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The illustrative tangent is far more disturbing. It suggest that ~80% of people have no clue what causes the seasons to change on Earth. Small wonder most peo

by dade_ 6y ago

The illustrative tangent is far more disturbing. It suggest that ~80% of people have no clue what causes the seasons to change on Earth. Small wonder most people believe anything on social media.

kortex 6y ago
I disagree. The questions are worded in a way that leads the reader to think the second question is about the first question's second clause. The issue here is people not reading carefully - if the blog is reporting the poll correctly. There is no reference to the actual poll, so it's not clear what the actual structure of the poll is.
- contravariant 6y ago
  Though even if they understood it as 'using the geocentric model, how long does it take for the sun to go around the earth?' their answer would be wrong. That said the reason to prefer a model where the Earth is stationary but rotating over a model where the Earth is both stationary and non-rotating (but everything else is) is somewhat technical and not something I would expect everyone to get correct (though it's technically high-school level physics). Perhaps the main reason people would answer questions like that wrong is that frankly the most useful model for day to day activities is one where the Earth is completely immobile.
ignoranceprior 6y ago
I wouldn't be surprised if a large proportion of people were not aware that Earth's axial tilt is responsible for the seasons.
- rrauenza 6y ago
  ....and that it's the angle of incidence not that the tilted part is "closer" We just had this conversation last night at dinner with my middle schooler. She thought the Earth's orbit was closer and farther during the year. Asked her just now and she hadn't been aware the seasons are reversed north and south. Now she's taking her cell phone flashlight and shining it at the ceiling at different angles :)
  - justincredible 6y ago
    The orbit is closer and farther at different times of the year, but that is not the reason for the change of seasons.
    - rrauenza 6y ago
      Right, elliptical. I meant to say she thought it was because of it.
mannykannot 6y ago
A while back, someone had the idea of posing that question to Harvard graduates at their graduation - and also some professors - and got a bunch of wrong answers, for the most part confidently expressed. There used to be a video of it readily available, but someone seems to have used copyright put a lid on it. Then again, not knowing the cause has almost no practical consequences for most people. I doubt that knowing the answer would make them less susceptible to most false claims about climate change, for example.
- jeffrallen 6y ago
  It is MIT, and about electric circuits: https://youtu.be/aIhk9eKOLzQ https://youtu.be/aIhk9eKOLzQ
  - ColinWright 6y ago
    Or about where the mass in a tree comes from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhCHb6xtqeY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhCHb6xtqeY
  - dade_ 6y ago
    When I was 6 or 7 we had these electric yo-yos that lit up when spinning. One of them wouldn’t work, and my friends mom was trying to test the lightbulb with two AA batteries stacked on top each other and the light bulb on positive saying the light was burnt out. I remember being frustrated trying to explain to her that the light could never work this way. Of course she knew better, and explained that a wire to the negative lead wasn’t needed because she was using 2 batteries. She was so confident.
  - mannykannot 6y ago
    That is a different one in the same vein (possibly the revenge of the humanities?) Evidence of the seasons question can be found in many places, such as here: http://dianetfalcon.weebly.com/knowing--learning/harvard-graduates-explain-the-seasons http://dianetfalcon.weebly.com/knowing--learning/harvard-gra... I had forgotten that it also had a 'phases of the moon' question.

by dade_ 6y ago

The illustrative tangent is far more disturbing. It suggest that ~80% of people have no clue what causes the seasons to change on Earth. Small wonder most people believe anything on social media.

kortex 6y ago

I disagree. The questions are worded in a way that leads the reader to think the second question is about the first question's second clause. The issue here is people not reading carefully - if the blog is reporting the poll correctly. There is no reference to the actual poll, so it's not clear what the actual structure of the poll is.

contravariant 6y ago
Though even if they understood it as 'using the geocentric model, how long does it take for the sun to go around the earth?' their answer would be wrong. That said the reason to prefer a model where the Earth is stationary but rotating over a model where the Earth is both stationary and non-rotating (but everything else is) is somewhat technical and not something I would expect everyone to get correct (though it's technically high-school level physics). Perhaps the main reason people would answer questions like that wrong is that frankly the most useful model for day to day activities is one where the Earth is completely immobile.

ignoranceprior 6y ago

I wouldn't be surprised if a large proportion of people were not aware that Earth's axial tilt is responsible for the seasons.

rrauenza 6y ago
....and that it's the angle of incidence not that the tilted part is "closer" We just had this conversation last night at dinner with my middle schooler. She thought the Earth's orbit was closer and farther during the year. Asked her just now and she hadn't been aware the seasons are reversed north and south. Now she's taking her cell phone flashlight and shining it at the ceiling at different angles :)
- justincredible 6y ago
  The orbit is closer and farther at different times of the year, but that is not the reason for the change of seasons.
  - rrauenza 6y ago
    Right, elliptical. I meant to say she thought it was because of it.

mannykannot 6y ago

A while back, someone had the idea of posing that question to Harvard graduates at their graduation - and also some professors - and got a bunch of wrong answers, for the most part confidently expressed. There used to be a video of it readily available, but someone seems to have used copyright put a lid on it. Then again, not knowing the cause has almost no practical consequences for most people. I doubt that knowing the answer would make them less susceptible to most false claims about climate change, for example.

jeffrallen 6y ago
It is MIT, and about electric circuits: https://youtu.be/aIhk9eKOLzQ https://youtu.be/aIhk9eKOLzQ
- ColinWright 6y ago
  Or about where the mass in a tree comes from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhCHb6xtqeY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhCHb6xtqeY
- dade_ 6y ago
  When I was 6 or 7 we had these electric yo-yos that lit up when spinning. One of them wouldn’t work, and my friends mom was trying to test the lightbulb with two AA batteries stacked on top each other and the light bulb on positive saying the light was burnt out. I remember being frustrated trying to explain to her that the light could never work this way. Of course she knew better, and explained that a wire to the negative lead wasn’t needed because she was using 2 batteries. She was so confident.
- mannykannot 6y ago
  That is a different one in the same vein (possibly the revenge of the humanities?) Evidence of the seasons question can be found in many places, such as here: http://dianetfalcon.weebly.com/knowing--learning/harvard-graduates-explain-the-seasons http://dianetfalcon.weebly.com/knowing--learning/harvard-gra... I had forgotten that it also had a 'phases of the moon' question.