Americans Have Little Passion for Science, But That May Be Changing

Over the years, I’ve heard scientists lament that very few Americans have any real interest or ability in the subject.  “Go into a high school classroom,” a friend who works with electric motors once told me, “And ask a bunch of graduating seniors to says ‘yes!’ if they can name a popular singer or a top football player.  The response is deafening.  Now ask that class if they can name a living scientist. Crickets.”

I grant that this is the case, or at least it used to be; I believe it’s changing, now that we have people like Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, and Brian Cox, each of whom has considerable presence in social media.

Speaking of Cox, check out what he says at the left.  Here we have science mixed with philosophy, which strikes me as a good thing.

I.e., it’s good that people understand that our civilization actually is on the edge of destroying itself, and that it’s only by our vigorous participation in working together to find solutions that provide us any chance of turning this around before it’s too late.