Friday, July 28, 2006
I.D. EMBARASSED
Here's a post I made on a very international, science-related forum I frequent, in a thread dealing with the so-called "intelligent design" movement in America:
As regular readers of [this] forum will know, I'm quite proud to be an American, but I flinch when I see posts that defend the idea that the Earth is 6000 years old, and that this idea is somehow identified with "American-ness." Of course, America is a very big, diverse country that was founded on a principle of open discussion and debate, and the sanctity of each individual's right to freely form and hold their own opinions. So we have this vigorous culture of messy, public, vigorous dialogue that takes place in the open for all the world to see. I suppose that being embarassed by the "intelligent design" movement is just one of the higher prices we have to pay for the liberty we cherish.
But it does make me despair for the future. I think that even a couple of decades ago, educated people in the West generally and the U.S. specifically assumed that, given enough education, the power of reason and science would prevail in the public sphere. Now I, at least, am not so sure. Our population is better educated than ever in terms of basic literacy. And we certainly have better access to information than we ever did -- by a large margin. But I perceive a rising tide of superstition and irrationalism in the U.S. and the world at large. The amplified means of communication appear to have merely provided an improved avenue for spreading simplistic, primitive ideas and cloaking them in the thinnest veneer of pseudo-science. I wish I could offer some countervailing factor that would offset this trend -- but look as hard as I can, I don't see one.
GB, THHotA
posted by Greg 7:05 AM
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