Antiscience and the future of America

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics make up the entire foundation of the modern world. In addition, it is mostly responsible for rises in human productivity as well as increasing human lifespans. And STEM is the defacto reason America became a superpower. Naturally, one would suppose that STEM fields would be widely appreciated by American citizens on the whole; however, one would suppose wrong. There has been a long existing antiscience movement in the United States that has roots in religion, and this movement is growing at an alarming rate.

Science puts religious institutions in a very awkward position. Various different religions and sects make testable claims through literal interpretations of parts of their religious doctrine. For example, many Christian institutions have made testable claims about the creation of men and women. And when science ends up testing one of these claims, it creates quite a pickle for religion. If religious institutions concede to science, followers of the religion may doubt the religious doctrine. After all, if testable claims are wrong, why should anyone trust the untestable claims? On the other hand, if they refuse to concede to science, they are ultimately rejecting reality which creates recruitment problems as pointed out by Augustine.

Today, science is beginning to put many corporations in a very similar uncomfortable situation. On one hand, corporations need science in order to raise productivity and for new inventions. On the other hand, science has the ability to create risk assessments on products as well as test claims about those products. If a corporation’s livelihood comes from a product that has high risk to the public, a cost vs benefit analysis can cause countries to impose regulations or ban the product outright. In addition, once these risk assessments are known, it can lower demand by consumers. So many corporations who depend on such products have made a decision that maintaining current productivity on these products requires an antiscientific approach. After all, why optimize on future productivity and innovations when these risk assessments are going to destroy the main source of income.

Today, these types of corporations and religious institutions have joined forces and resources; as a result, there is a growing antiscience movement in the United States. Just about every single expert area in science and related fields are under constant and sustained attack. One can simply browse these forums and see countless antiscientific posts on a large range of topics. Because of these antiscientific forces, many experts in a wide array of fields are becoming increasingly worried about the consequences to the future of America from this trend.

In a basic nutshell, the most important debate today is about experts. Should the government be run according to expert advice, or should it be run according to the whims of ideological people. Whatever your opinion, the future of America will greatly depend upon the debate's conclusions.

 

Not anti-science. Anti-junk science. First and foremost is the AGW scam.


"...the most important debate today is about experts."

Taxcutter says:
Everybody can call on experts, but experts are human and can be as politicized as the IRS.

Corporations can make their own judgments about experts as lomg as it's their money in play.

 

No Taxcutter, conservatives generally are pretty anti-science.

They are anti-science, anti-education, anti-equality, hell - anti-everything

The rest of the country believes in education. The GOP wants to keep its base hating education. I wonder why...

 

Someone who is antiscience considers the science to be junk.

 

There are examples of antiscience in the liberal community as well. For example, I've had many arguments with liberals over GM and nuclear technologies.

But I will concede that the republican community has adopted an anti scientific platform.

 

Nice try with your op, you just can not handle the anti man made climate change folks using science against it and common sense to challenge it at every turn.

 

I was reading a conversation in another thread about global warming, and some people were making just wild and unscientific assertions. So I jumped into the conversation, and I pointed out that the physics of CO2 is well known, and it has been known for a very long time. I posted explanations, lab experiments, graphs, data used by the air force, but they denied even the basic physics of CO2. These people would have me believe that quantum physics is junk science.

In addition, most people in the antiscientific community admit its about ideology. Seeing names like "Gore" tossed about in these threads serves to underline the point. And they frequently refer to their ideology as some kind of "science" and science is regarded as "just a theory." And so, they advocate the notion that their untested (if they are testable at all) claims are equivalent to claims tested by observations and measurements in science.

 

This whole thread is asinine. Americans aren't anti-science; this is a fabrication by what sounds like a leftist/atheist.

What taxcutter said is totally correct. Junk science is what is being rejected. You'd do well to reject that crap also.

 

that is because they think it's a sin to eat from the tree of knowledge


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Many Americans do hold a antiscientific position. And the rejection of science for ideological reasons isn't any different from the rejection of science for religious reasons. One can label it "junk" but at the end of the day, he or she is rejecting reality.

 

See the entire problem is, the science crowd brought politics into it. (Well maybe not the scientists themselves but the fringe element) I personally love science I grew up bugging my dad to take me to the Chicago museum of science and industry a few times a year.

But you have to understand, to know the history of the alarmist and is my age and read the new popular science in the 70's and time magazine back then.

You are trying to play us as a fool, we have been through this rodeo before.

Keep politics out of it and just give us science.

 

Why not reject gravity? Oxygen? Water?

Science is only rejected by cons when it infringes on their little bubble of perceived "reality"

 

So why does the actions of a fringe element justify some ideological purist rejection of so many areas of science?

In most of these cases, the scientific areas under dispute have strong support internationally. And in general, they meet one or two properties: the ability to perform risk assessments or contradiction of a religious position.

Other cases are just weird. Anti-vaccination for example.

 

Maybe... but a lot of states are trying to bring anti science arguments into the science classroom. They call it "Teach the controversy." These people will probably start aiming for congress soon. And speaking of congress, the science committee is full of antiscience advocates.

 

most antiscience is by democrats

esp regarding factories and mass produced housing

if 100mil people stopped being emplyed by welfare jobs and worked in factories on mass prodcued housing

everyone be millionaire

funny how 0 scoialist dream states liek sweden end up using mass produced housing to make all citizens rich and comfy

 

HOLD THE PHONE!!!

I am an INDEPENDENT....and sometimes I vote Republican...sometimes Democrat...sometimes Independent....but as far as ANTI-SCIENCE....the largest number of people that can be labeled Anti-Science would be Ultra-Right Wing Religious Republicans.

I do not state this as some attempt to support some kind of ideology.

I state this as a FACT.

AboveAlpha

 

What do YOU know of conservatives beyond your own perverted opinion?

 

Taxcutter says:
Because gravity, oxygen, and water are not part of a crackpot scheme used to foist even more taxes ands regulations on Americans.

 

That no matter how intelligent the individual may be, they like to plug their ears whenever their brainwashed worldviews are questioned.

- - - Updated - - -

Water is government regulated.

Air quality is regulated heavily in California.

 

"I would love to see a government where rule is decided by the scientific method instead of the passions of unlearned men."


Taxcutter asks:
Like the way "learned men" and governments embraced eugenics a century ago?

 

Taxcutter says:
How's that water regulation in California doing these days? "Whiskey's for drinking. Water's for fightin' over."

 

Don't get cute over serious concerns. Droughts are no joke.

 

There are governments that still embrace eugenics.

The scientific method tests claims with observations and measurements. And testing claims is important if one wishes to make an informed decision on the matter of policy.

 

The anti-science positions held by the religious lunatics is going to reduce the US to a third world country.

 

Ever seen the Movie GATTACA? And for those who do not know....YES...GATTACA has a special meaning specific to Gene Sequencing.

We are on that level....RIGHT NOW!!

Humanity needs to make a decision.

We have to decide whether or not to take what will be the next step in Human Evolution.

We have mapped the Human Genome along with the Genomes of Thousands of other species and with the help of just coming out 1000 Quibit Quantum Computers....we can break down a persons Genome in 30 Minutes instead of YEARS.

We can determine if a Fertilized Egg developing in the Uterine Wall at just a week to a few days into pregnancy will have issues of disease, genetic abnormalities, etc....and we can FIX THESE ISSUES!!

We would already have a cure for over 80% of all forms of Cancer by now and as well had a cure for AID's and M.S. and LGD....if we had not lost over a DECADE OF RESEARCH TIME because some ill informed IDIOTS in Government would not allow Federal Funding to go to Genetic R&D Labs that used any Non-Sanctioned Stem Cell lines....and even NANCY REAGAN PLEADED with the Administration of W....to allow such Funding to be allowed to these Top R&D Groups as Ronnie was dying of Alzheimer's...a disease which can be cured using Gene Therapy and Stem Cells....and we are possibly only 1 or 2 years away from such a cure....BUT WE SHOULD ALREADY HAVE IT!!!

So Humanity needs to decide just how long a person can be designed to live....as right now we KNOW how to extend Human Lifespans by over 300%.

AboveAlpha