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While true, the actual data presents a different picture: http://i.imgur.com/FXMlOZB.png http://i.imgur.com/FXMlOZB.png [source: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics

While true, the actual data presents a different picture: http://i.imgur.com/FXMlOZB.png http://i.imgur.com/FXMlOZB.png [source: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/content/chapter-7/c07.pdf http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/content/chapter-7/c07....] So actually, the U.S. had the second highest score on that question, behind South Korea. Furthermore, the U.S. consistently performed on par or higher vs. the other countries/regions for the remaining questions. The real outlier for the U.S. on this survey was the question about evolution -- only 48% of Americans got that right, significantly behind the rest of the pack.

pyrrhotech 13y ago
That's obviously because a lot of people have religious beliefs that make more sense to them than evolution. It's not that they haven't heard of evolution, but that they reject it for the simpler theory found in their 3000 year old book.
- ballard 13y ago
  Something like 95% of the entire human population believes in something supernatural. And also, what other nonsense do they believe?
- MichaelGG 13y ago
  IME, that's because most people haven't ever heard any reasonable explanation of evolution. They honestly believe that evolution is just "random things happened and fish decided to walk on land". That "animals wanted to see so they randomly got eyes". Given that explanation of evolution of course they're going to reject it - that explanation is nonsense. Creation is only simpler if you exclude the axiom of having some omnipotent creator in the first place.
  - twiceaday 13y ago
    It's almost as if this stuff should be taught in school.
lbrandy 13y ago
Another fun fact: Europeans were more likely to answer correctly about evolution than the earth going round the sun.
kelseyfrancis 13y ago
> The real outlier for the U.S. on this survey was the question about evolution... Which, the way the question was worded, could reasonably be attributed to people just affirming their belief in creation irrespective of their actual ignorance of the accepted scientific explanation for the origin of humans.
ballard 13y ago
Yes and the guns, mass surveillance and racially unequal incarceration tantamount to genocide.
piyush_soni 13y ago
Does that mean around 1 out of 2 Americans doesn't believe in evolution? That's scary.
- cema 13y ago
  Why is that scary? If we assume it is indeed a matter of belief the 50/50 chance is not that bad. Now, I suppose both you and me think about it more as a matter of science, but how many people understand what science is (and why), how the scientific method is applied and so on? Well fewer than 50%, I'd guess. US, Europe or Africa, any place.
  - piyush_soni 13y ago
    Well, for that question Europe fared much better. 70% believed in evolution. Only Russia was worse than US.
  - ballard 13y ago
    People that operate outside of coherent, explainable, rational principles tempered by compassion are bigger liabilities. It's common sense. Departing from this is what allows folks to believe violent terrorism to be a viable strategy to "win."
    - carsongross 13y ago
      Do you have any evidence for this? In my experience people with largely religious principles tempered by compassion are just as reliable as self-identified rationalists. There has been plenty of atheistic terrorism in the last hundred years...
      - wonderzombie 13y ago
        What worries me more is people who believe the world is going to end in their lifetimes. How can we plan for the long-term future, as a species, with that kind of worldview?
tzs 13y ago
On the question of whether or not the universe began with a huge explosion, they say the correct answer is "true". Is that actually correct? This was before cosmic inflation, so the whole universe was very small at the instant of the Big Bang, and so wasn't it actually a small explosion?
- lutusp 13y ago
  Cosmic inflation changed the expansion rate of the "explosion", but this doesn't mean there wasn't an explosion. Cosmic inflation changed the density ratio between spacetime and mass/energy, but the entirety of the universe's mass/energy came into existence at the moment of the Big Bang. So yes, some explosion that. Remember about this particular explosion that it wasn't an explosion of mass/energy into the empty space of a pre-existing universe, but an explosion of mass/energy and spacetime into nothing -- the Big Bang was space, time and mass/energy. In other words, there was no "before" before the Big Bang, and there was no "outside" outside the Big Bang. The Big Bang was everything. More detail here: http://arachnoid.com/gravity http://arachnoid.com/gravity
ajayjain 13y ago
Where the percentage correct is significantly below 50%, it seems like there are very widespread myths being accepted, possibly dangerously. Malaysia scored 8% and Russia scored 18% on the second to last question (Antibiotics kill viruses as well as bacteria) - that's scary to me from a public health standpoint.

pyrrhotech 13y ago

That's obviously because a lot of people have religious beliefs that make more sense to them than evolution. It's not that they haven't heard of evolution, but that they reject it for the simpler theory found in their 3000 year old book.

ballard 13y ago
Something like 95% of the entire human population believes in something supernatural. And also, what other nonsense do they believe?
MichaelGG 13y ago
IME, that's because most people haven't ever heard any reasonable explanation of evolution. They honestly believe that evolution is just "random things happened and fish decided to walk on land". That "animals wanted to see so they randomly got eyes". Given that explanation of evolution of course they're going to reject it - that explanation is nonsense. Creation is only simpler if you exclude the axiom of having some omnipotent creator in the first place.
- twiceaday 13y ago
  It's almost as if this stuff should be taught in school.

lbrandy 13y ago

Another fun fact: Europeans were more likely to answer correctly about evolution than the earth going round the sun.

kelseyfrancis 13y ago

> The real outlier for the U.S. on this survey was the question about evolution... Which, the way the question was worded, could reasonably be attributed to people just affirming their belief in creation irrespective of their actual ignorance of the accepted scientific explanation for the origin of humans.

ballard 13y ago

Yes and the guns, mass surveillance and racially unequal incarceration tantamount to genocide.

piyush_soni 13y ago

Does that mean around 1 out of 2 Americans doesn't believe in evolution? That's scary.

cema 13y ago
Why is that scary? If we assume it is indeed a matter of belief the 50/50 chance is not that bad. Now, I suppose both you and me think about it more as a matter of science, but how many people understand what science is (and why), how the scientific method is applied and so on? Well fewer than 50%, I'd guess. US, Europe or Africa, any place.
- piyush_soni 13y ago
  Well, for that question Europe fared much better. 70% believed in evolution. Only Russia was worse than US.
- ballard 13y ago
  People that operate outside of coherent, explainable, rational principles tempered by compassion are bigger liabilities. It's common sense. Departing from this is what allows folks to believe violent terrorism to be a viable strategy to "win."
  - carsongross 13y ago
    Do you have any evidence for this? In my experience people with largely religious principles tempered by compassion are just as reliable as self-identified rationalists. There has been plenty of atheistic terrorism in the last hundred years...
    - wonderzombie 13y ago
      What worries me more is people who believe the world is going to end in their lifetimes. How can we plan for the long-term future, as a species, with that kind of worldview?

tzs 13y ago

On the question of whether or not the universe began with a huge explosion, they say the correct answer is "true". Is that actually correct? This was before cosmic inflation, so the whole universe was very small at the instant of the Big Bang, and so wasn't it actually a small explosion?

lutusp 13y ago
Cosmic inflation changed the expansion rate of the "explosion", but this doesn't mean there wasn't an explosion. Cosmic inflation changed the density ratio between spacetime and mass/energy, but the entirety of the universe's mass/energy came into existence at the moment of the Big Bang. So yes, some explosion that. Remember about this particular explosion that it wasn't an explosion of mass/energy into the empty space of a pre-existing universe, but an explosion of mass/energy and spacetime into nothing -- the Big Bang was space, time and mass/energy. In other words, there was no "before" before the Big Bang, and there was no "outside" outside the Big Bang. The Big Bang was everything. More detail here: http://arachnoid.com/gravity http://arachnoid.com/gravity

ajayjain 13y ago

Where the percentage correct is significantly below 50%, it seems like there are very widespread myths being accepted, possibly dangerously. Malaysia scored 8% and Russia scored 18% on the second to last question (Antibiotics kill viruses as well as bacteria) - that's scary to me from a public health standpoint.