Can We Talk?
It is a very interesting time in our country. A time fraught with problems and yet full of opportunities. Perhaps the recent fall of our “systems” will now provide us with the impetus for change so that we can excel in the future. One of the changes that must occur for our country to excel in the future will be a focus on education. As America has fallen from the top position among intellectual powerhouse nations, nations such as China and India have excelled. This is most important with regards to math and science. We will quickly lose our dominance in the world if we lose our intellectual and scientific supremacy.
I heard recently that in Los Angeles, the city where I live, that only 58% of high school students graduate. The decline of our schools is directly related to the decline in intelligence in our cities. It is in this environment where snake oil salesmen like Trudeau and others are able to cheat you out of your hard earned money. Now is NOT the time to believe in magic medicine or fantastical health remedies. Now is the time to begin to develop a deeper understanding of the science around us. The greatest challenges for America’s future are steeped in scientific problems with regards to the environment, energy needs, health and health care, and economics.
It is no secret that our schools are failing and that the people who are breeding the fastest are those from less fortunate socio-economic backgrounds that have historically done poorly with regards to educating themselves. Unless we change this trend we may truly be headed for an “idiocracy”. Evidence of this may have already surfaced with regards to the choice we made for President in the early 2000s and of TV programming and entertainment choices as of late. However, there have been signs of hope such that we are graduating more people than ever before with advanced degrees, such as MD and PhD, and that the percentage of women in these categories has risen sharply. However, it seems that a greater divide, a greater disconnect, between the intellectual elite and the common masses is being created. This creates an environment of distrust and one in which conspiracy theories expound. Without the basic understanding of math, science, and economics, the masses can only blindly trust what their leaders tell them. This does not create the type of situation where democracy flourishes.
Two things must occur in order to avoid the ever-increasing intellectual and economic divide that is being created in our country and in the world. First, education must once again become a priority for the people. This must take shape in our politics, schools, and families. Most importantly, we as individuals must strive to become more intellectual about our environmental, energy, health care, and economic problems before they cripple us. Second, it is vital that Doctors and Scientists share with the lay public the research data that will impact our world and our lives in a way that is easy to understand. I believe that scientists feel that they do their part to relay information because they publish their findings in peer reviewed journals that are available to the public. It is partly the public’s responsibility to put down the tabloid magazine and to pick up the latest copy of Science, however the scientist must also seek other avenues to relay new findings in ways that are more easily consumed. Current scientific journals are hard to comprehend if you are not immersed daily in the specific field of the journal. Relaying scientific information to the public is also a difficult task because the popular media does a pretty poor job of relaying scientific findings to the public. Modern journalism seems to feel the need to sensationalize everything and to break down the findings into a form that is so simplistic it is no longer an accurate reflection of the finding. This can be quite exasperating to the scientist. For example, I recently read an article where the headline read” LSD Cures Cancer”. The article misrepresented a study that was performed with patients that were very near death and were given MDMA (not LSD) in order to help them to cope with the realization that death would soon be upon them. Some of these patients appeared to accept death with a more peaceful disposition. This is hardly a cure for cancer.
Scientists can do their part by relaying information themselves via this fantastic source of communication called the internet by writing blogs and by writing books on scientific themes that are written in real world English so that they are easy to understand.
We are certainly living in an interesting time that is full of rich opportunities. By increasing our intellectual acumen in the fields that plague us I believe we will overcome our problems and in the process a much better country and world will be created.
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