Indistinguishable from magic
Feb. 10th, 2007 10:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alitalf
I am becoming increasingly concerned about how little most people understand of the science and technology that makes our relatively comfortable lives possible. I can't quite say why it is a bad thing for many people to go through life being - well - almost superstitious about technology ("It has a mind of its own").
However, when it comes to government, I do think this is a recipe for waste at best, disaster at worst. For example, people for whom a steam turbine is beyond their comprehension, electricity might as well be magic, and nuclear physics is completely unknown, make decisions about our future energy supply. Perhaps, if the voting population understood a little more, politicians would be put on notice to, at the minimum, find a wider range of science advisers and at least try to understand them. It is even remotely possible that qualifications in science would be taken almost a seriously as qualifications in the classics, by the great and the good.
What I have read about the school curriculum does not suggest to me that a widespread improved understanding of science is likely in the near future, but I hope that is a misunderstanding on my part.
What do other people think?
However, when it comes to government, I do think this is a recipe for waste at best, disaster at worst. For example, people for whom a steam turbine is beyond their comprehension, electricity might as well be magic, and nuclear physics is completely unknown, make decisions about our future energy supply. Perhaps, if the voting population understood a little more, politicians would be put on notice to, at the minimum, find a wider range of science advisers and at least try to understand them. It is even remotely possible that qualifications in science would be taken almost a seriously as qualifications in the classics, by the great and the good.
What I have read about the school curriculum does not suggest to me that a widespread improved understanding of science is likely in the near future, but I hope that is a misunderstanding on my part.
What do other people think?
