The [scientific] dumbing down of America
Today, Glenn Beck informed his radio audience:
I don't think we came from monkeys. I think that's ridiculous. I haven't seen a half-monkey, half-person yet. If I get to the other side and God's like, 'You know what, yep, you were a monkey once,' I'll be shocked, but I'll be cool with it," "They [believers in evolution] have to make you care. They have to force it down your throat. When anybody has to force it -- it's a problem. You didn't have to force that the world was round. Truth is truth.
Glenn Beck (who has no college degree) reflects what apparently many Republicans in the United States believe. According to a 2007 Gallop poll. During the 2008 Republican primary season, 3 candidates denied belief in evolution. Sarah Palin's doubt about evolution was mentioned in her memoirs Going Rogue, saying she “didn’t believe in the theory that human beings - thinking, loving beings - originated from fish that sprouted legs and crawled out of the sea” [or from] “monkeys who eventually swung down from the trees.”
A 2006 study found out of the leading Western industrial countries, the United States ranked nearly bottom at the list for belief in evolution. In fact, the only country included in the study where adults were more likely than Americans to reject evolution was Turkey. The team ran a complex analysis of the statistics, testing for a causal link between aspects of U.S. culture and Americans' attitudes toward evolution. The study found three key influences on American perceptions about evolution: evangelical fundamentalism, conservative politics (completely Republican) that courted religious conservatives starting in the 1980s, and a lack of basic core concepts in genetics or basic biology.
While creationists deny evolution, every year around this time, the CDC issues warnings about the upcoming flu season, giving guidelines to health care professionals and health departments about new vaccines to prevent outbreaks of influenza that have evolved in other regions of the world> Swine flu is an excellent example. B ill Maher noted this in a segment on his show last year:
Click to viewCarl Sagan did this in a more cohesive and articulate manner, in his series Cosmos when he basic biology and observations to explain the Heikegani (平家蟹, ヘイケガニ) crab. A species of crab that were believed to have the faces of ancient samurai warriors, and consequently when caught, were not eaten and throw back into the sea. Artificial selection at work:
All of this anti-science and "anti-elitism" has had an demonstrable effect, especially when you look at which countries are producing the most college graduates in science, mathematics, computer science and engineering:
Source here.
All of this will have a tremendous impact on the ability of the United States to create new technologies for so many daunting issues, including energy sources, genetic treatments for long standing maladies, space exploration, and even our basic understanding of the world around us.