL"
And there's the substance of your argument. No math, No evidence. No cites. Truly the <a href="http://thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=youre_not_a_nerd">IFLS crowd</a> are the stupidest humans who walk the planet.
Poor Brian.. Very sad.
Poor David Hollister. He likes to whine but seems incapable of posting any substance.
Are you're calling the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/09/27/neil-degrasse-tyson-admits-he-botched-bush-quote/?"><u>Washington Post article I linked to</u></a> fake news?
It is laughable that your link disputing what may be a minor error in a quote of George Bush doesn't actually contain the alleged incorrect quote.
The reason is obvious. The author has nothing, and wants to whine about Tyson, while hiding the petty excuse he is using for the whine.
Never trust a Republican.. They are all congenital liars.
Slamming a person with a false story isn't a minor error. Adler's column contains a link to Sean Davis' exposé which contains the Tyson video in question. Adler's column also contains links to Tyson's admission of error.
Are you too clueless to click on links?
"Slamming a person with a false story isn't a minor error." – Hollister
Your petty whining over a trivial error just shows how desperate you are to find something, anything to complain about.
The link points to a link that still doesn't state what this alleged trivial error was that Tyson supposedly made.
Why not? Are the whiners too stupid to actually produce the error or is it really that they are trying to hide the triviality of it in order to have something to whine about?
Tyson admitted years ago that he had probably made an error in memory.
Why are you still whining about it, Pig?
Tyson portrays Bush as a xenophobic demagogue. He has Bush seizing 9-11, a time of intense anger, to sow division. He has Bush declaring "Our God is the God that named the stars." in order "to distinguish we from they."
Nothing could be further from the truth. <a href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010917-11.html"><u>Bush's actual speech</u></a> was a level headed call for tolerance and inclusion. Further Bush and members of his administration have condemned Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric. Colin Powell was instrumental in bringing Corporal Kahn's sacrifice to the attention of the general public.
VendicarDecarian0 writes: "petty whining…. stupid… pig…"
Thank you. I contend that many of Tyson's defenders ignore evidence. Rather they resort to ad hominem. You support my case.
Then the Current U.S. administration is truly corrupt, as is Faux news.
"Adler's column also contains links to Tyson's admission of error." – Hollister.
Ya, so. He made an error. People do that.
"Tyson portrays Bush as a xenophobic demagogue." – Hollister
"You are either with us or against us" – Bush, a demagogue?
Of course he is.
"He has Bush seizing 9-11, a time of intense anger, to sow division." – Hollister
When in reality, Bush seized 9-11 to lie the nation into committing war crimes against a country that wasn't involved in 9-11.
LOL. It has cost the U.S. 4.5 billion so far, that the figure is rising.
"Colin Powell was instrumental in bringing Corporal Kahn's sacrifice to the attention of the general public." – Hollister
What a shame that Powell was duped by Cheney and Rumsfeld and fed false information about those Iraqi WMD that the Bush Administration told the American people in Iraq, and that Unscom told the American people were not there.
Lying Republican Scumbags.
I wasn't defending Trump nor was I defending Fox News. Have fun beating your straw man.
Vendicar writes "It is laughable that your link disputing what may be a minor error in a quote of George Bush doesn't actually contain the alleged incorrect quote."
As I said Adler's Washington Post contains links and cites backing up what he says. If you can't find Tyson's false story, it's no fault of Adler.
Since you do indeed seem too clueless, here is Tyson's fiction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_jG5kKfacY&feature=youtu.be&t=90
Ya, so. He made an error. People do that.