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Anti-science Public Ignorance, Rejection and Denial

Antiscience slidecast

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Page 1: Antiscience slidecast

Anti-sciencePublic Ignorance, Rejection and Denial

Page 2: Antiscience slidecast

What does it mean to be “anti-science”?

Broad range of definitions and meanings in the literature

Includes pseudoscience and junk science

To be actively against the values and process of science

Indifference

An umbrella term that means many things.

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Anti-science historyNot new problem

Comes in waves

Persistent – rests just under the surface waiting for opportunity

Long term trends of progress and knowledge overrun short term trends against it

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Resistance to changeFear of reaching beyond comfortable boundaries

Refusal to acknowledge an uncomfortable reality

Common in all aspects. Examples: new ways of doing things, safety implementation, new knowledge, technology

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LudditesTie between anti-science and neo-Luddism

Stop change, stop progress?

Forward into the past

Fear of consequences

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Troubled by modern science

Dehumanized, not informed by morality

Mastering nature

Out of control

Removing mystery and transcendent beauty

Esoteric, complicated

Expensive – what is the benefit?

Ignorance of benefits

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Off limitsStem cells

Cloning

Bio-tech

“playing God”

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Troubled by modern science

Capitalist

Narrow, dogmatic

Elitist

Western, masculine, white

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Dichotomy of the public Positive about the “good”

from science

Use to solve world problems

Trustworthiness of scientists as experts

Science is dangerous and causes problems

Scientists are industry shills or greedy

Conspiracy of experts and government

Hypocrisy

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Science literacyLack of…

Distorted view of science process, goals, scientists

Poor foundation prone to deconstructing

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ReligionIncompatible with what science tells us about

the world

Religion more important than science to people’s worldview

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PoliticismScience as a means to battle about contested

values

Moral reservations

Power and control

Use of rhetoric, straw man of science, and the blame game

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Science and humanitiesTwo cultures (C.P. Snow)

Gap is wide

Science studies

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Philosophical anti-scienceThe “academic left”

Delegitimizing science

Non-Democratic

New cynicism

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PostmodernismEqual views. Science is a point-of-view.

A social construction, a product of the person and times.

Science is biased and exclusionary

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Science Wars1990’s

Science vs humanities

Gross & Levitt’s Higher Superstition, conferences, journals

Sokal hoax.

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DenialismDismissing established knowledge

Unmoved by data & evidence

Appeal to fairness

Controversy

Ignores rules of science

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Republican War on Science

President Bush

Distortion & suppression

Industry interest to preserve the status quo

Hired guns to contort and manipulate scientific data

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CreationismBible as authority/truth – rejection of knowledge

Anti-evolutionism

Using science strategically for political gains

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Environmental extremismScience has destroyed earth

Data not an issue

Simpler life, eschew technology

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Global climate changeClimate skeptics/deniers

Confusion/Crisis of public confidence

Attacking science and scientists

Promotion of controversyMisunderstanding scienceDifficult to interpret data

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BacklashIs it about science?

Or about the ability of people to understand and be able to participate in society?

Feel science is no longer for the public good but for individual interests.

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Against more than “science”

Anti-establishment

Anti-authority Conspiracy

Anti-intellectualism

Anti-elitism

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Spreading anti-scienceRhetoric

Media, Internet

Universities

Distrust of science in one area spreads to another

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Countering anti-scienceEducation

Outspoken scientists

Exposure of anti-science errors and misinformation

Positive public relations

Vigilance

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ConclusionAnti-science is “against science values, community and

results”

Science illiteracy is a factor

Anti-science is only a part of the social rejection of information

The public is easily swayed by rhetoric and deliberate deception.

Call for more scientists to be active in countering these views

What happens when society doesn’t use science-based knowledge to inform their decision? People suffer.

(Sherman)

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BibliographyAgin, D. (2006). Junk science. St Martins Pr. Ashby, E. (1971). The Bernal lecture, 1971: science and antiscience. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 178(1050), 29-42.

Bailey, R. (2001, July). Rage against the machines. Reason, Retrieved from http://reason.com/archives/2001/07/01/rage-against-the-machines

Bauer, H. (1996). The Anti-science phenomenon in science & technology studies. Science Studies, 9(1), 34-49.

Borlaug, N. (2000). Ending world hunger: the promise of biotechnology and the threat of antiscience zealotry. Plant Physiology, 124(2), 487-490.

Boslough, M. (2010, April). Mann bites dog: why climategate was newsworthy. Skeptical Inquirer, 34(2), 14-15.

Bourcherds, PH. (1999). Science or anti-science?. Eur. J. Phys, 20, 357-364. Brain, WR. (1965). Science and antiscience. Science, 148(3667), 192-198. Broder, John. (2010, March 2). Scientists taking steps to defend work on climate. New York Times.Bronowski, J. (1956). The Real responsibilities of the scientist. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Jan 1956.

Bucchi, M, & Neresini, F. (2004). Why are People hostile to biotechnologies?. Science, 304, 1749. Civilization and Science: in Conflict or Collaboration?. Amsterdam: Associated Scientific, 1972. Daniels, GH. (1971). Science in american society. Ehrlich, PR. (1996). Environmental anti-science. Trends in Ecology & Evol, 11(9), 393. Finneran, K. (1998). The Two cultures revisited. Issues in Science and Technology, 14(3).Gieryn, Thomas. (1999). Cultural boundaries of science. University Of Chicago Press. Gregory, Jane, & Miller, Steve. (2000). Science in public. Basic Books.

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BibliographyGross, BR. (1995-6). Flights of fancy: science, reason and common sense. Academic Questions, Winter 1995-6, 45-52. Gross, P., Levitt, N., Lewis, M. (2008). The Flight From Science and Reason. NY Acad of Sci. Haack, Susan. (2007). Defending science - within reason. Prometheus Books.Holton, Gerald. (1993). Science and anti-science. Harvard Univ Pr. Levins, R. (1996). Ten propositions on science and antiscience. Social Text, 14(1 & 2).Lewis, M. (1996). In defense of environmentalism. Issues in Science and Technology, 13(2).Locke, S. (1999). Golem science and the public understanding of science: from deficit to dilemma. Public Understanding Sci., 8, 75-92. Mole, P. (2004, May/June). Nuturing suspicion: what college students learn about science. Skeptical Inquirer, 28(3), 33-37. Mooney, Chris. (2006). The Republican war on science. Basic Books.National Science Board (2010) Science Indicators 2010 report.Nelkin, D. (1995). Science controversies: The dynamics of public disputes in the United States. In Jasanoff, S. (ed). Handbook of science and technology studies. Sage Publications, Inc. Newton, S. (2010, January 6). Science denial on the rise. The Huffington Post, Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-newton/science-denial-on-the-ris_b_413848.html Nicholson, RS. (1993). Postmodernism. Science, 261(5118), 143. Overbye, D. (1993, April 26). Who's afraid of the big bang?. Time, 141(17), 74. Rae, S. (1996, Aug). Seen any Good angels lately, or welcome to the eerie world of antiscience. Cosmopolitan, 221(2), 196. Sherman, E. (2009, March-April). Science and antiscience in america: why it matters. Skeptical Inquirer, 33(2).Specter, Michael. (2009). Denialism. Penguin Pr.von Bayer, HC. (1998). Science under siege. Am. J. Phys., 66(11), 943-4. Wynne, B. (1995). Public Understanding of Science. In Jasanoff, S. (ed). Handbook of science and technology studies. Sage Publications, Inc.