Anti-science Public Ignorance, Rejection and Denial
Anti-sciencePublic Ignorance, Rejection and Denial
What does it mean to be “anti-science”?
Broad range of definitions and meanings in the literature
Includes pseudoscience and junk science
To be actively against the values and process of science
Indifference
An umbrella term that means many things.
Anti-science historyNot new problem
Comes in waves
Persistent – rests just under the surface waiting for opportunity
Long term trends of progress and knowledge overrun short term trends against it
Resistance to changeFear of reaching beyond comfortable boundaries
Refusal to acknowledge an uncomfortable reality
Common in all aspects. Examples: new ways of doing things, safety implementation, new knowledge, technology
LudditesTie between anti-science and neo-Luddism
Stop change, stop progress?
Forward into the past
Fear of consequences
Troubled by modern science
Dehumanized, not informed by morality
Mastering nature
Out of control
Removing mystery and transcendent beauty
Esoteric, complicated
Expensive – what is the benefit?
Ignorance of benefits
Off limitsStem cells
Cloning
Bio-tech
“playing God”
Troubled by modern science
Capitalist
Narrow, dogmatic
Elitist
Western, masculine, white
Dichotomy of the public Positive about the “good”
from science
Use to solve world problems
Trustworthiness of scientists as experts
Science is dangerous and causes problems
Scientists are industry shills or greedy
Conspiracy of experts and government
Hypocrisy
Science literacyLack of…
Distorted view of science process, goals, scientists
Poor foundation prone to deconstructing
ReligionIncompatible with what science tells us about
the world
Religion more important than science to people’s worldview
PoliticismScience as a means to battle about contested
values
Moral reservations
Power and control
Use of rhetoric, straw man of science, and the blame game
Science and humanitiesTwo cultures (C.P. Snow)
Gap is wide
Science studies
Philosophical anti-scienceThe “academic left”
Delegitimizing science
Non-Democratic
New cynicism
PostmodernismEqual views. Science is a point-of-view.
A social construction, a product of the person and times.
Science is biased and exclusionary
Science Wars1990’s
Science vs humanities
Gross & Levitt’s Higher Superstition, conferences, journals
Sokal hoax.
DenialismDismissing established knowledge
Unmoved by data & evidence
Appeal to fairness
Controversy
Ignores rules of science
Republican War on Science
President Bush
Distortion & suppression
Industry interest to preserve the status quo
Hired guns to contort and manipulate scientific data
CreationismBible as authority/truth – rejection of knowledge
Anti-evolutionism
Using science strategically for political gains
Environmental extremismScience has destroyed earth
Data not an issue
Simpler life, eschew technology
Global climate changeClimate skeptics/deniers
Confusion/Crisis of public confidence
Attacking science and scientists
Promotion of controversyMisunderstanding scienceDifficult to interpret data
BacklashIs it about science?
Or about the ability of people to understand and be able to participate in society?
Feel science is no longer for the public good but for individual interests.
Against more than “science”
Anti-establishment
Anti-authority Conspiracy
Anti-intellectualism
Anti-elitism
Spreading anti-scienceRhetoric
Media, Internet
Universities
Distrust of science in one area spreads to another
Countering anti-scienceEducation
Outspoken scientists
Exposure of anti-science errors and misinformation
Positive public relations
Vigilance
ConclusionAnti-science is “against science values, community and
results”
Science illiteracy is a factor
Anti-science is only a part of the social rejection of information
The public is easily swayed by rhetoric and deliberate deception.
Call for more scientists to be active in countering these views
What happens when society doesn’t use science-based knowledge to inform their decision? People suffer.
(Sherman)
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