Why are there so many anti-science and anti-intellectual individuals who follow IFLS?

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Zontar

Mad Max 2019
Feb 18, 2013
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This is something that I just don't understand at a fundamental level: the popular facebook page "I Fucking Love Science" has millions of followers, and if the comments made on just about anything it posts show a good half of said followers know not even a basic high school level understanding of science, of the scientific method. It's baffling to see so many people complain about their articles stating GMOs are not inherently bad and are actually the end result of what we have been doing with crops since the beginning of agriculture (which is in line with the view on the subject from the scientific community), or one about how climate change is man made (again, something the scientific community isn't even debating anymore given how much it is accepted), or anything about the importance of vaccinations (which at this point seems to have all the people in the related fields speaking out against it behind a fancy set of bars for what is clearly unrelated reasons /sarcasm).

So what gives? Why are there so many anti-science and anti-intellectual individuals on a page dedicated to science? I know someone could claim they are trolls, and some of them might be, but the bulk of them seem to just be that stupid.
 

TheIceQueen

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Sep 15, 2013
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Because facebook.

More seriously, because people like the idea of pew-pew-pew lazer stuff and robot doohickies, except most scientific study doesn't involve that, but people on a social network probably won't care beyond any vague, superficial level of what "science" is.
 

DefunctTheory

Not So Defunct Now
Mar 30, 2010
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Because some people think this



was discovered via direct science. Like Steve Jobs put on a lab coat, busted out the beakers, and discovered the Scientific Theory of Trendiness.

Most people don't like science. They just have a vague understanding that science is responsible for all the cool things they love on some level they have no interest in understanding.
 

Vault101

I'm in your mind fuzz
Sep 26, 2010
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having a limited understanding of something doesn't mean you are "anti" it

but anyway its "pop" science..and while I think its definetly important especially to engage kids in an understanding of the world....there comes a point where you have to stop pandering to peoples need for entertainment, I'm talking about unscientific documentrys and all that
 

Ranorak

Tamer of the Coffee mug!
Feb 17, 2010
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Maybe, just maybe, this is the point where science is turning from an underground group of loyal fans into a more culturally accepted thing. And the Scrubs and casuals are joining. They haven't been fan of science as long as we have, so they suck and get stuff wrong all the time. Those people don't even know the origin of species or what a hypothesis is!

Wait, am I doing some non-subtle jab at something else?
 

jklinders

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Sep 21, 2010
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While the scientific method is a relatively simple act of critical thinking, science in all it's varieties and incarnations is pretty deep. With that in mind I have little problem with a site like that existing. If it makes the act of looking into science a bit more approachable then great. I read the article on GMO's on that site. It was a decent and balanced read. Kind of refreshing actually. In glancing through it I did not see anything harmful about the site and if some of these luddites going through there actually learn something in the process than that is a net gain.
 

Verlander

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Apr 22, 2010
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I don't think there are. There are people that disagree with the content of the site, and occasionally I'm one of them. IFLS sometimes puts some dodgy articles out, and more than often takes a political jab at folks. It is also riddled with the naive arrogance that "SCIENCE!" folk have, which is equal parts ignorant and insufferable.

That said, I support the promotion of education, and the majority of the work that IFLS does
 

one squirrel

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Aug 11, 2014
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I think it looks like they are trying to legitimize their own beliefs by associating with science and scientists. I have seen this behaviour quite frequently in the more leftish community, such as internet atheists and self proclaimed sceptics (TYT are the perfect example of what I mean). It bothers me a lot, because I otherwise tend to agree with these people on most issues.
 

Fieldy409_v1legacy

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Oct 9, 2008
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Because conspiracy nuts like science too, just not anything that disagrees with their views. In fact they think they are being good scientists when they go and do some research(with google) and come to a different conclusion than the mainstream and then they start fancying themselves as Gallileo.
 

lechat

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Dec 5, 2012
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science is boring as shit and hard as fuck.
you need to reduce true science down to the most basic blurb to get the average person to stay awake long enough to comprehend what the fuck is going on.

The hours of boring research or stumbling in the dark that most scientist do to discover the latest proto-glooby or do-hickie-whatsie would bore most people to tears so most people watch a few minuets of crazyrussianhacker on youtube and tell their buddies they know science.
 

Ranorak

Tamer of the Coffee mug!
Feb 17, 2010
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lechat said:
science is boring as shit and hard as fuck.
you need to reduce true science down to the most basic blurb to get the average person to stay awake long enough to comprehend what the fuck is going on.

The hours of boring research or stumbling in the dark that most scientist do to discover the latest proto-glooby or do-hickie-whatsie would bore most people to tears so most people watch a few minuets of crazyrussianhacker on youtube and tell their buddies they know science.
It's not THAT boring!
Really, we've got plastic tubes and everything.
brightly coloured pipet tips...
And....and labcoats.

SHADDAP!
 

shootthebandit

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May 20, 2009
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lechat said:
science is boring as shit and hard as fuck.
you need to reduce true science down to the most basic blurb to get the average person to stay awake long enough to comprehend what the fuck is going on.

The hours of boring research or stumbling in the dark that most scientist do to discover the latest proto-glooby or do-hickie-whatsie would bore most people to tears so most people watch a few minuets of crazyrussianhacker on youtube and tell their buddies they know science.
But you get to know who to make crystal meth and become a badass drug empire dude and say cool shit like "say my name" and "I am the one who knocks"

Yeah science *****

I done A-level science. I cant really think what thats equivalent too outside the UK but its a step below degree level but above highschool level. I know a bit but its mostly an overview

I think its like anything if you study it or work in that area it gets boring but for joe public scientific stuff can seem pretty cool and interesting. For example I work on aircraft and to most people aircraft are pretty cool. The whole concept of flight is fascinating but day in day out hanging upside down in a wing with your hands behind your back trying to reach a bolt thats just out of reach you soon begin to resent aircraft

If you watch people like Brian Cox he is very good at explaining things to the layman without dumbing it down but also making it sound interesting
 

Barbas

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Oct 28, 2013
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lechat said:
science is boring as shit and hard as fuck.
you need to reduce true science down to the most basic blurb to get the average person to stay awake long enough to comprehend what the fuck is going on.

The hours of boring research or stumbling in the dark that most scientist do to discover the latest proto-glooby or do-hickie-whatsie would bore most people to tears so most people watch a few minuets of crazyrussianhacker on youtube and tell their buddies they know science.
Yep. It requires dedication and drive and time that many people who follow IFLS and have a fairly elementary understanding of science lack.

Arthur C. Clarke wrote that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." When people are charmed by effects wondrous enough to catch their fleeting interest, why would they want to sacrifice large parts of their time to the frustrating processes behind them? There are other people who already do that and can explain phenomena or fix broken machines for them.
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
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It's because they've been told their whole lives "Science is your friend!" but never been told that they're not right 100% of the time and that their dear friend Science is going to contradict their pre-conceived notions at times.

Hell, you can see that here pretty often. Ask about FTL travel, and you'll get people like me saying "With the current physics models, travelling at speeds even approaching light is physically impossible" and people caught up in the rapture of SCIENCE! reply with "Yeah? Well, we'll find our current models are wrong. I know this because we've been wrong before, I want FTL travel, and SCIENCE! always delivers!"

I shouldn't have to tell you why this is flawed thinking.

So... yeah. Don't start feeling too superior here.
 

happyninja42

Elite Member
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May 13, 2010
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The_Kodu said:
Why are so many people anti-intellectual ?
Hollywood.

No really the idea is or was the better educated a person the more intelligent they appear. Now to get a better education generally you have to pay. So the US saw this a class-ism and being the land of opportunity and against the idea of classes of people they decided to go against this a lot making the so called average joe hero.

It's why Dr Who often tries to solve problems without killing and violence but for example Flash Gordon has Dr. Hans Zarkov is the kind of insane scientist not the hero as such.
Yeah, the evil mad scientist who is Tampering in God's Domain is a pretty common trope for years. The rogue scientist who "WILL SHOW THEM ALL! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" kind of stereotype is the most common example for the longest time, and still is in a lot of ways, despite it not being a very accurate description of how scientists work, or the scientific method. But that's ok! Because Hollywood can then show a muscly jock linebacker type character show up and flex his muscles to save the day! And ride off with the cheerleader! Which apparently sells really well to the audience.


To the OP question.

If I had to guess, it's because of the proliferation of the internet, allowing people to gain access to stuff they normally wouldn't, especially things they don't like or disagree with. Sharing and linking and "Other people who showed interest in that, also were interested in these" type social systems make it really damn easy for them to hear about it, even if they aren't really into science. And, since it's the internet, people like to gripe and disagree with things on sites devoted to a specific subject. Thus, you get people who are possibly not very knowledgeable about the subject, chiming in and giving their 2 cents on it. Like this thread, I didn't know about the IFLS thing because I don't use Facebook, but thanks to you poster xD I now do!

But yeah, given how often people on sites and shows, talk about stuff they don't know anything about, it's not a surprise that it happens there too.
 

Ihateregistering1

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Mar 30, 2011
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Let's be blunt here: what science gives us (as a species) is awesome, but 'science' (as most people understand it) in and of itself is usually pretty boring.

Hollywood always depicts science as being one "eureka!" moment after another: scientists creating jetpacks or doing some whacky experiment that creates a monster or a Super-Soldier, and they only ever show you the payoff of when said monster or jetpack comes to life or starts working or whatever.

What they don't show you is hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of running endless tests, typing data into a computer, running the same experiment over and over to confirm results, and then running the same experiment over and over with very slight adjustments, having to give presentations to the investors again and again to keep getting funding, balancing budgets, or spending months thinking you've found a solution only to have it turn out to be wrong and have all that time basically for naught.

All of that is considered incredibly boring by most people, all they want to hear about is the plasma rifle that's in development and how it'll be able to melt a tank when it's done, they don't want to hear about the thousands of hours spent inputting data into a computer and running the same dull experiment over and over.
 

renegade7

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Feb 9, 2011
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What you need to understand is that creationists and global warming deniers don't think they're against science. Rather, in their minds, they're defending science from what they perceive to be a conspiracy of "Darwinists" and environmentalists.

This is the reason that science websites always have not just stray lunatics taking potshots at evolution-related articles in their comments, but routine visitors who follow the pages and still spew garbage when they see something about science their particular ideology disagrees with. They genuinely believe that their position is scientific and that fallacious arguments in favor of their beliefs are in fact valid. This is why they've tried to sneak intelligent design into high school: they don't think they're destroying science, they seriously belief that creationism represents a valid scientific argument and that science, being so powerful, needs the help of what they consider to be the fact of the religion.

And herein lies the problem: the belief that science is a collection of facts rather than a process.

If anyone here has taken a core science course at university (by that I mean something like General Physics for science and engineering majors, not Concepts of Physics for poets) you'll know they don't just sit you down and tell you "Well the big bang happened and that was how the universe got here, and that's a fact because science and here's a scientific paper proving it even though you don't have nearly the technical expertise to understand it, now be an atheist or fail the class". They don't even address the big bang until you reach advanced physics (usually right before or during modern physics when cosmology becomes appropriate) and when they do it's concerned with analysis, using mathematical techniques, of the state of the universe. That is the PROCESS of physics: learning the math used to analyze the universe. That the universe began its life in a rapid expansion from a point of extreme heat and density is a result of that process, not the basis of it.

A physicist is someone who uses math to analyze the universe, not just someone who can recite a litany of facts about why the big bang happened. This is why you'll occasionally see a scientist who says (or is having his quote warped out of context) that "science isn't concerned with facts". Science produces knowledge and facts, and it does so with processes. You need the knowledge, the facts, AND (most importantly) the ability to execute the processes in order to do science.

(I use physics in my example, as that is my own background, but it could also apply to any other area of science).

So as a result, you get people following these pages who are interested only in the facts, and you can't necessarily blame them for not having the ability or time to go earn a PhD and be able to scrutinize the gigabytes of raw experimental data. Popular science is important to keeping the public informed and interested, but the problem is that if you lack scientific training you have no defense against accidentally being exposed to pseudoscience and subsequently buying into it. So this is why there are plenty of people who do indeed "fucking love science" but still somehow manage to be creationists: they weren't able to properly apply rigorous analysis to something they read somewhere about crystal healing or "micro" vs "macro" evolution and came away from the unfortunate encounter with the pseudoscience with the belief that what they had seen was valid science.
 

Nanondorf

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May 6, 2014
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Stupidity just exists, and it exists everywhere, it's just more apparent in the IFLS page.
Ignorance is bliss you see, so some people desperately try to retain it.
The others, who have crossed over to the dark side, they are doomed to asking questions
forever.
 

Sigmund Av Volsung

Hella noided
Dec 11, 2009
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Science is an amalgalm. It's a blanket term used to label an approach that aims to discern the world with logic. To some, it can be directly broken down to study of things that are absolute and empirical, split across the three disciplines of Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

To others though, it can be used as a defense, as if the term means absolute truth. This a particular favourite around conspiracy theories because they found a "scientist" who agrees with the "evidence". Same kind of stuff goes for the "paranormal" and the "spiritual".

I'm not about to get on some high horse and berate people, calling them stupid or something. The problem can be summed up with "science has a colloquial meaning that represents the absolute which can be applied in the broadest possible sense. As a result, everyone has ownership of that word, so it is entirely possible that a crackpot can be supportive of science".

Anyway, good enough of a segueway to post this:

For a more interesting and valid exploration of scientism and the opposition thereof.