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Tuesday, November 23, 2004

And they wonder why we're falling behind in science?
Posted by Jill | 10:09 AM
This country has always been at the forefront in science and technology, but now we're falling behind:

The U.S. economy has powered ahead in large part because of the amazing productivity of America's science and technology. That research is done largely by foreign students. The National Science Board has found that 38 percent of doctorate holders in America's science and engineering work force are foreign-born.

WE DON'T STUDY SCIENCE

Foreigners make up more than half of our science and engineering students. The dirty little secret about America's scientific edge is that it's largely produced by foreigners and immigrants.

Americans don't do science anymore. The NSB reported this year that the United States now ranks 17th (among nations surveyed) in the proportion of college students majoring in science and engineering. In 1975 the United States ranked third. The recent decline in foreign applications is having a direct effect on science programs. Three years ago MIT had 385 computer-science majors. Today there are 240. Similar trends exist at Stanford, Carnegie Mellon and the University of California, Berkeley.


Part of the problem is that computer science majors have virtually no hope of obtaining jobs in their field when they graduate. As more and more tech jobs are outsourced, why would anyone endure this kind of rigorous field of study, only to end up selling light switches at Home Depot?

But another part of the problem is the creeping dark ages that the rise of fundamentalist Christianity is foisting upon us. Americans don't do science because it might fly in the face of religion, and we mustn't allow anything to interfere with our belief in the Invisible Cloud Being, must we?

Americans do not believe that humans evolved, and the vast majority says that even if they evolved, God guided the process. Just 13 percent say that God was not involved. But most would not substitute the teaching of creationism for the teaching of evolution in public schools.

Support for evolution is more heavily concentrated among those with more education and among those who attend religious services rarely or not at all.

There are also differences between voters who supported Kerry and those who supported Bush: 47 percent of John Kerry’s voters think God created humans as they are now, compared with 67 percent of Bush voters.

[snip]

Overall, about two-thirds of Americans want creationism taught along with evolution. Only 37 percent want evolutionism replaced outright.

More than half of Kerry voters want creationism taught alongside evolution. Bush voters are much more willing to want creationism to replace evolution altogether in a curriculum (just under half favor that), and 71 percent want it at least included.


This is absolutely appalling. There is ZERO scientific method behind these beliefs, they are beliefs based on FAITH. FAITH is just that. It requires no evidence and no experimentation to prove its validity. And this is what Americans believe.

Does anyone honestly believe that this country can remain the superpower it is without science and technology? And does anyone believe that science can be practiced effectively without scientific method, with attributing everything to God? And what do these people think is going to happen to their ridiculously high standard of living when the rest of the world eclipses us because they are willing to THINK, while we're here claiming that the earth is a flat disc that revolves around the sun?
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