Freethought & Rationalism Archive

LiveFreeOrDie · 05-01-2002, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tgamble:
Survey finds few in U.S. understand science
Feeling smart? Check out some of the quiz

'Odds Are Stacked When Science Tries to Debate Pseudoscience'

For some reason I can't help thinking this sounds like an article in The Onion.

<a href="http://www.theonion.com/onion3534/missing_the_point.html" target="_blank">http://www.theonion.com/onion3534/missing_the_point.html</A>

KeithHarwood · 05-01-2002, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tgamble:
<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/04/30/science.understanding.ap/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/04/30/science.understanding.ap/index.html</a>

A laser doesn't focus light, it generates it. Lenses and mirrors focus it. Do the people who made the `do you understand science' quiz understand science?

05-01-2002, 04:36 PM

Quote:

And 97% view their scientific knowledge as at least average!

*lol* beautiful.

Baloo · 05-01-2002, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by KeithHarwood:


A laser doesn't focus light, it generates it. Lenses and mirrors focus it. Do the people who made the `do you understand science' quiz understand science?

I agree... some of these questions were phrased in such a way that I'd have gotten them wrong BECAUSE of an elevated scientific literacy. Namely, the way they present popular theories as TRUE/FALSE decisions makes me wonder if they know the difference between facts and theories:

The universe began with a huge explosion.

I would not have answered "True" to this one, only "Probably true, given that it is more widely supported by the evidence than other theories of the origin of the universe and has not yet been falsified despite being intrinsically falsifiable". Between "true" and "false", my honest answer would be "I don't know, next question please".

Late_Cretaceous · 05-01-2002, 06:22 PM

Was the universe created by an explosion? Well, no actually. The "Big Bang" was a rapid expansion of space itself, not a rapid expansion of hot gas within space - which is what an explosion is.

Baloo · 05-01-2002, 08:33 PM

L_C - that, too.

lpetrich · 05-01-2002, 10:14 PM

That's splitting hairs. The Big Bang is still an explosion, even if there is nothing that it's exploding into.

DrLao · 05-02-2002, 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by KeithHarwood:


A laser doesn't focus light, it generates it. Lenses and mirrors focus it. Do the people who made the `do you understand science' quiz understand science?

Yes, but the question was, "Lasers work by focusing sound, True or false?" This is false regardless.

KeithHarwood · 05-02-2002, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DrLao:
Yes, but the question was, "Lasers work by focusing sound, True or false?" This is false regardless.

Yes, it is, but the justification for it being false was also false.

Jimmy Higgins · 05-03-2002, 08:53 AM

Oh questions like that are just whacky. I took the ACI exam for Concrete testing. One of the specs is that for a slump test, your cone must be relatively smooth. The question then read, is it alright for your cone to have minor irregularities. The answer was NO!

I was hesitant on the big bang, because I see that as really an expansion, not an explosion. And lasers use light, so I just made the jump there. But how the hell can you think lasers use sound? How much friction in between particles would a sound wave have to make to have a light be present? I'd venture it isn't really possible. And isn't light a word in the anagram of LASER anyways?

80% of people in the US are against cell cloning. 98% of people in the US don't have a clue of what cell cloning is.

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05-01-2002, 06:22 PM	#15
Late_Cretaceous Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Alberta Posts: 1,049	Was the universe created by an explosion? Well, no actually. The "Big Bang" was a rapid expansion of space itself, not a rapid expansion of hot gas within space - which is what an explosion is.

05-01-2002, 08:33 PM	#16
Baloo Regular Member Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: St. Louis, MO Posts: 417	L_C - that, too.

05-01-2002, 10:14 PM	#17
lpetrich Contributor Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Lebanon, OR, USA Posts: 16,829	That's splitting hairs. The Big Bang is still an explosion, even if there is nothing that it's exploding into.

05-03-2002, 08:53 AM	#20
Jimmy Higgins Contributor Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Proud Citizen of Freedonia Posts: 42,473	Oh questions like that are just whacky. I took the ACI exam for Concrete testing. One of the specs is that for a slump test, your cone must be relatively smooth. The question then read, is it alright for your cone to have minor irregularities. The answer was NO! I was hesitant on the big bang, because I see that as really an expansion, not an explosion. And lasers use light, so I just made the jump there. But how the hell can you think lasers use sound? How much friction in between particles would a sound wave have to make to have a light be present? I'd venture it isn't really possible. And isn't light a word in the anagram of LASER anyways? 80% of people in the US are against cell cloning. 98% of people in the US don't have a clue of what cell cloning is.

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