The beginning of the end of the age science and reason?

Question

We live in an age where reason, empiricism and science - if not exactly eroded, have to some extent, lost the high ground. It is not just the increasing belief in all things mystical and the increasing number of alternative therapies, faith healers and such (I make my nod to Richard Dawkins's current series here) but the way in which science, reason and empiricism have had such a poor showing against non-science, irrationality and everything which lacks empirical evidence; Andrew Wakefield's Lancet paper and the ensuing MMR debacle and Professor Roy Meadow's pronouncement on cot death are just two examples from the field that I work in, I'm sure you have many more from your respective fields.

Are we now on a slippery slope from which there is no way back or is there hope for science? I'd be very interested in your opinions.

Spotlight, no I haven't. Have you a link or ISBN number?

Er no, gatorbait, I'm a scientist by training and profession despite also having a background in politics and philosophy; -10 points for you then.

And you suspect wrongly Tom P, I'm a Brit born and bred. And er, doesn't all countries have, "fruitcakes"?

Answer 1

There is no way back from a slippery slope except upwards. What we must establish is a foothold. I think we've done that. Should a mystical being throw down a rope, it is debatable whether I would take hold. Have you read Arsewipe Daily, a view from the bottom?

Answer 2

We may be at the end of an age, but certainly not the age. If our current age of science and reason is ending, another age with different priorities will replace it. As for science, our largest technological advances have been during wartime, which is a near constant state. As for reason, this quest seems to change from generation to generation. I do not believe there is a great rise in mystical occurrences, just a better understanding of what has happened. I think our reason has always grown slower than our technological capabilities. I don't feel good about the future of a country that places so little emphasis on education. As long as people can ask and objectively answer questions such as this one, there is always hope. Thank you for your question.

Answer 3

Frank N has got the gist of it. Our educational system has eroded so bad that the general public has little concept of either science or religion or history. This educational system has been broken for so long that we now see a significant portion of the population with a dumbed down education. And of course as we all know the survival of a free and democratic society depends on an educated public. The problems you are alluding to in your question are to a large degree due to this effect, compounded by the rise of media that caters to the lowest common denominator which is now getting even lower.

Very little science is taught or even understood by most public school teachers. If you don't believe me, go volunteer to judge your local high school science fair.

Teachers are demoralized by the bureaucracy, the unions only help the inept, discipline is breaking down, and the current trend to bigger more consolidated school is only adding to the problem.

I have a close relative that is a public school science teacher and she is ready to give it up. The good are leaving the public system--it is broken and dying and has been for some time.

If it gets much worse then everybody will be home schooling.

Answer 4

Science and reason are not dead, but public understanding and respect for them has faded. Both tend to be neglected in today's public schools. Getting the government and unions out of education is probably the single most beneficial change that could be made. The mindset that dominates the media doesn't benefit if people think. Science is doing fine. Scientists who speak outside their expertise and beyond the evidence are a problem, and tend to give science a bad reputation.

Answer 5

Y'all must be mostly Americans (United States types).

In the USA since the Reagan years, religion and irrationality have gained a temporary foothold. But it's only temporary. Supernatural religion is actually fading fast in the US, and science and rationality are much stronger in Europe and Asia than they are here right now.

So the resources will be there for the reconstruction after the neocons have choked on their bile.

So it will all come out in the wash. Ralph Reed was not able to get his children to go to church. Most of the religionists that are making the big splash right now have the same problem. Rationality and scientific reality rule their children's lives, and the little period of religiosity in this country in Billy Graham's day will soon pass, just as surely as Billy himself.

Answer 6

It is simply evolution that things we know to be fact are proved wrong (the best scientific minds once knew the earth was flat!) but they are proved wrong by improving science not mysticism.

If science has had its day and we are going to rely on faith healers, alternative therapies and the irrational then pretty soon we will be back in the middle ages where superstition and bigotry ruled the day!!

Answer 7

I think that while we're not at the end, I am unsure as to the fate of science and reasonable thinking in general. Perhaps we're just going through a rough patch, but given the rise of religion all over the world I can't help but wonder...

Regardless, more atheists seem to be more vocal about their beliefs than ever before. As long as we continue to fight against blind faith, political oppression and subversion of facts I don't see an end in sight; no.

Answer 8

Prolly the beginning of a schism 'tween science and reason on one side and superstition and religiosity on t'other. Poss fewer peeps 2day r able or willing to use and understand math, science etc, and willing more to accept their cars, computers etc as dei ex machina or fait accompli.
I imagine that in the future there may be an elite of technocrats dominating/ruling the superstitious masses, and that their power and influence be ascribed to some magical or divine influence. I do not think any gr8 threat is presented 2 science, as whenever did it depend on the assent or approval of the hoi polloi?

Answer 9

It is human to look for answers, and maybe the problem is that generally, scientific understanding is so low that for many people the easier-to-understand answers are the 'mystical' ones. Maybe this is because our science teaching (I am writing from the UK) does not include 'scientific thinking'. For many people (I guess) 'science', as learnt in school, means remembering a list of answers which may seem as disconnected and random as those of the 'mystical' school of thought.

Maybe science in schools needs to include critical thinking and an understanding of the processes of science.

Answer 10

PG, I suspect you're from the USA.
The rest of us are often surprised with your country's huge number of fruitcakes, like the Discovery Centre and the Templeton Foundation, who pour millions into trying to run science down. Why? What do they hope to get out of it?