Headline News, Science Views (1991) / Chapter Skim
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1 Science and Non-Scientists
1 Science and Non-Scientists
Pages 1-18
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1 scENc[ AND NON-SCI~SlS
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on the basketball court. What makes me remember these experiences is that May 12-~S is National Science Week, and I'm afraid that a lot of American kids have the same mistaken notions about science and scientists that ~ did when ~ was in school.
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But scientists also are searching for cures for cancer, sickle cell anemia and other illnesses. They are improving methods for detect~ng air and water pollution, understanding how to deal with toxic waste dumps and spotting new environmental problems like acid rain.
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The average American elementary school student studies science for just 25 minutes per day, and most of that time is spent reading from textbooks rather than doing experiments. Students typically learn about plant growth and other life sciences, but get little training in such interesting subjects as chemistry or physics.
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Goldman What do "Back to the Future Ill," "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" and "Robocop 2" have in common, besides being movie sequels? Like their own predecessors, like "Die Hard 2" and "Total Recall," and like many other recent popular films, they offer hostile or distorted images of scientists, engineers and technology.
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The Disney studio has a Tong history of depicting scientists as genial bumbling fools, ant} this continued with the father in "Honey, ~ Shrunk the Kids." But the critical edge was much sharper in the depiction of the insufferable, compuIsive physicist father in "Parenthood." Technology frequently appears in films as a means of extending corporate, military or political power regardless of its impact on people or nature. In "Robocop" and "Robocop 2," for example, corporate greed controls technological innovation.
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In the two "Die Hard" films, the hero repeatedly expresses disdain for technology, while the whole point of "The Terminator" was the ability of a naked human being to defeat the ultimate assassin: an intelligent, virtually indestructible robot. How could a culture that for so long has prided itself on its technical ingenuity, and has for more than 40 years supported science and technology with public funds on a massive scale, so patently enjoy seeing science and technology depicted so negatively?
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The collective channel clicks would register eight or higher on the Richter scale. When it comes to science, many smart, achieving, curious and otherwise accomplished folk come down with a case of synaptic shutoff.
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As Newton is my witness, ~ have seen scientists manifest foolishness, arrogance, jealousy, vengefuIness, ambition, envy, egotism, territoriality and, heaven forfend, even out-and-out dishonesty. Human qualities don't just disappear with the donning of a lab coat, but they seldom surface in descriptions of contemporary science.
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7~ederman National surveys assure us that public understanding of science has never been poorer while our national need for a scientifically literate public has never been greater. We are faced with an endless array of issues - AIDS, pesticides, ecological Armageddon, space stations and Stealth bombers - that are inextricably entwined with science and technology.
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My decision was personal, but ~ do think it illustrates the deep concern that many scientists fee! about the importance of enhancing the capacity of the American public to deal effectively with the threat of planetary environmental catastrophe and other problems involving science and technology.
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A scientifically educated citizenry and a concerned scientific community cannot remain just a desirable goal for our country. Increasingly, as we face technological accidents of giobalL scope, the hole in the ozone layer, the terrifying gIobal warming trend and so many other issues, it is becoming the price of our collective survival.
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to the public." Listen and you will hear them discuss in baffled tones why so many of their fellow Americans get enraged over some threats that are statistically small while remaining nonchalant about other dangers that are demonstrably to technologists more serious. Americans on both sides of the technical fence have a problem with "risk communication," and it is due largely to several widely held misconceptions.
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A1though better communication certainly is desirable, it may cause people to solidify their position if it clarifies the "ifferences in their underlying values. Still another misconception—an" one of the most widely held—is that a major part of the problem is journalists who sensationalize events to sell papers and boost ratings.
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It serves no one well for technologists to complain endlessly about the public's lack of technical training or for average citizens to feel they are being treated in a condescending manner. Experts and non-experts must work together if we Americans are to begin making better sense of our technological society.
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Unfortunately, too many scientists consider elected officials to be lower forms of life missing links in the evolutionary chain. These scientists prefer to work on their own worthwhile research rather than wade into the political mud.
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America needs people with scientific expertise to throw their hats and their lab coats into the political ring to help make sound decisions about the environment, space policy, agriculture and other critical subjects. By raising their level of involvement in these ways, scientists can help rid society of important misconceptions about what society can and cannot expect science to accomplish.
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