Why Science Matters

I read an article from  scimag.org about how the public in general seems to feel about science. Here's an excerpt :

It's not just about evolution anymore. Growing anti-science sentiment in the United States now infuses public discourse on conservation, vaccination, distribution of research funds, and climate change . Low rates of scientific literacy exacerbate the problem. Although the public recognizes its indebtedness to the products of scientific knowledge, few understand much about the nature of that knowledge or the processes that generated it. Without a basic understanding of how science works, the public is vulnerable to antiscience propaganda, which engenders distrust of science when it comes to social issues, consumer choices, and policy decisions.

This has huge consequences for America. Why? Because without public support of science and technology the necessary research will not be funded and we will not be able to maintain our dominant role in the world. I believe I read recently that world leadership requires at least two things: a strong economy and sufficient support for scientific research. And those two things are completely interdependent. Obviously it takes a strong economy to fund the scientific research to maintain that leadership role. And science and technology powers much of economic growth. How different will the world be when China dominates the science and technology fields? Notice I said "when", not "if". China will pour the money into scientific research. One of the things provoking some anxiety in the Pentagon is China's research into anti-aircraft carrier missile technology. Those aircraft carriers are one of the primary ways we are able to project power around the world. We have one now prowling around the Korean peninsula to make North Korea think twice before getting even crazier. And China definitely does not like us having an aircraft carrier that close to their neighborhood.

China has a booming economy and has shed a lot of the rigid Communist economic ideology and policies that caused the collapse of the Soviet Union. She has implemented free market reforms that have transformed her in a couple of decades from a poverty stricken Third World country to the second largest economy in the world. And likely soon to be the largest. One difference will be funding for science. And the fact that their leaders don't have to answer to a scientifically illiterate public too oblivious to how that funding benefits them.

Science sustains our lives to a degree that most people, lacking any interest in science, seldom, if ever, consider. Take away those benefits and most of the world's population would probably be dead in a week or two. It's astounding that a field of study that has bestowed such bounty on humankind and makes modern life possible gets so little support. If that doesn't change we may have to get used to China calling the shots.