Why I bring up science literacy
Last night I heard about Bikram yoga from a family member. To get you up to speed, it is a form of yoga that goes through a set of poses in an extremely hot room. Now, this sounds crazy to me, but who am I to stop an adult from doing what they want? In fact, I'm fine with people doing harmless, goofy things, since those are the sorts of things I enjoy. kP is 6.5 and the sun is down? Let's go out in the country and look for the aurora.
Where my eyebrow starts to twitch is when big claims are made: like the heat and the motion help work toxins out of your body. I don't like to cast stones, but when someone makes a claim they need to bring evidence. If you claim that yoga is generally good for you because is makes you mindful of your body or just gets you to start moving yourself, I'm fine. Or if you claim that yoga is part of a balanced exercise regimen, I'm fine. You've not claimed anything uncontroversial. Or at least you've not claimed anything that cannot be disproved, because it is subjective.
The instant you start telling me it removes toxins and boosts the immune system, I get skeptical. You have crossed the objectivity line. Since I can't help myself, I challenged the person telling me about the supposed benefits. She got quite upset that I dared to suggest that some of the benefits were hooey.
Do people have science literacy?
Clearly some of us do. It would have to be difficult to get any sort of college degree in science, engineering or math and not have a solid science literacy. But what about people who only have a high-school diploma. My wife and I were discussing this and have opposite opinions. She thinks no. I think yes.
On further reflection, my wife is right. The majority of adult Americans probably have little grasp on the principles of science. And why would they? I don't have a grasp on accounting beyond balancing a checkbook. I don't have a grasp on the law beyond basic behaviors—for example, don't steal or murder. Science is a professional pursuit that requires specialization.
On the other hand, failure to understand some of the basic principles of science can make you believe wacky things. Like alien abduction or detoxification*.
How do you get science literacy?
You can always hurry over to your local college and get a degree in one of the hard sciences. Or you can read this blog. To help remedy the situation, I'll post on this blog every Monday (at least over the summer) about science literacy. I'll give it a science literacy tag to help you sort it out from the other noise I may publish here.
See you next Monday.
*Note: I initially spelled "detoxification" as "detoxifiction." Freudian slip much?
Last night I heard about Bikram yoga from a family member. To get you up to speed, it is a form of yoga that goes through a set of poses in an extremely hot room. Now, this sounds crazy to me, but who am I to stop an adult from doing what they want? In fact, I'm fine with people doing harmless, goofy things, since those are the sorts of things I enjoy. kP is 6.5 and the sun is down? Let's go out in the country and look for the aurora.
Where my eyebrow starts to twitch is when big claims are made: like the heat and the motion help work toxins out of your body. I don't like to cast stones, but when someone makes a claim they need to bring evidence. If you claim that yoga is generally good for you because is makes you mindful of your body or just gets you to start moving yourself, I'm fine. Or if you claim that yoga is part of a balanced exercise regimen, I'm fine. You've not claimed anything uncontroversial. Or at least you've not claimed anything that cannot be disproved, because it is subjective.
The instant you start telling me it removes toxins and boosts the immune system, I get skeptical. You have crossed the objectivity line. Since I can't help myself, I challenged the person telling me about the supposed benefits. She got quite upset that I dared to suggest that some of the benefits were hooey.
Do people have science literacy?
Clearly some of us do. It would have to be difficult to get any sort of college degree in science, engineering or math and not have a solid science literacy. But what about people who only have a high-school diploma. My wife and I were discussing this and have opposite opinions. She thinks no. I think yes.
On further reflection, my wife is right. The majority of adult Americans probably have little grasp on the principles of science. And why would they? I don't have a grasp on accounting beyond balancing a checkbook. I don't have a grasp on the law beyond basic behaviors—for example, don't steal or murder. Science is a professional pursuit that requires specialization.
On the other hand, failure to understand some of the basic principles of science can make you believe wacky things. Like alien abduction or detoxification*.
How do you get science literacy?
You can always hurry over to your local college and get a degree in one of the hard sciences. Or you can read this blog. To help remedy the situation, I'll post on this blog every Monday (at least over the summer) about science literacy. I'll give it a science literacy tag to help you sort it out from the other noise I may publish here.
See you next Monday.
*Note: I initially spelled "detoxification" as "detoxifiction." Freudian slip much?
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