Some thoughts and three links on scientific literacy that I hope you’ll like:

First, we have a new article here at Chili Con Darwin about the topic. Second, if you think you are scientifically literate I dare you to take this test. And third, the Observer asked a celebrity panel of scientists and artists to answer some basic scientific questions to test the arts/science divide (thanks to James for the link). The questions made them sweat and their answers provide some bits of good entertainment. However, what is the important issue here? James asks: “How deep should one be able to go?  (with these scientific questions) What is the nature of the "should" in this question? (Is it) an ethic responsibility to be educated?, the ability to make informed decisions?, the ability to not look silly if caught in a pop science quiz?” And he goes a bit further:

“I am regularly struck with the fact that I, and others, do not really understand everyday items that we think that we do. I mentioned to you this example that almost everyone thinks that planes fly because of Bernoulli's principle; they do not. This is an example of misconception. There is also lack of conception. A rather large fraction of people believe that the seasons are caused by the earth's elliptical orbit: when we are far away from the sun it's cold and when we are close, it's warm. At the same time they know that when it is winter in North America (or Europe) it is summer in in Australia. Often, the apparent contradiction does surface.”

I agree. However, what bothers me the most is not so much the lack of understanding of these things but the lack of curiosity and self-doubt about what we know. People not only think seasons are caused by the earth's elliptical orbit, they believe it, in the sense that they don't question what they think they know, they don't consider the possibility that they might be wrong. 

Of course, it would be impossible to question everything all the time. Sometimes one needs to postpone the questioning and believe, and sometimes, a little bit of bull-shit is the best way out. However, it is the irrevocable resignation from the act of asking what I don’t understand.

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