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8/3/2019 The Underlying Issue, Science, vol 334 28 October 2011
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-underlying-issue-science-vol-334-28-october-2011 1/2
BOOKS ET AL.
28 OCTOBER 2011 VOL 334 SCIENCE www.sciencemag.org454
The bio attached to Shawn Lawrence
Otto’s blog on science and politics (1)
notes his accomplishments as a sci-
ence advocate, political strategist, and screen-
writer ( House of Sand and Fog ). It also men-
tions that he’s an Eagle Scout, although that
seems in keeping with the persistently civic-
minded project of Fool Me Twice. The book
is not a stand-alone critique, lancing exposé,
or purely philosophical treatise such as oth-
ers—with undoubtedly similar concerns—
have written within the past decade. It is not
that Otto doesn’t critique, expose, or philos-
ophize; certainly, his dissatisfaction with the
dismal state of scientific literacy among the
American public and its lawmakers is read-ily apparent, as are his progressive ideals.
Rather, what distinguishes the book is his
determination to simultaneously educate and
move to action both lay readers and scientists.
Otto’s most urgent con-
cern is the overwhelming
absence, in both the pub-
lic and its elected repre-
sentatives, of the science
literacy required to make
informed policy decisions.
This illiteracy is troubling
for many reasons—not theleast of which are the conse-
quences of policy based on
highly subjective beliefs and
assumptions rather than the
relevant science. Otto points
to dismal policies effected
after largely rhetorical skir-
mishes over climate change
and evolutionary theory, but
he could just as easily have
singled out what’s at stake in,
say, the hackles raised by the
idea of vaccinating preteen girls against the
sexually transmitted human papillomavirus.A public and its elected policy-makers who
don’t understand the science behind these
issues will inevitably respond with their guts.
Otto finds this gut-based, ideologically
driven displacement of science from policy
decisions to be problematic on a more fun-
damental level: the way in which laws based
on faith and assumptions instead of evidence
pull the United States from its democratic
foundations toward an increasingly authori-
tarian government. Otto’s
argument that the indepen-
dence declared by Jefferson
et al. hinged on freedom of
inquiry and reason is perhaps
the canniest part of the case
he makes for science literacy.
He reminds us of the think-
ers (e.g., Bacon, Newton, and
Locke) whose arguments for
the inductive reasoning and
empiricism so crucial to sci-
ence influenced Jefferson’s ideas of democ-racy and its aims. A key tenet of Jeffersonian
democracy is that an educated, well-informed
citizenry can be trusted to govern itself.
Something has gone wrong, Otto argues,
when those who are supposed to represent the
public are not adequately informed about thescience behind important issues yet continue
to insist on their beliefs. Such a top-down,
empirically empty method of governance,
he notes, is closer to the blind ideology of
authoritarianism than to democracy.
Instead of simply insisting on the preemi-
nence of science (a subject many people know
little about and, consequently, are intimidated
by), Otto ties its importance to the ideals and
demands of democracy. Aiming to instill a
sense of duty in his readers, he walks them
through the relevant histories of both g
ernment and science in the United States.
draws out the parallels between the scient
method and democracy so that it seems ine
table that the two should be entwined.
Of course, at this point science and g
ernment in the United States are not
entwined as Otto argues they should
After discussing several major policy iss
to demonstrate problems that arise from
gap between the two, he exa
ines why Americans h
become so effectively
tanced from science. He c
templates how the fears rai
by the atomic age and, la
environmental disasters h
left a lingering distrust am
the public. Intriguingly,
considers how both the un
niably authoritarian Christ
right and the ostensibly a
authoritarian postmodernist denial of objtive truth have undermined appreciation
science. Otto also takes a look at how c
porate interests have confused our sense
science’s credibility. And he doesn’t overlo
the many scientists who have turned inw
preferring not to have to explain their w
or its relevance to a public that is ever m
ill-equipped to understand it.
After outlining “America’s science pr
lem” and discussing science politics of y
terday, today, and tomorrow, the author off
a concluding section, “The solution.” O
strongly endorses working within peopcomfort zones to acquaint them with the
ence behind public issues that affect them.
lauds the biology professor who encoura
religiously conservative students to recon
their beliefs with their study of evolution
the religious leader who challenges parish
ners to think critically about scripture and
extension, the scientific world. Admitted
these are the sorts of local gestures that m
only lead to small changes here and the
Otto’s most intriguing idea, however, is “
ence debates,” in which candidates disc
their stances on science-based policy issu
He and scientists who support the idea wolike to make these a part of all presidential
congressional election seasons. They beli
such public debates will force politician
ground their opinions in scientific knowle
instead of rhetoric. And, just as importan
placing science in discussions of polic
that affect the public “allows them to beco
familiar with science and knowledge-ba
argumentation as opposed to mere rhe
ric, to learn or relearn how to distinguish
two, and to use this thought process not o
For the Democracy of Science
SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
Alyssa Pelish
The reviewer is at the American Council on Science and
Health, 1995 Broadway, Suite 202, New York, NY 10023–5882, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Fool Me Twice
Fighting the Assault
on Science in America
by Shawn Lawrence Otto
Rodale, Emmaus, PA, 2011.
384 pp. $25.99, C$29.99.
ISBN 9781605292175.
Published by AAAS
8/3/2019 The Underlying Issue, Science, vol 334 28 October 2011
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-underlying-issue-science-vol-334-28-october-2011 2/2
BOOKS E
www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE VOL 334 28 OCTOBER 2011
C R E D I T : F R O M M O T H E R : C A R I N G F O R 7 B I L L I O N / C O U
R T E S Y T I R O I R A F I L M S
This year, the global population passed
the seven billion mark. By the year
2045, the world is expected to host
nine billion human beings. Let me repeatthat: nine billion. In the 1960s, heightened
concern over the “population explosion”
prompted a global focus on Earth’s ability to
sustain the rapidly increas-
ing human population. Since
that time, the number of peo-
ple on the planet has nearly
doubled, but, oddly, concern
over the impact of the ever-
increasing human population
seems to have faded from the
public’s attention. When the
size of the human population is mentioned
these days, it is most often in the context of wondering how we will feed so many. One
rarely hears other important concerns sur-
rounding the continuing increase in our num-
bers—such as whether our resource use will
permit the survival of other species, whether
essential resources (for example, clean water)
will remain available following the complete
anthropogenic alteration of Earth’s systems,
and how our focus on consumption and eco-
nomic growth amplifies human impacts
above and beyond our simple requirements
The Underlying Issue
FILM: ENVIRONMENT
in making electoral decisions but also in dis-
cussing things with their kids.”
The cynics among us would argue that
bringing this idea to fruition requires the opti-
mism of an Eagle Scout. (Could the proto-
col of such debates guard against politicians’
habits of cherry-picking scientific facts at
their own convenience? Would the public be
willing to educate themselves enough to actu-
ally follow the content of the debates?) Yet the
assumption that a well-informed people will
act in its country’s best interest is fundamental
to the ideals of Jeffersonian democracy. The
solutions Otto suggests require a great deal
of dedication and optimism. Nonetheless,
the problems he identifies are quite real. Fool
Me Twice offers a compelling consideration
of the United States’ political estrangement
from science. One would very much like to
attend to Otto’s equally compelling hopes.
References1. http://shawnotto.com/neorenaissance/.
10.1126/science.1212889
for survival. Most important, there appears
to be a distinct avoidance of identifying the
increasing human population as a potential
threat to ecosystem stability.Our choice to avoid discussion of the
population issue, however, will not make the
problems disappear. Christophe Fauchere’s
film Mother: Caring for 7 Billion encourages
us to reengage, both publicly and person-
ally, with the reality of what our increasing
population will bring. In its examination of
the history of the population concern and our
current level of resource use and consump-
tion, Mother does not shy away from arguing
that unchecked human population growth is
not sustainable. Nor, however, does the film
succumb to a fatalistic viewpoint. Instead,Fauchere attempts to inspire change through
interviews and stories of individual trans-
formations. A brave Ethiopian woman—
emboldened by a radio
show that encourages
women to think about
family planning and stand
up for themselves—leads
viewers to see that the
empowerment of women
across the world could
be a first step toward both
limiting population growth and fighting pov-
erty. Other interviews with human rights and population workers in developing countries
are similarly convincing and inspiring. These
lead one to the hopeful conclusion that as
conditions for women improve, so will their
ability to manage the size of, and provide
better lives for, their families.
I had hoped for an equally inspiring tale
about how to tackle other aspects of the
human population problem, those of con-
sumption and an overwhelming focus on
economic growth in developed countries.
Here, however, the challenges are greater
and the film leaves us without concrete solu
tions. Fauchere marshals interviews wit
ecologists, economists, and sociologists tconvincingly argue that developed econo
mies are based on consumption and, furthe
that as developing countries improve thei
quality of life, they too enter into a consump
tion economy. All people deserve an equa
quality of life, but the unfortunate trut
is that Earth cannot sustain a developed
country level of consumption for billions o
people. As pointed out in the film, it woul
take all the resources of 10 Earths to suppor
the current global human population at th
consumption level of the United States.
The question of how humanity wilequalize living conditions across the glob
for a growing population while still main
taining the ecological systems we depend o
is monumental and overwhelming. Mothe
does not provide us with answers. Instead
the film suggests that the daunting nature o
the solution may explain why we choose t
ignore many of the harshest truths about th
population problem.
The film compellingly argues that a fai
and just solution is likely to only be found in
a complete refocusing of our priorities an
societies. Specifically, we must value diver
sity, human and biological, over the grosnational product and human solidarity ove
competition. Although Fauchere does no
show us how to get to this point, Mothe
leaves viewers with a ray of hope that human
ity has the potential to reach such a state. I
will also convince them that to do so we mus
not be afraid to reengage with the popula
tion issue and that the time for such renewe
engagement is now.–Sacha Vignie
Mother
Caring for 7 Billion
Christophe Fauchere, director
Tiroir A Films Productions,
Denver, CO, 2011. 55 minutes.
www.motherthefilm.com
10.1126/science.121457
Published by AAAS