The “Anti-Science” movement is not only wrong, it’s harmful
As I’ve noted in the past, there’s an undercurrent of anti-science that has always been a part of the American life-style. This undercurrent holds that science and the pursuit of knowledge is somehow undesirable or even “evil.”
Ironically, this anti-science sentiment now spreads more quickly than ever thanks to advances in communications brought about by science. So, I thought I’d take this month’s column to push back a bit against some of the more popular anti-science concepts that are out there now.
The Earth is Flat
No, it isn’t. I don’t care how many YouTube videos you see that say it is, it isn’t. Even the ancients knew the Earth was a sphere and they proved it with simple experiments like…looking at the shadow of the Earth on the moon. It’s round. There. Done. You didn’t even have to launch yourself into space for this one.
Vaccines cause autism
No, they don’t. And even if they did, so what? Would you rather have an autistic child, or a dead one? But, again, vaccines do not cause autism. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that vaccines have made our current world possible by slowing down and in some cases halting, the spread of diseases that would otherwise make our global civilization impossible.
Vaccines have saved countless, countless lives and if you don’t vaccinate your kids, you’re putting your child’s life in danger, as well as the lives of the children around them and the elderly in your social circle.
Also, get a flu shot. Yes, it’s not as effective as we’d like it to be this year, but it does work. And even at a reduced effectiveness, it reduces the effect of the flu and saves lives.
Evolution isn’t real
Yes it is real and it’s happening all around us all of the time. There are experiments that show it happening in real time with microbes, and there are populations of fish and birds that have been observed to evolve at such speeds that we can observe it directly over a few years.
Furthermore, pretty much all of modern medicine is based on evolution. Without it as a unifying, underlying concept, very little of medicine makes sense. And, if someone you know trots out that, “If we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?” question, ask them if they have any cousins.
The reason there are still monkeys, is because monkeys are our cousins. We didn’t replace them, we have a common ancestor (like the grandparents you share with your cousins), and evolved beside them.
The Earth is 6,000 years old
No it isn’t. It’s about 4.5 billion years old. There are multiple lines of evidence (geological, fossil, etc.) that give us the same age for the earth. The belief in a “Young Earth” as it’s called, is just plain willful ignorance.
Climate Change isn’t real
Yes, it is. I’ve been over this multiple times in this very column, so you can go back and re-read those articles online if you want the detailed explanation.
The short version is this: The planet is warming at an alarming rate, with each of the past few years hotter than the last.
We’ve seen more frequent (and more extreme) weather events as a result, and they are costing us more and more each year in disaster relief and rebuilding. And, yes, it’s our fault.
Human civilization is pumping out more carbon every year, which traps more heat, which pushes the climate to change faster and faster. If we don’t address it soon, it may actually end our civilization.
So there you go, five anti-science concepts that we all need to fight back against. The best way is to vote for pro-science and pro-education candidates for office.
Also, get involved with your kid’s school and make sure they are teaching fact-based science. If they aren’t, show up at a PTA meeting and talk to the teachers and principal until it gets fixed.
Also, don’t be afraid to engage your anti-science friends and family in a discussion of the facts. The power of science is not just in uncovering knowledge, but also in sharing it.
The more knowledge we all have, the better off we all are.
Steven W. Disbrow is a programmer who specializes in e-commerce and mobile systems development, an entrepreneur, comic-book nerd, writer, improviser, actor, sometime television personality and parent of two human children.