Alex WildJul 18, 2023

The challenge faced by science in the United States isn’t that scientists are awkward and bad at communication. It’s that we’re beset by propaganda and mass media channels funded by corrupt billionaires to sow confusion.

We need big, generously funded communications channels dedicated to verifiable reality. Scientists who are slightly better at talking isn’t going to cut it.

Show threadLucius Annaeus SenecaJul 18, 2023
@alexwild
I couldn't agree more. Against a constant tsunami of disinformation battering a largely scientifically illiterate population, the quality of the message is only part of the answer. Reach and volume are just as important. Our society depends on science and technology for its survival, but the vast majority of the population has no understanding of the scientific method and no concept that an objective reality exists.
Show threadËtikēmik
@Annaeus @alexwild I’d agree that most people probably have little to no grasp of scientific method; but do you really think that they also have no concept of an objective reality? I ask because, as far as I can see, part of the problem here is that most people believe themselves to understand objective reality perfectly well, which would be psychologically impossible if they had no concept of it.
Jul 18, 2023 at 2:49pmWeb
Show threadLucius Annaeus SenecaJul 18, 2023

@etikemik @alexwild

I suspect that most people underestimate bias (e.g. confirmation bias), so they believe there is an objective reality, but their version of reality includes mostly things they want to believe. The COVID pandemic was a glaring example of that. Climate change is another. There should be no argument that climate change is real and largely anthropogenic. But millions of people stubbornly deny it, either because their livelihoods depend on fossil fuels or for political reasons