Sometimes survey results are an innocuous sampling of what is true about public opinion. However, when a survey concerning scientific fact reveals a troubling statistic, it's time to take stock of the public's basic intellect.
A survey by the National Science Foundation reveals that one in four Americans believe that the Sun revolves around the Earth and not vice versa. That's one fourth of the country's population who rejects the basic principle of how the Solar System, in which we as humans inhabit the third rock from the Sun, operates. Either that or a quarter of Americans are self-centered and think the universe should follow suit.
Thankfully, that leaves the remaining reported 74% of the 2200 surveyed who acknowledge that the Earth revolves around the Sun. After the shock of seeing the results of this survey, no amount of positive returns will outshine the darkness of sheer, scientific ignorance.
A survey of a randomly selected sampling that totals a mere fraction of a percentage of the national population is not a suggestion that 25% of Americans are unevolved, cave dwellers who live in fear of displeasing the mighty, glowing orb in the sky. However, the same survey tapped into a universally controversial topic, evolution. 52% of those surveyed claimed they did not know that humans have been theorized to have evolved from an animal species such as monkeys. Whether it is a reluctance to acknowledge the possibility of Darwin's Theory of Evolution holding water or a lack of basic scientific knowledge, the slight majority of Americans are in the dark when it comes to evolution.
A puzzling result from this survey is that 30% believe that science deserves more government funding. How much overlap there is between the previous three demographics into this result is unclear. What is evident though is that there is significant support for monetary aid in advancing science and technology forward.
What this survey represents is not a step backwards, but an opportunity. If one in four Americans truly believe that Earth does not revolve around the Sun, perhaps the only way to reach the unenlightened portion of the populace is through popular culture's grand communicator, television. Not educational television, but enthralling entertainment. The Neil deGrasse Tyson reboot of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos", set to debut on March 9 on Fox, could go a long way towards entertaining and educating simultaneously. If nothing else has had a greater impact on the public's perceived knowledge of all things, it's something witnessed on TV or in the movies. So, perhaps, the next time a survey like this is conducted, the non-believers will decrease to one in five, six, or seven.
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