As I am sure you know, I am a life-long technologist.  OK.  Maybe only since I was six- but that’s pretty much life-long.  And, I’ve been trained in the scientific method.   Which means one must develop a hypothesis- and try to prove it wrong.  If one can’t, it provides validity to the scenario one considered.

But, somehow, we’ve failed to educate most Americans in this vital method of analysis.  Instead, most citizens jump to conclusions or accept statements without proof or consideration as to whether their belief is valid.  Oh- and they are most likely to obtain their technical information from their minister, their politician, or the idiotic talk show hosts that permeate our air waves.

And, no, I am not making this up.  The Pew Center’s Internet, Science  & Tech group published a report describing the wildly different considerations the public and scientists have about critical issues in our lives.

Let’s start with one subject with which I have been involved (on and off) for some 40+ years.  (Admittedly, the first forays were pretty limited.)  Genetically Modified Foods.  Scientists (the sample was taken from AAAS [American Association for the Advancement of Science] membership rosters) come in at 88% on the safety of eating such foods.  The public- not so high.  Ok, damned low- about 37% thought it was acceptable.   That’s true even though those same folks admitted they lacked any “clear understanding” of the health effects of such harvested crops.  Oh, and only 49% of those who finished college believe that GMO foods are safe.  (47% don’t… Proof that college is probably not properly educating our citizenry.)

Even the World Resources Institute knows “there is no evidence that GM crops have actually harmed human health”, nor should genetic modification be banned outright because of food safety.  (They do hold that genetic modifications from diverse species can yield unexpected results- more so than the conventional cross-breeding that has been the norm for centuries; as such, they do call for mandatory safety studies for these products.  That makes sense to me, too.  And, it’s been done routinely.)

But WRI also concluded that “there is no evidence that GM crops have actually harmed human health” and that “food safety does not justify rejecting genetic modification outright.”

So, it won’t be surprising if I tell you that the other large gap between those trained in the sciences (most AAAS members are not members of industry, by the way) is in consideration of pesticides- whether it is safe to eat food grown with applied pesticides or not.  Only 28% of US adults think so (actually 68% are sure it’s UNSAFE), while 68% of the scientists consider it to be a safe practice (and only 31% consider it to be unsafe).

Most unfortunately, only 65% of American adults believe evolution is how we came about (31% believe that some sort of deity made us just the way we are, way back when).  That’s compared to 98% of the scientists.   Oh, wait- 1/3 of the adults are positive that scientists are not uniform in their belief in evolution, either.  (Read it here folks.  They most CERTAINLY are!!!)

And, as I have written countless times (the most recent was about a week ago, when I reacted to the foot-in-mouth disease exhibited by Chris Christie, Rand Paul, and Rick Perry, among other presidential hopefuls), 86% of scientists want children to be required to have vaccinations; the public manifests the dyslexic counter to this number- 68%.

I can’t end this without discussing climate change.  87% of the scientists aver that the Earth is getting warmer due to human actions; not quite half the citizenry hold that premise.  It’s also related to one’s political party beliefs, too.   Republican party adherents are split 53 to 43 that climate change is real; Democratic party followers are split 87 to 10%.

It’s clear I’m not alone.  84% of the scientists are sure the lack of scientific knowledge and basis employed by Americans is a major problem.  (1/2 of them blamed it on media oversimplification.)

But, most of us (sci-tech types) know that a big problem is the public expects instant solutions to technological and scientific issues- and that just doesn’t happen.  Especially since Congress has been slashing our research budgets.