Nation Apparently Believed in Science at Some Point

[Coyotl]

Nation Apparently Believed in Science at Some Point

Andy Borowitz , July 21, 2014

MINNEAPOLIS (The Borowitz Report)—Historians studying archival photographs from four decades ago have come to the conclusion that the U.S. must have believed in science at some point.

According to the historian Davis Logsdon, who has been sifting through mounds of photographic evidence at the University of Minnesota, the nation apparently once held the view that investing in science and even math could yield accomplishments that would be a source of national pride.

While Logsdon has not developed a complete theory to explain the United States’ pro-science stance during that era, he attributes some of it to the liberal views of the President at that time, Richard M. Nixon.

[annabanana]

1. Ah Borowitz

The ne plus ultra!

[Humanist_Activist]

2. Actually, interesting little fact, very little was invested in science and engineering up until...

the 1950s. The United States was on the tail end of yet another religious revival(and getting ready to start up another one), remember, the Scopes monkey trial, the science teacher lost, creationism was being taught in many schools at the time, etc. Then Sputnik happened, and the Federal and many State governments panicked and changed the curriculum nationwide.

[IndieLindy]

22. JFK on the important fusion between science and government

Then came the United States presidential election of 1960. The Republican Party nominee incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/jfk-the-importance-science

JFK on the important fusion between science and government

10/22/13 09:55 PM—UPDATED 10/23/13 08:12 AM

By Nick Ramsey

In one of his last speeches, President John F. Kennedy addressed the National Academy of Sciences on the importance of science and its role in government and public policy. The speech occurred on October 22, 1963, as the National Academy of Sciences was celebrating its 100th anniversary.

At the time of the speech, Kennedy had already set a national goal of landing a man on the moon. He, along with the rest of the world, had seen NASA astronaut John Glenn orbit the Earth. But instead of focusing on those successes, President Kennedy began his speech by noting the inauspicious beginning of the National Academy of Sciences in the middle of the Civil War.

“It is impressive to reflect that 100 years ago, in the midst of a savage fraternal war, the United States Congress established a body devoted to the advancement of scientific research,” Kennedy said. “The recognition then of the value of ‘abstract science’ ran against the grain of our traditional preoccupation with technology and engineering.”

With President Kennedy in Constitution Hall that day was Dr. Jerome Wiesner, his influential science advisor. As noted in Wiesner’s New York Times obituary, Dr. Wiesner played “a key role in trying to work a sensible public policy out of the increasingly complex interrelationships between Government and science,” and his counsel proved invaluable to President Kennedy in an age of atomic discovery and new space exploration.

President Kennedy’s own respect for science–including both the gifts it can offer mankind as well as the challenges it can pose–are evident in his words to the National Academy of Sciences:

“In the last hundred years, science has thus emerged from a peripheral concern of Government to an active partner. The instrumentalities devised in recent times have given this partnership continuity and force. The question in all our minds today is how science can best continue its service to the Nation, to the people, to the world, in the years to come…”“If scientific discovery has not been an unalloyed blessing, if it has conferred on mankind the power not only to create, but also to annihilate, it has at the same time provided humanity with a supreme challenge and a supreme testing. If the challenge and the testing are too much for humanity, then we are all doomed. But I believe that the future can be bright, and I believe it can be certain… As we begin to master the destructive potentialities of modern science we move toward a new era in which science can fulfill its creative promise.”

In his remarks that day President Kennedy noted science’s importance to all of humanity.

“The ocean, the atmosphere, outer space, belong not to one nation or one ideology, but to all mankind, and as science carries out its tasks in the years ahead, it must enlist all its own disciplines, all nations prepared for the scientific quest, and all men capable of sympathizing with the scientific impulse.”

Then came the emerging religious right, Nixon promoting the "silent majority", the "Nixon doctrine", and the "peace talks", that he thought would further his electoral chances, he wasn't promoting science.

[RapSoDee]

3. ...then corporations started sneaking GMOs & chemicals into the food chain...

...bodies and minds were corrupted. Consequently, the smartest and wisest Americans realized that "Corporate Science, Inc." was more interested in profits than in truth.

In this manner did "Corporate Science" poison the body politic, and cause all science (including real, independent science) to be regarded in a questionable light.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. No. Chemicals minor effect compared to media / football / teach-to-test / strangling ed. funding.

GMOs are not a cause. Aside from the facts of the GMOs themselves, GMOs were not prevalent for most of the years of the decline.

The media have dumbed-down critical thinking and turned elections into horse races instead of serious debating.

Glorification of athletes, especially football, has suffocated respect for intellectuals, science, knowledge, and critical thinking. It amps up emotional reactivity.

Teaching to the test and all those means of 'evaluating' teacher performance crowd out time helping kids learn critical thinking. Math education becomes learning rote algorithms and not learning analysis and creativity.

Art and music education are ejected from curricula. Very bad move because along with languages and math they grow prolific neural connections between all parts of the brain.

Republicans strangle government funding of education. Period.

[longship]

7. Plus, genetic modified food is safe.

Mainly because everything we eat is genetically modified. ALL OF IT!

The anti-GMO loons deny the science that unequivocally states that there is no difference in kind between what is now called genetic modification and what humans have been doing for thousands of years, indeed even what nature herself has been doing since life got its first start here some 3.5 billion years ago.

All life on Earth is from the same tree of life. We all share the same genes, even those from bacteria. The plurality of a human's mass IS bacterial. Get used to that fact, too. In fact, you have more bacterial cells in your body than so-called human cells.

WE ARE FRANKENFOOD! As is every other life form on Earth.

[Angry Dragon]

9. what abunch of bunk

[longship]

24. Science! It works.

You can try to deny it. But you cannot escape the conclusive data.

Mother Nature is what determines what's what, not that which you want to be true.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

25. An empty post & nearly empty title. If you expect move us, you don't have a clue about science. nt

[StarzGuy]

11. Exactly

You are right on with this analysis. I agree. I was a high school science teacher from the late 1970's to the mid 2000's. I can't tell you how awful teaching became during that period. It most certainly not good for students. Here is an example. I taught astronomy and geology to 9 and 10 grade students. I took it upon myself to set up my own telescope and have my students view a solar eclipse. Of coarse with a full aperture solar filter to protect eyes. I set up the scope in the quad area, a little way from my classroom on the second floor. (2000 student high school). You might think that the administration would be thankful for going above and beyond. Nope. All, I got was a condemnation for making students a couple of minutes late for their next class. Needless to say, I decided that would be my last time doing this sort of sciencey thing for students.

Of course I received lip service for anything that I might propose and with year after year of cutbacks things only got worse.

After 19 years in the same school district I had enough and quit by resignation. Now, good luck finding another teaching job. With 20+ years and lots of graduate education and with regulations in place it was impossible to get a similar position that paid the same. I ended up accepting a teaching assignment on the Navajo Reservation. I had excellent support from my boss. I got, with in reason just about anything I wanted for my classroom and students. We even built an astronomical observatory on campus for students to use. Sorry to say that with these kids reading was something not in their culture. And of course, there was no interest in using the observatory. I must admit, the climate on the res was awful. Sand and dust storms just about ruined the astronomical equipment in the observatory so I removed them and put them on display in my classroom. Still, no interest in astronomy. We were fortunate to be able to purchase the Astronomical Calendar with the emphasis on Indian culture of astronomy as the theme. I found out that most of these kids either didn't know how to read Navajo or were instructed early on not to do so. In either case here again there was no interest with students in learning about their own culture in terms of astronomy. How weird is that?

Finally, I got so sick that I had to retire after 7 years there. I've been on disability ever since.

[Ghost Dog]

26. Thank you for your account and your efforts there.

Heartbreaking.

[Oneironaut]

29. Schools strike me as nothing more than baby-sitting these days.

I'm not insulting teachers - they're the true victims. They want to teach. It's the idiot school administrators who want a totally-PC, not-too-hard, by-the-books curriculum. This, all so that students can do well on a test and make them look good.

Everything must be robotic. There's no challenge. Just learn this and that because it's on a dumb test - don't worry about really thinking about it or applying it to the real world.

Correct me if I'm wrong (I'm a millennial and my experience in school was nothing short of dull and robotic). Most of the tests seemed like bs - especially scantron sheets. They didn't test your knowledge at all - just how well you could test and memorize minor details of complex subjects.

I'm not pretending to be some genius. I bombed some tests and did perfectly on other ones. My point is, tests felt like more of a grind and rote memorization of exact lines from the textbook than actually learning new material. All was quickly forgotten shortly after.

Sorry if the term "baby-sitting" sounds harsh - it's a hyperbole. I hope my real point actually sticks out.

[Glamrock]

34. And now for the "old man" statement.

Kids these days. Fuck are they stupid!

O. K. Now that I got my father out of my head, I can go on to agree with you. I had pretty good teachers when I was a student. But my French teacher? Sister Mary Ellen. The most boring teacher ever. I passed. I can't speak French. So, I can't imagine being taught to a test. I don't think I'd learn anything. Not to mention the fact that critical thinking isn't really something you can teach if you are teaching to a test. So again, I think you are right.

I also think that funding is playing a huge part. I'm working with some twenty somethings. And while I realize I might be surprised by "the dumb" if I had a chance to talk to 20yr old Glamrock, these kids? Wow man. Just...wow. The following is an actual conversation cruising down the road in the work truck:
Me: I think our bicentennial 's coming up.
So & so: What the country?
(Pause. Driver and I look at each other)
Me: No man, Indiana.
So & so: Oh. Well, should be the same.
Driver: The same as what?
So & so: As the U. S. Duh.
Me: Why would it be the same.?
So & so: I'm pretty sure Indiana was one of the original 13 colonies.
(Longer pause. Driver and I look at each other. Both our faces suggest we've been hit with a WTF stick.)
Driver and I : NO IT WASN'T!
So & so: I'm pretty sure it was.
Me: I'm pretty sure it wasn't! Google is your friend man, Google is your friend.
(Driver and I now looking at each other shaking our heads.)
So & so: Oh. Yeah. I guess not.
Me (playing the part of Red Foreman): Dumbass!

And I got a bunch of those conversations. But, they are all from some failed Indiana towns that lost the two factories that the towns were built around. The schools are slowly losing funding as students move out of the district. It's a sad thing to see. It's getting to a point that the kids are doing 45+ minute bus rides due to the condensing of all these schools.

And for the record, I don't think all kids today are stupid. I don't think my guys are stupid. They can figure out shit. They learn pretty quick. Could be excellent workers if they could be on fucking time and put the fucking phone down! FUCK! But I digress. They're good kids. You just wonder sometimes, "Man, did you even go to school? "

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. No. Religiosity and political polemics have a much greater effect.

[Phlem]

12. Spot on.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

14. Good grief, I didn't know Ohio was one of those states!

I was never exposed to it as a child in school.

On the other hand, my teachers in elementary school were generally so terrible, especially in regard to science, that it probably wouldn't have mattered too much. I'm just thankful that my school district had excellent teachers in junior high and high school.

[Calista241]

16. It may not be available, but I'd love to see a source for some of

The claims in that graphic. I find it nigh impossible that many people still think the sun orbits the earth.

I grew up, was educated by, and still live in one of those red states, and I was taught all about how Nicolaus Copernicus discovered that the Earth and other planets revolve around the sun and not that everything revolves around the Earth.

My impression is that people here believe creationism's one major tenant is that everything is 5000 or so years old, or whatever the actual number is. My understanding is that most creationists believe that while God created everything, and he did it by processes we are beginning to understand and discover today, like the Big Bang. Very few Christians, and I work with a bunch, believe man just sprang up from the ground because someone snapped their fingers.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

19. It wouldn't surprise me if some of my elementary school teachers...

... believed that the Sun orbited the Earth! I'm not kidding.

Of course, all of the bodies are actually orbiting around the center of mass... which just happens to be within the Sun since it's easily the most massive object in our solar system.

I recently worked with a college graduate (business major) who didn't know that the stars were faraway suns! He even had the audacity to argue with me, claiming that they were all distant planets like Venus or Mars.

[LanternWaste]

23. I'd imagine close to 99% of all American believe national borders exist as well

I'd imagine close to 99% of all American believe imaginary borders exist as well and would argue a particular allocation of actual, non-fictional resources to some, and denial to others based on that sentiment alone...

Magical thinking, indeed.

[Major Nikon]

28. Hydric acid is commonly used as an industrial solvent and is now in most food items

In most instances it doesn't have to be labeled even though it can be fatally toxic even in small doses. Andy Warhol died from it.

[Adrahil]

31. CHEMICALS!!???? DEAR JEEBUS NO!!!!!

Stuff like H2O, C12H22O11, and all kinds of nefarious stuff!

[Major Nikon]

36. There is just no acceptable level of any chemical to ingest, ever

-- Food babe

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2015/02/12/the-food-babe-there-is-just-no-acceptable-level-of-any-chemical-to-ingest-ever/

[stage left]

4. K&R nt

[Helen Borg]

8. You don't go to the moon,

if you don't believe in science!

[The CCC]

10. Nation Apparently Believed in Science at Some Point

Science doesn't care what any one believes, only what can be sustained by repeated experiment in nature and/or in the laboratory.

[Phlem]

18. True but science should care about funding

cause we all can't afford to build our own satellites and launch them into orbit.

Though that would be very cool.

https://science.house.gov/about/members

Full Chair: Lamar Smith, Republican; Texas
http://lamarsmith.house.gov/

Chairman Emeritus: Jim Sensenbrenner, Republican; Wisconsin
http://sensenbrenner.house.gov/

Vice Chair/Committee: Frank D. Lucas, Republican; Oklahoma
http://lucas.house.gov/

Full Committee: Eddie Bernice Johnson, Democrat; Texas
http://ebjohnson.house.gov/

They all seem to come from dense, high tech areas and must know what they're talking about right?

[Buckeye_Democrat]

13. I read that a large portion of scientists used to be Republican back in the 60's.

Not anymore...

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2010/12/lab_politics.html

A Pew Research Center Poll from July 2009 showed that only around 6 percent of U.S. scientists are Republicans; 55 percent are Democrats, 32 percent are independent, and the rest "don't know" their affiliation.

It's surely related to Republicans more strongly embracing the religious, anti-science factions of our country. Those people have been around since this country was founded.

[tclambert]

15. I blame George Lucas.

Okay, here's how this train of logic goes (climb aboard!): Lucas made this fantastically popular movie called "Star Wars," released in 1977, about the time this shift in attitudes occurred. "Star Wars" is called a science fiction movie, yet it is really a swords and sorcery fantasy . . . with spaceships. None of the science fiction parts make sense. The spaceships do many impossible things, like making noise in space, and maneuvering just like fighter planes in an atmosphere, and the tiniest ships seem able to jump from one star system to another. It has desert planets and ice planets that have plenty of oxygen despite having almost no plants. Imperial storm troopers wear armor that doesn't protect them from any known weapons, not light sabers, not blasters (even handgun sized blasters), not even against Ewoks. The blasters aren't as effective as our current machine guns. (Jesse Ventura with a mini-gun could have won any of the battles.) And they literally use magic.

Yet people came to think of this as science fiction, while hard science fiction, and science itself became confused in people's minds with magic and fantasy. Since "Star Wars," real science fiction has nearly disappeared, and the public's understanding and respect for real science has blended with their attitudes towards magic tricks ("Oh, that's so fake.&quot

Okay, the propaganda war against global warming started about then, too. And the tobacco industry fought hard to pioneer the methodology for casting doubts on science. But I'm blaming "Star Wars." And I didn't even mention Jar Jar Binks.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

17. LOL! I'm not sure if that was tongue-in-cheek, but older science fiction...

... was pretty terrible too.

Corporate propaganda against science goes back further too. The oil and automobile industries fought hard against science that indicated health dangers from use of leaded gasoline. It took a long time before science prevailed in that battle.

[awoke_in_2003]

30. I took my grandson to see the latest SW movie

He is coming down on Labor Day weekend, and Amazon Prime has all of them. He wants to watch them. We plan on watching the in the proper sequence. I have to figure out how to explain Jar Jar so that he doesn't bomb out before the classic trilogy

[Adrahil]

32. "It gets better" NT

[awoke_in_2003]

33. I did warn him

that the speed effects on the newer ones are better, but the older ones are a better story. Heck, I was a kid when the first ones came out

[TygrBright]

20. Not funny, alas... makes me cry. n/t

[allan01]

21. in my mind that can be pinned to one movie

by the name of capricorn one with oj simpson ,that called into question that the Apollo moon landings were faked . and the rest went downhill from there

[Oneironaut]

27. More true satire.

- GMOs are toxic and should be blanket-banned despite no evidence of this
- The earth is really flat, and it's all a big conspiracy. Prove it, but any evidence you provide is fake.
- 9/11 was a controlled demolition. You could see the thermite. Also, the planes were really missiles.
- God and the Bible always take precedence over science. It's all a conspiracy.
- Global warming is also a conspiracy. It was 0 degrees yesterday in my town. Therefore, the world is not heating up. All evidence is faked.
- The Bible needs to replace school curriculum because it's more important.
- Vaccines all cause autism. Never get them for your child. There's no evidence for this because it's all a conspiracy.

Did I miss any?

[cpwm17]

35. JFK was murdered by a big conspiracy: name your favorite one out of many proposed theories.

[Major Nikon]

37. Vaccines are a government sponsored depopulation tactic

http://www.globalresearch.ca/depopulation-vaccine-in-kenya-and-beyond/5413445

US used Nukes on Iraq, Afghanistan
http://www.globalresearch.ca/breaking-us-used-nukes-on-iraq-afghanistan-atomic-bomb-dropped-on-tora-bora-expert/27972

Zionists control America from top to bottom
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-state-and-local-bases-of-zionist-power-in-america/20877

Chemtrails are used for nefarious geo-engineering
http://www.globalresearch.ca/geo-engineering-and-changing-the-world-through-stories/5445209

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) – Planned Sterilization of Humanity?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/geo-engineering-and-changing-the-world-through-stories/5445209

“The True Story of the Bilderberg Group” and What They May Be Planning Now
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-true-story-of-the-bilderberg-group-and-what-they-may-be-planning-now/13808

Not surprisingly, the source is a favorite of even some DUers.