ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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Yes, I think the real problem of people understanding science will first 
require following the Delphic admonition to "know thyself".  I studied 
evolutionary theory and social systems a long way back, and it dawned on 
me one day that there is no evolutionary reason for us to have developed 
a sense of "truth" past what worked in our physical existence, and even 
that is likely subservient to more pressing and expedient 
mental/behavioral mechanisms.

In thinking about it further, it seemed likely that what we would start 
finding out about our "true" natures would be in direct conflict with 
what we have evolved to think about ourselves.  That in fact, 
self-deception may be integral to our nature, and some recent research 
is starting to bear this out (e.g. you can deceive someone else better 
if you are deceiving yourself first).  The book "The Lucifer Principle"* 
is an excellent resource along these lines, even if a bit dated.  
Another is "The Hidden Brain"**.  And a long-time personal favorite is 
"The Red Queen"*** (warning, don't read this if you like a romantic view 
of male/female relationships).

So I think the main use people put their rationality to is for 
rationalization, not unbiased analysis, and that this is deeply 
ingrained in us.  Simply presenting people with more facts or "truth" 
will not help.  We need to understand better what our real and innate 
biases are so we can develop processes and approaches for getting past 
them (I have some half-baked ideas I'm working on...).  Of course then 
there is the dark flipside of that knowledge, that it may be used for 
purposes other than objective truth; but as the old saw goes, nothing 
less than the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

Happy Thanksgiving!

- Lorne

* - http://www.howardbloom.net/lucifer/

** - I found this article to be a good intro to the book:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/11/AR2010011102007.html

*** - 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Queen:_Sex_and_the_Evolution_of_Human_Nature

P.S. - An excellent book on getting past biases and/or using them, is 
Frank Luntz' "Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People 
Hear":

http://books.google.com/books/about/Words_That_Work.html?id=rTcWRFYFQoYC



On 11/21/2012 9:04 AM, Stephen Uzzo wrote:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
>
> This gets us back to the Levi-Strauss' problem of why truth (science) and fiction (myth) are equivalent in people's minds. There is no imperative for truth in evolution unless it improves fitness. But there may be an imperative for seeking cause for effect (which might be adaptive-something, according to Michotte, is evident in the behavior of even infants).
> So in looking at what the real process caused the effect of the earth (geologic or creationistic), its unclear what advantage knowing this conveys upon fitness. In the absence of doubt, as people build their ontologies and identify a cause (the Earth moving closer to the Sun), that satisfies the effect (climate change), the tension is relived and there is no further need to deepen inquiry. Unless you're a geologist, oil or mining company, or earth science teacher, the benefit of knowing the age of the earth might be hard to quantify.
>
> One of the things we don't do well is give learners permission to be skeptical, nor do we provide them with useful mechanisms to deepen inquiry around skepticiism over an idea. If we did, then the Creationistas would have no purchase in the minds of our youth to cast doubt on geology because it would only stimulate them to more quickly reveal their fakery. I think its healthy to doubt anything you don't completely understand, but until we equip learners with the right truth-seeking thinking tools we should expect this kind of intellectual con game to continue unabated. Rubio is merely reflecting the ignorance of his constituency, he is not the cause of it. This has been the state of humanity since Aristotle. We are not going to fix the problem by claiming truthier truth, but by being serious about educating our youth--to stop just throwing our truth at them to see what sticks (evidently, very little).
>
> Stephen Miles Uzzo, PhD.
> VP, Science&  Technology
> New York Hall of Science
> 47-01 111th Street
> Flushing Meadows Corona Park, NY 11368 USA
> V +1.718 595.9177
> F +1.718.699.5227
>
>
>
>
>
> On Nov 20, 2012, at 10:12 PM, Eric Siegel wrote:
>
>> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
>> *****************************************************************************
>>
>> ps.  an acquaintance of mine told me that global warming is happening because the earth is moving closer to the sun.  after i picked my jaw up off the ground, I weighed the benefits of schooling her with the futility of the attempt.  I tried to explain what we know about the physics of the solar system since newton.
>>
>> e

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