CelticBear’s Musings

Bad Astronomy Blog � Blog Archive � AAAS Report #5: Science Under Attack

Ah Phil Plait! Quickly becoming the new (if more sarcastic) Carl Sagan. I hate that he’s in St. Louis this last weekend for that conference and I didn’t get a chance to go meet him.

Oh well. In this blog entry of his, he discusses the incongruity of how people rely on science, believe our lives are better for it, but still not “believe” some of the fundamental aspects of science that is as hard proven as the effectiveness of antibiotics they use. He discusses the hypocricy of the administration in their supposed support for science, then undercutting it by removing funding (and I should add, blind refusal to endorse stem cell research and promotion of pseudo-science such as Intelligent Design.)

He ends with the closing of a speech he gave where he challenges the scientific community to communicate not just the facts, but the joy they feel in what they do, teachers to teach the awe and wonder of science and not just the numbers, and the media to stop trying to be so absurd in their attempt to be “balanced” by giving both side equal time when there is no valid other side!