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I wonder if we and schools are compartmentalizing science so that the pubic
and our students do not understand how fundamental understanding science is
to ALL aspects of our lives and society?
Yesterday, or the day before, there was an interesting post on Why
Evolution is True (
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/marco-rubio-not-a-scientist/)
about a statement that Marco Rubio, who is considered by some a viable
presidential candidate, made in an interview. He was talking about the
economy and went on to say:
*I’m not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can
tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst
theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic
product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the
universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I’m not a
scientist. I don’t think I’m qualified to answer a question like that. At
the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how
the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should
have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to
teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the
Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be
able to answer that. It’s one of the great mysteries.*
This is interesting denial of the intrinsic role science plays in our
"lives" and probably not unusual given some of the statements about science
that many of our congress people have uttered; even those who sit on the
congressional "science committees". Two good "money quotes" about this are:
*When Rubio says that the question of the Earth’s age “has zero to do with
how our economy is going to grow”, he’s dead wrong. For one thing, science
and technology education has a lot to do with our future productivity — and
how are you going to have effective science education if schools have to
give equal time to the views of fundamentalist Christians?* Paul Krugman,
NYTimes
and
*The bottom line is that this economy, at its root, is built on a web of
scientific knowledge from physics to chemistry to biology. It’s impossible
to just cherry pick out parts we don’t like. If the Earth is 9,000 years
old, then virtually the entire construct of modern science is simply wrong.
Not only that, most of the technology that we rely on most likely wouldn’t
work – as they’re dependent on science that operates on the same physical
laws that demonstrate the age of the universe.* Alex
Knapp<http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/11/19/why-marco-rubio-needs-to-know-that-the-earth-is-billions-of-years-old/>
at
Forbes, “Why Marco Rubio Needs To Know That The Earth Is Billions Of Years
Old”.
Martin
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Martin Weiss, PhD
Senior Scientist
New York Hall of Science
mweiss at nyscience.org
cell 347-460-1858
desk 718 595 9156
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