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Science a Mystery to U.S. Citizens
maddugan writes "CNN and probably others are posting their synopses of the National Science Foundation's biennial report on the state of science understanding in the US. Sixty percent of those surveyed believe in ESP, psychic power, and alien abduction."
Organized religion must be thrown out. It's clear that throughout history, religion has been at the root of so much death and destruction, from the Crusades in the Middle Ages to the terrorist attacks of September 11.
It coulds minds with ridiculous myths, untruths, fosters intolerance, and narrow-mindedness that have no place in today's 21st century technological, multifaceted society.
Ban organized religion, not only US, but worldwide -- it's what's holding back progress in places like Africa, the Middle East, India, and so much more.
Just like forced slavery and child labor, religion is an antiquated relic of the past that must be eradicated in the world, a scourge that hobbles the progress of the human race, like a ball and shackle.
There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
I'm certain that a majority of Americans also believe in life after death... that the world will end a la the new testament book of revelation... that there are angels...that satan and hell are real...that if they hold certain beliefs they will be spared eternal torture after they die...that the bible contains the unerring words of the one and only omnicient god of the universe...
Why doesn't anyone write an article about how ridiculous that is?
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?
They shuv OOP down our throats without first getting objective evidence, or even side-by-side comparisons, that it is globally superior.
They have gotten carried away before with Expert Systems and heavy-top-down (hierarchical structured decomposition). Thus, they have been wrong before.
Just admit that it is a black art and stop pretending like it is "science". Bertrand Meyer is an Alchemist. (And he mis-uses his own "single choice principle.")
(This concludes another anti-OO rant.)
Table-ized A.I.
Oh, please. +5, Insightful? Have we got a bunch of jealous anti-Americans as moderators today?
I can tell you where the America-is-the-world attitude comes from, though, if you care to understand it. First off, for the people who don't already: have you ever BEEN there?
The United States is HUMUNGOUS! I've lived outside of it for a while, and one thing that strikes me is how small it seems almost every other country is. You can drive across the UK in a matter of hours. The same amount of time would get you across just half of Colorado.
How often does the average U.S. citizen actually have to communicate from somebody outside of the U.S.? Not bloody often. If you ask a French person who their neighbors are when talking about politics, chances are they'll name the British and the Spanish. Somebody from Nevada will name Californians and Utahns.
How much is the average U.S. citizen directly affected by the policies of the U.S.'s neighboring countries? Compare that to the direct effect of a neighboring state's policies, and the answer is: not much at all.
So before you shoot off your crapper about how isolationist the U.S. population is as a whole, consider the environment. The people live in a very large superpower country. Contact with foreigners is minimal. It's going to be that way. Deal.
I got my Linux laptop at System76.
Let me add that I have seen surveys and studies like this as far back as I can remember. Americans can't find the US on a map, American's can't read, Americans can't add, American public schools are cespools of ignorance and incompetence. America is fucked and it is going down the drain.
That's why Americans have a substantially lower standard of living than they did in 1965. Why the US has never taken the lead in fields like Space exploration, computers, software, telecommunications, cultural exports, robotics, high tech manufacturing, military technology, aerospace, etc. Why the US economy has become the less dominant, and why the US dollar is no longer the de facto world currency. That's why countries with excellent and exacting education systems have done so well. Like Japan and Switzerland.
What these surveys measure are not "facts", they measure cultural norms. US culture has a streak of anti-intellectualism. American culture is more can-do than think-it-through. This is true even in movies about intellectuals, like "Good Will Hunting" and "A Beautiful Mind". This is neither good nor bad, it just is.
On an individual basis, Americans prize education and knowledge. They are generally happy to talk about intricate ideas. Put them in a group and all they will talk about is football. That is what these surveys show again and again.