NASAFanboy Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Blog/2014/02/11/Majority-of-young-adults-think-astrology-is-a-science/5201392135954/THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nhnifong Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Agreed! On a related note, I told my friend that "universe" means "everything" and there is nothing beyond it. He said "what about string theory, it says there are 10 dimensions"He thought that a dimension is some kind of place you can go to, presumably by opening a magical gate or something. I think it's so strange that someone can know about so many scientific things, yet not really understand any of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lajoswinkler Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 This is a perfect example of a bad survey. People don't know the semantic difference between astrology and astronomy. Instead of "astrology", they should've used "horoscopes", and the survey would probably be a lot more different, although the results would still be devastating, just like they are with acceptance of basic foundations of the phenomenon we call biological evolution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerbart Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Irony: news article does unscientific swaperoo to make for more spectacular headline.Here's from the actual REPORT:Fewer Americans rejected astrology in 2012 than inrecent years.♦ In 2012, slightly more than half of Americans said thatastrology was “not at all scientific,†whereas nearly twothirdsgave this response in 2010. The comparable percentagehas not been this low since 1983.Now, I'm not saying that's a good result. Not at all. The "more than half" does not reflect all Americans, "just" the group of "young people."Which is still unacceptable. Commenting any more on that would quickly move this thread into forbidden territory and I have enough infractions on my name as it is, so I'll stay away from that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerbart Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 This is a perfect example of a bad survey. People don't know the semantic difference between astrology and astronomy. Instead of "astrology", they should've used "horoscopes", and the survey would probably be a lot more different, although the results would still be devastating, just like they are with acceptance of basic foundations of the phenomenon we call biological evolution.One can equally argue that it's just as bad when people give the wrong answer if they cannot differentiate astrology from astronomy. Without seeing the actual survey questions it is hard to question this though; it is likely that the question does outline the difference between the two sciences. Surveys at that level are usually performed by professionals who know how to limit bias and confusion as much as possible in their questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuke Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 (edited) seems everytime somone conducts a survey, they only ask the opinions of the obnoxious loud mouthed idiots and not the introverted nerds that have better things to do than to fill out survey forms.Irony: news article does unscientific swaperoo to make for more spectacular headline.also this. im declaring today febuary 12th, national key a newsvan day. you know what to do internet! Edited February 12, 2014 by Nuke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZedNova Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 The majority of Americans think creationism is a Science too, but i don't want to start a debate here.And besides, most of the people that think astrology is a science are probably confusing it with Astronomy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razark Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 ...it is likely that the question does outline the difference between the two sciences.Astronomy vs. astrology. There's only one science involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NASAFanboy Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 NVM.I can't believe I jsut posted on the wrong thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteWeasel Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 This is a perfect example of a bad survey. People don't know the semantic difference between astrology and astronomy. Instead of "astrology", they should've used "horoscopes", and the survey would probably be a lot more different, although the results would still be devastating, just like they are with acceptance of basic foundations of the phenomenon we call biological evolution.So it's using the words' connotation over the definition to skew the results. Like saying ______ is evil because they bear the swastika, although it had an entirely different meaning before hitler came along. I remember seeing in a social studies textbook, that a way to bias something is by using euphemism. Such as referring to civilians casualties as "collateral damage" to paint their soldiers in a better light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bsalis Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 The vast majority of people are Science illiterate.I'm often amazed how little people know about elementary science knowledge that you would learn at High School. It's a great tragedy, but no one seems to think it's a problem because... the vast majority of people are Science illiterate. It least in the developing world you can blame the education system, but for Western industrial nations there are no excuses. Our civilisations are built on Science and Rationalism.He said "what about string theory, it says there are 10 dimensions"The fact that he is even aware of String Theory and that it involves many dimensions already puts him well into the more knowledgeable end of the bell curve.People don't know the semantic difference between astrology and astronomy.People should still know the difference by name alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seret Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 People should still know the difference by name alone.They should, but many probably don't. The study did allow that:One difficulty with this question is that astrology is based on observation of planets and stars and respondents might believe that this makes it "sort of scientific" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peadar1987 Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 One person who believes in astrology is too many! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Crichton Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 (edited) Sad...but not surprising. Just look at the number of people claiming evolution is "just a theory" or that global warming is a "hoax". I guess that's what happens if you allow people on the government science committee who claim the earth is 6k years old and humans walked around with dinosaurs. Also doesn't help that a certain political party tries over and over and over again to allow the teaching of creationism (sorry, "intelligent design") as a valid alternative to evolution and abiogenesis. People are systematically dumbed down. I remember my parents taking me to the US when I was in primary school. They taught us about evolution when I was 9 years old...but when we had a chat about school and what they teach us with our friends in the US, they just looked at us as if we were stupid when evolution came up. FRUSTRATING!!! Mostly because while I consider them friends, I also lost quite a lot of respect for them. Didn't even matter when we debunked every single one of their nonsense claims...they start with the conclusion (god did it) and then ignore everything that doesn't support that conclusion. In short, they're denying reality. PS: My uncle made a living of giving astrological "seminars". Made a good amount of cash that way and "read me" a couple of times. Let me reassure you, astrology is complete and utter nonsense...hogwash...snake oil...BS! Edited February 13, 2014 by John Crichton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoMorph Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 There are a LOT of people these days that misread words or use them in the wrong context. The one that bothers me no end is something like "The bomb landed amongst the ten thousand and decimated them, leaving only a few people standing." At first look it appears fine... until you realise that decimated IS NOT THE SAME AS DEVASTATED. Decimated means killing 1 in 10 so if that bomb decimated the 10,000 there would be 9000 left. But I still read decimated a lot of the time where the correct word is devastated.So yeah, when I see people thinking Astrology is a science I want to throw a dictionary at them lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elthy Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 The more i read about education and stuff like that in the USA the more i am afraid. Strong political forces who take god as the only foundation of their politics and an (at least it seems like this) educational system close to complete breakdown (teaching creationism, extreme liabilities for going to university, no political interests etc.). Im afraid that, if we have an asteroid threatening and we need Nasa, the future US-President just would start praying or declare its god's punishment for sins... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanamonde Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Please keep in mind that religion and politics are both topics to avoid on the forum (rule 2.2.b), because they have a tendency to make friends into enemies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Iron Crown Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Sad...but not surprising. Just look at the number of people claiming evolution is "just a theory" *snip* You know that evolution is a theory, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sid Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Sad...but not surprising. Just look at the number of people claiming that - SNIP - global warming is a "hoax".It's called climate change now, get with the program Of course it's a hoax. It's seized on by politicians because it gives them yet another excuse to tax us and by watermelons ( green on the outside, red on the inside ) because they realise that the only way to sell socialism after it's history of economic failure and genocide is to claim that if there isn't economic central planning and wealth redistribution the planet will explode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal_vager Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 Religion, politics, conspiracy theories, junk "science" and now (insert topic her) denial...Yeah, this thread doesn't really belong on these forums, closing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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