[DIYbio] Re: Science literacy

Evolutionary pressure doesn't necessarily select for the "best" (to our point of view) option, just the "good enough" option, kind of unfortunate for us. In general people aren't so much logical or intellectual as they are social - I think this is the strategy that was selected for primarily, and the "logical" strategy might conflict with it, though it also has some benefits (this is very simplified). Social media is so new, we're not adapted to it (genetically), so it exploits the way we are rather than the other way round (except perhaps for the people making money from it). I think a good amount of scientifically literate people would act just like the kefir goat lady if they were brought into her social circle and cut off from the scientific circles ... like how cults convert many relatively normal people. So, I think a strategy of changing the environment would work, but it is really hard to control the environment. The way the social media algorithms work is counterproductive to this goal. The whole situation is definitely frustrating! Though I do have a curiosity about this sort of thing, which I try to encourage when I talk to people like the goat lady, I've had some mild success with this method but only in person and 1:1 - not an efficient method but at the least makes me feel a little less hopeless.

It'd be interesting to see the organizations promoting science literacy attempt to market it to people outside of STEM.

Stay curious! And in my opinion it's not a loss to just block/unfollow/hide anyone on social media that's bothersome, or to take a break from it entirely. There is so much more to be done elsewhere.

On Saturday, January 2, 2021 at 11:25:39 PM UTC-5 discussio...@gmail.com wrote:

Facebook is worthless when it comes to talking science though. At least some professors have released youtube videoes and podcasts on science communication at least in their area of concentration as in the case of Vincent Racaniello. I know Peter Hotez and Dr. Richard Pan have been on Twitter trying to bring sanity to that social media venue in a sea of political rantings in that area. David Gorski has been writing medicine editorials on his blog but his audience is mainly med school students. There are people actively trying to increase science literacy but the audience in question is mainly people who are already STEM majors. 

https://biologydiscussions.proboards.com/

https://www.microbe.tv/

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/

https://parasiteswithoutborders.com/

On Saturday, December 26, 2020 at 5:48:26 AM UTC-8 Nathan McCorkle wrote:

I have encountered some "older" person, likely in their 50s or 60s, she raises goats and has sold kefir grains for many years. She does not believe in viruses, or that they have ever been isolated. She does not believe that TEM images are actually of viruses. Apparently due to some quack named Stefan Lanka.

I don't even know where to go from here. Why is this even a possibility in the modern world? I think anyone on this forum is healthy skeptic, or at least overly curious. But I'm left to wonder how common is this type of "denier". I'm left to wonder if I'm suffering "expert bias" and left unable to tolerate explaining such seemingly obvious things. Even given the faults of human researchers, retractions, faked data, complexity of the universe and the ever expanding knowledge and knowledge of a knowledge-gap.

Biohacking is so commonplace to me, in mindset anyway... Nanotech fab hurdles and limitations... Microscopy (and nanoscopy)... I'm concerned that with as much time as I've spent typing to some random facebook thread, that it's a sisyphean effort. That I'm scooping out water from the Titanic with a cup, but it's pouring in through a gaping hole in the lower level that I'll never see (let alone be able to help).

People talk about fixing earth before rocketing to Mars, but is this validation for the desire for near-term interplanetary emigration?

If this was a contaminated environmental culture in the lab, you'd either use a selective agent (antibiotic) or perform serial sub-culturing until you purified your strain of interest.

I'm not looking for answers, but maybe some encouragement. I'm otherwise more interested in social distancing than ever.