Religion Tyson: U.S. science illiteracy a serious threat

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  1. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    GREENSBORO — The United States has plenty of challenges in front of it these days.

    The issue of greatest concern to perhaps one of the nation’s most well-known scientists, Neil deGrasse Tyson: Americans know far too little about science.

    Americans overall are bad at science. Scared of math. Poor at physics and engineering. Resistant to evolution. This science illiteracy, Tyson told a nearly sold-out crowd at the Greensboro Coliseum on Tuesday night, is a threat to the nation.


    “The consequence of that is that you breed a generation of people who do not know what science is nor how and why it works,” he said. “You have mortgaged the future financial security of your nation. Innovations in science and technology are the (basis) of tomorrow’s economy.”

    http://www.greensboro.com/news/scho...cle_f3e72cb4-686c-5af5-9088-fb23b23fae7d.html
     
  2. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    "Future." Lol.
     
  3. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    America’s decline isn’t unprecedented, Tyson said. Just look back 1,000 years ago at the Middle East, where math and science flourished in Baghdad. Algebra and algorithms were invented in the Middle East. So were Arabic numerals — the numbers we still use today.

    But when a new cleric emerged during the 12th century, he declared math and science to be earthly pursuits, Tyson said, and good Muslims should be concerned about spiritual affairs. The scientists drifted away, and scientific literacy faded from that part of the world. Of 655 Nobel Prizes awarded in the sciences since 1900, Tyson said, only three have been awarded to Muslims.

    “Things that seem harmless can have devastating effects,” he said.

    Europe dominated science in the centuries that followed. You can see its influence today, Tyson said. Just look at currency: European paper money has carried the pictures of famous scientists. The former German currency bore the picture of the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss and his most famous contribution, the bell curve.

    “It is a not-so-subtle message from the government that math matters,” Tyson said. “If it’s on your currency, it is part of your culture. You think it. You feel it. Whether or not you’re a scientist or a mathematician, you’re not going to be the person to stand in their way when they’re trying to get math and science done.”


    The United States had its own scientific golden age in the last half of the 20th century. The space race and the Cold War drove scientific invention. Popular culture was full of flying cars, monorails, cities of tomorrow and world fairs that celebrated progress and invention.

    “You didn’t need special programs to try to convince people that they should like science,” Tyson said. “It was already writ large in headlines. You don’t do that without science, technology, engineering and math. And everybody knew it.”

    Today, Tyson said, too many Americans mistake clouds for UFOs, believe in alien abductions, reject evolution (known to scientists as the foundation of biology), fear the number 13 and negative numbers, and freak out about supermoons that really aren’t any bigger than regular old full moons.

    http://www.greensboro.com/news/scho...cle_f3e72cb4-686c-5af5-9088-fb23b23fae7d.html
     
  4. EL PRESIDENTE

    EL PRESIDENTE Username Retired in Honor of Lanny.

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    just flood schools with asians.
     
  5. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    That won't matter if they're all christian charter schools.
     
  6. EL PRESIDENTE

    EL PRESIDENTE Username Retired in Honor of Lanny.

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    The problem are the teachers. They are so ensconched in theories about teaching and learning methods and shit they forget to actually teach.
     
  7. barfo

    barfo triggered obsessive commie pinko boomer maniac Staff Member Global Moderator

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    certainly they forgot to teach spelling.

    barfo
     
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  8. EL PRESIDENTE

    EL PRESIDENTE Username Retired in Honor of Lanny.

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    yeah, sorry for mispelling on the interwebs.
     
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  9. e_blazer

    e_blazer Rip City Fan

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    https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43061.pdf

    Seems like a pretty good number. How many does Neil think we need?

    My son has a PhD in physics and I still can't get him to invent cold fusion or an operational time machine. What frickin' good is he?
     
  10. e_blazer

    e_blazer Rip City Fan

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    I kind of like the word "ensconched". I think it means ensconced in a conch shell.
     
  11. barfo

    barfo triggered obsessive commie pinko boomer maniac Staff Member Global Moderator

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    Apology not accepted. You'll no longer be allowed to post here.

    barfo
     
  12. EL PRESIDENTE

    EL PRESIDENTE Username Retired in Honor of Lanny.

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    this will be my last post.
     
  13. EL PRESIDENTE

    EL PRESIDENTE Username Retired in Honor of Lanny.

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  14. EL PRESIDENTE

    EL PRESIDENTE Username Retired in Honor of Lanny.

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  15. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    Half as many as illegal Mexicans we have here doesn't seem that impressive.

    Maybe we should spend the $20 billion on science education instead of a wall that won't work.




    Then laser drones can take care of the illegal problem.
     
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  16. EL PRESIDENTE

    EL PRESIDENTE Username Retired in Honor of Lanny.

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    education is glorified babysitting, especially with all the damned illegals in schools. and thugs!
     
  17. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    [​IMG]
     
  18. e_blazer

    e_blazer Rip City Fan

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    Education is so passe. All kids need to know these days is how to enter a search in Google and have their phone read them the answer.
     
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  19. bodyman5000 and 1

    bodyman5000 and 1 Lions, Tigers, Me, Bears

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    My brother's wife is an elementary school teacher and she was talking to my niece while I was there last year. I told my niece I did something every day and my brother's wife said "yes, he does it 380 days a year"

    I uh, well..... I had to correct her so my niece didn't think there were 380 days in a year. Got kinda pissed at me.
     
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  20. barfo

    barfo triggered obsessive commie pinko boomer maniac Staff Member Global Moderator

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    something = my brother's wife?

    barfo
     

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