The ‘pandemic’ and danger of science illiteracy in America.
The dangerous ‘pandemic’ of science illiteracy in America.
By: Michael
Pravica, Ph.D.
Recently, I was asked
to participate in a meeting and discussion on climate change for the Democratic
party during the February debate in Las Vegas1. I was excited for
the opportunity to offer some input on how to develop strategies to combat
climate change and to possibly connect and work with other scientists on this
critical and ever worsening problem.
However, to my immense disappointment, I quickly realized that all of
the people present were politicians, activists, and other nonscientists. I was the only bonafide scientist in the room.
We spent more time discussing the racial and gender diversity of the
group and climate racism than climate change itself. This is symptomatic of how token scientists are marginally
“involved” in public discourse and decision-making on issues that are all about
science.
With this in mind,
consider now how our nation is dealing with the COVID-19 crisis. Our president
shut down an office dedicated to studying and handling pandemics and thought
that this year’s flu vaccine would work with the coronavirus2 (!) There is deep confusion, mixed messages, and
ignorance among our elected officials and in the general public of how to
protect oneself from deadly pathogens and prevent them from being spread. This has caused critical errors in the preparation
for and handling of this pandemic which means that we will suffer even more as
a society. Ignorance kills! We also seem to have forgotten that an ounce
of prevention (and preparation) prevents much more than a pound of cure. And now,
we live in a tragic era where no one trusts anyone and fake news is ubiquitous
and no one seems to trust scientists anymore and they are routinely censored.
Even a representative of the Chinese government tried to blame the US on
the coronavirus based on a article in Global Research from Canada that
was written by a businessman - not a scientist3-4!
This sadly is not the
only example of poor decision making and mistrust of science because of worsening
science illiteracy. Our president has
hired a slew of inexperienced and unqualified people to lead scientific and scientific-supporting
organizations such as the Department of Education. In one notable case, he hired an 80 year old
physicist, emeritus Prof. William Happer (who is skeptical that there is any
anthropogenic climate change) as his chief climate science czar5. I
personally debated Prof. Happer in a mock trial of climate change in 2016 here
in Las Vegas for the FreedomFest conference6 and was totally not
impressed with his arguments. He didn’t
seem up-to-date on the latest climate science data and didn’t have an answer
for me when I explained that CO2 isn’t the only greenhouse gas that
we have to worry about - i.e. that we need to consider the effects of methane
(released from melting permafrost) and smog (e.g. NO2 and SO2)
when examining the “bigger picture” of how our atmosphere is being altered via all of these gases retaining more energy from the sun. These are the kinds of people the President
Trump brings into his inner circle to confirm his anti-science bias. Add to this the fact that climate scientists
have been routinely censored and even forbidden from presenting their results
at scientific conferences7(!) when their conclusions don’t match the
opinions of science-illiterate politicians8, and we can see a
massive crisis brewing for our nation. Not understanding nature/science can
have devastating consequences. The
coronavirus pandemic is merely the tip of the iceberg of what is to come.
We are also suffering
from science-illiteracy in the corporate sector despite the fact that it heavily
relies on the benefits of science and applied science (engineering). Boeing, once one of America’s great companies
has been decimated because it chose to outsource large portions of the design,
software and construction of its “next generation” airplanes (in particular the
737 MAX) to substandard engineering firms outside of the US. Instead of completely redesigning the shell and
frame of the plane to accommodate new, larger and far more powerful GE jet
engines, they choose to largely keep the original design of the older 737 model
and use correction software to “prevent” pilots from overcorrecting and
overusing these powerful engines, which, due to their larger size could stall
if the angle of attack was too high during takeoff. This resulted (not surprisingly) in crashes
of two of these planes because 1. the pilots had not been properly trained in
how to use this software10 and 2. the software depended on a single
angle-of-attack sensor11 which failed/was somehow damaged in the case of at least one of the
crashes. No scientist or engineer with a
proper education in science would ever design anything that depends on only one
sensor - especially not for a plane. But for a company with profit as its only
motive, this dumb action “makes sense” for the sake of saving a few
dollars. By outsourcing to cheaper third
world inexperienced firms12, Boeing has lost billions of dollars and
American prestige in the aviation industry has been seriously damaged.
Another example of
poor leadership pertaining to a manmade disaster was during the BP Deepwater
Horizon Oil spill in the Gulf in 2010 which caused irreparable damage to natural
ecosystems and massive economic damage to the Gulf region13. Instead of dropping a few parking lots on top
of the broken well head to permanently seal it14-15, BP wanted to
preserve the well head16 and drilled a relief well to reduce
pressure at the broken wellhead so it could be capped. This action, which required months, released
millions of gallons of toxic oil into the Gulf.
Yet again, science and Nature had to take a backseat to profit and
politics.
The key problem in
America is that corporate CEOs and politicians often don’t have science or
engineering degrees (Ph.D.s, M.Sc.s or B.Sc.s) but MBAs and JDs
(respectively). Yet, the fact is that
our nation is so prosperous, more than any other reason, because of
science. Science permeates every aspect
of our existence from our cell phones, medicine, construction, mining,
agriculture, MRIs, satellites, jet engines/planes, road vehicles, electrical
energy, food, microwaves, homes, clothing, internet and on and on. We live in a day and age dominated by
science. In fact, there is simply no physical way that 7.7 billion people could inhabit this small planet without using the miracles derived from scientific inquiry. Whether it is the economy,
national well being, or national security, we all heavily depend on the
miracles derived from scientific research to drive innovation and seek solutions
to impending crises such as climate change, overpopulation, pollution of our
ecosystem, and resource management. More
than anything else, our achievements in scientific research made us the world’s
chief superpower.
On top of that, the US
has recently withdrawn from recent nuclear arms treaties with Russia
essentially starting an arms race where the nation that offers the best support
to scientists will end up engendering superior weapons17. Are we really up to the challenge to start a
new arms race when scientists are destitute and going to other nations such as
China for research funding18 due to our leaders reducing funding for
science? Does our president honestly
think that scientists can be as easily hired as gas station attendants? Ready
at a moment’s notice to solve America’s critical science-based problems when he
deems it necessary and then laid off again right afterwards? Sorry, but that’s not how it works. Training scientists takes decades of hard
work. When they move on it is very
difficult to bring them back and we lose decades of experience associated with
their field of expertise19.
Scientific research is not something that you do from 9-to-5 with a
punch card clock. You are always
involved in it. It absorbs you like nothing else. Defunding science has had a very drastic
effect on our economy and prosperity and now on our health.
As globalism takes
root around the world (with concomitant and rapid exchange of everything
including pathogens), as the human population continues increasing
exponentially, as natural resources dwindle, and as we continue to pollute our
ecosphere, we are creating the conditions for far worse pandemics, and ever
worsening climate catastrophes which will cause the deaths and suffering of
millions (if not billions) and create widespread food shortages. This is what happens when you think you can
control and don’t need to respect Nature - it will find a way to beat you
down.
Humans are most
terrified of phenomena that they do not understand. Science has given us a
unique opportunity to study and respect Nature as unbiased and rational
observers which has allowed us to garner novel insights about who we are and
has helped us to develop novel technologies and strategies for our survival and
prosperity. Sadly, despite the fact that
we all depend heavily on science, we are destroying science in this country by
censoring and not listening to scientists and not supporting scientific
research. Yet, as we abuse and overuse the miracles derived
from scientific research, only scientists will be able to help us solve the
critical problems generated from this abuse such as overpopulation, climate
change, pollution of our ecosphere, pandemics (caused in large part by
globalism and overpopulation), dwindling natural resources, etc. These problems are only going to worsen with
time as the world’s population continues to grow. Yet, it’s like we’re going backward in time
to the Middle Ages because the majority of humanity doesn’t understand science and don't even understand that they don't understand. I honestly shudder for the future of this country.
When we eventually
emerge from this horrific pandemic nightmare, we need to encourage science
literacy in the general public so that citizens will elect scientifically-trained
leaders – not just flashy verbalists who are unable to focus and who live by
soundbytes and tweets, play golf, and jet set around the world clinking glass
and hobnobbing with each other. We need
to have a serious debate about how to resurrect strong support and faith in
science and scientists. If you can’t believe a scientist, whom can you believe?
With the vast
majority of America’s overpaid but useless social, political and business science-illiterate
“elites,” we are merely coasting on past scientific achievements and they are impotent when it comes to finding solutions that only scientists can. This will doom us to an uncertain but
certainly impoverished future because Nature will always ultimately win - we
are part of Nature not the other way around, whether we like it or not. It looks as if we are following the path of
Ancient Rome20.
Donald Trump had the
right intentions when he sought to “Make America Great Again” but because he
doesn’t understand precisely what it was that made America the superpower it is
today, he and all of our leaders have faltered by not supporting science and
the real heroes of our society:
scientists.
References:
5.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/21/william-happer-trump-white-house-climate-crisis
10.
https://fortune.com/2019/10/30/737-max-crashes-boeing-ceo-grilled-in-house-hearing-for-lack-pilot-training-mcas-flight-system/
12.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-28/boeing-s-737-max-software-outsourced-to-9-an-hour-engineers
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