Thursday, January 6, 2011

Science Dangerous?

Inegi's annual survey reports that 57 percent of respondents agreed that "due to their knowledge, scientific researchers have a power that makes them dangerous".

It's hard to know exactly what the context was here; if, for instance, the question followed a handful about nuclear weapons, then I can understand why people would be more likely to see science as a danger. And the mere act of asking the question with that creepy phrasing sticks an idea in the respondent's head that he more than likely would not have formulated on his own. But regardless, seeing science through the prism of dangerous outsiders rather than, We need to get some more of that, is worrying and counterproductive.

2 comments:

jd said...

Has Televisa been re-running The Island of Dr. Moreau a lot recently?

[Easy joke]

pc said...

Yeah I think what opened my eyes to that was the irrational fear of Marlon Brando's post-G'father career. 98 percent called it a threat to national security.