Doomed By Science

More like the lack of science, actually. The Guardian's got a nice essay (via BB) on the increasing lack of understanding the average person has of even basic science.

There's also some talk of two distinct cultures - a 'science' culture and a 'humanities' culture.

I'm not sure I like that. In some ways, I think the idea is right on; in others, I think it's stupid. There's plenty of material at the link, and more here, so I'm going to be brief.

The above reminds me of Jurgen Habermas, a German philosopher, who once wrote that he fears that humanity is in trouble because while we've accumulated massive amounts of technical knowledge (I think he called it technical-rational) about how the world works, we're real short on other knowledge, what I would call wisdom - knowledge on how to live.

I'm not sure Habermas' claim and the Guardian article are related, but my instinct is to say they are. How? I need to think about that for a bit.

Also, this whole thing reminds me of Idiocracy, by Mike Judge of Beavis and Butthead fame.