Every few months, a new study emerges that casts an ominous shadow on the future of scientific literacy in the United States. Most recently, in February 2014, the National Science Foundation released the results of a 2012 survey of physical and biological science questions that were given to the general population. The average score of the 2,200 participants was a meager 6.5/10, barely passing. Only 74 percent of respondents correctly answered that the earth revolves around the sun. To physicists like me, this problem is of great concern.
There are many arguments to make about the value of scientific literacy in the U.S. Some say that the average person does not need to know the intricacies about a technology in order to benefit from it. I doubt the majority of people who use the Global Positioning System (GPS) are aware of the warping of space-time due to general relativity that must be taken into account by GPS designers, but the chances are they can still use their GPS to successfully navigate. Likewise, one can learn how to drive a car without first having understood the physics and chemistry that makes it all possible.
Interest in science is at an all-time high. The CBS comedy, “The Big Bang Theory,” has successfully drawn in arm-chair scientists, as evidenced by its many awards and accolades. Physicists are actually hired to work on the show to ensure that the content of every on-screen chalkboard and white board, as well as the physics principles Sheldon Cooper so smugly talks about, are accurate and relevant to the current episode.
Ultimately, I value the specialization of knowledge that has occurred over the past 100 years in this country. There are opportunities to become an expert in very narrow fields. With the proliferation of the Internet, the ability to share and look up information has become exponentially easier than it was in the past. Some people have become content creators whose sole purpose is to share science with a broader audience. Some of my favorites are the comic XKCD and the YouTube videos from MinutePhysics and Hank Green’s Crash Course. As RadioLab’s Robert Krulwich said in his commencement speech at the California Institute of Technology, “science is ultimately about telling a story.”
Of utmost importance to me is a growing distrust of the sciences among lay people. Climate change, fracking, vaccines, nuclear energy and evolution are just the beginning of what may eventually become an insurmountable challenge for scientists around the world. Any fraud with a blog and a vitriolic writing style can drum up support to take down “those lying, deceitful scientists.” Even the optimistic view that those individuals are misinformed and ill equipped to consume scientific data to generate meaningful conclusions is still a concerning prospect. Their hypocrisy of denying science that does not fit with their worldview while reaping the benefits of related science that does is jarring and does not jive with the scientific method as a means of solving problems.
Science literacy matters because almost all the issues we face as a global society have scientific solutions that require implementation by humans. These humans must be scientifically literate to understand the nature of the problem and the details of the solution. The solutions will require government intervention carried out by politicians elected from an educated citizenry. Some of the greatest achievements of modern science, such as the near 100 percent eradication of the Guinea worm, are not the product of expensive, novel research and methods, but rather the education of basic principles and the successful implementation of them.
We as a society must rediscover admiration and respect for those who press against the boundary of human knowledge and find a way to burst through. The degree of technological advances over the past 100 years has fundamentally altered human existence and no one knows what is truly coming in the future. The proliferation and regulation of these brand-new technologies demands a society that is scientifically literate. The next time one of your friends goes off on an issue like net neutrality or vaccines causing autism, take a step back and consider the situation with a scientific mind. Our future depends on it.