About 25% of Americans Don't Know the Earth Revolves Around the Sun

[The_Darkness]

No-no, the Sun definitely revolves around the Earth...

...Just as long as you use the Earth as your reference frame. Co-ordinate systems ftw!

I'm actually not that surprised by this. I get the anti-biotics one wrong, but that's because I mostly just put up with colds and don't bother much with medication unless it gets REALLY bad.

Also, there's a serious point with my joke above - it's technically accurate to say that the Sun goes around the Earth. It's also technically accurate to say that the Earth goes around the Sun. They are just different perspectives of the same phenomenon.
It's just that the force-diagram within the non-rotating frame is FAR simpler.

 

[Mouse_Crouse]

I'm wondering how these questions were worded. Using certain terminology would confuse many people into selecting incorrect answers. I'm not suggesting the researchers were attempting to bias the results. I'm simply suggesting some people might have misunderstood some of the questions. As has been pointed out, referring to the big bang with a simple term as an explosion can be somewhat confusing.

 

[iseko]

I am not going into the issue whether the universe was created by an explosion or whether we humans developed from animals, but those people did not believe that. Surely they knew there were people who believed it to have happened that way, but if you don't believe in this theory, of course you'll fill in that it isn't correct. There are a lot of people who don't support the evolution theory, big bang, my ancestors were apes etc.. and if that's what you believe you are not stupid for saying 'no' to the whole theory thingy.

I'm so sorry for my English.

Uhm arguing against evolution is like arguing against 2>1. The evidence is so overwhelming and it comes from so many different areas its almost embarrassing, between the fossil records, the DNA records and heck the very physiology of the human body not to mention the fact we see proof of it in every other living thing around us every day.

It's only considered a theory because the results of it can't be properly predicted. I.e Laws are a case of where X then Y. All evolution says is that given time.. change will occur, that's pretty much a law of the universe so it doesn't really count. but beyond stating that change will occur... you can't predict what that change will be or when it will happen.

Evolution isn't speculation...it's fact.

I believe in evolution but the evidence is not overwhelming if you break the rules.
1) Accept for a fact: god exists
2) some biological mechanisms are to hard to explain with evolution (as far as I know flagella fall under this categorie. Random mutation is a bit hard to believe to explain this one for the moment). This indicates intelligent design.
3) Accept for a fact: god created fossils etc to confuse non believers.

Bam. Evolution has been disproven. Offcourse you have to accept a few facts with no scientific proof whatsoever. I believe thats what they call having faith...

 

[BrotherRool]

I'm going to read this as '25% of Americans like screwing with surveys that ask stupid questions'

 

[Something Amyss]

Considering the creationist lobby, is anyone really surprised?

Americuh, Fuck Yeah!
Sorry if this sounds like a sterotype, but was this sample from Texas?

No, though Texas is instrumental in neutering our textbooks, so they may not be helping.

Then again, I doubt that 25-39% of Americans are theoretical physicists.

That's roughly the number that believes in witches, so probably not.

But then, there's a general education issue in the first place. I mean, even a rudimentary understanding of the Big Bang would beat the usual "nothing came from nothing and made everything" rhetoric.

Nothing infuriates me more than when people say something like "Well, evolution is just a theory!", completely oblivious to the meaning of the word theory in a scientific context. That the word theory means something that can be observed and reproduced, such as evolution.

I've got a theory. It might be bunnies.

Has anyone ever watched "Are you smarter than a 5th grader"?

Yeah, but I try not to use TV to represent the US. The point of that show is the same as a lot of the other ostensibly non-scripted shows on TV--to allow Americans to point and laugh and say "look how stupid those folks are! I'm glad I'm not them! Hurr hurr!" And the end result is we continue to wallow in our own ignorance, but it's not because of Fifth Grader. Shows like that often preclude you if you sound too smart, and are in effect as much an echo chamber as a Rush Limbaugh program.

I'd say a bigger problem than "you'll never learn this stuff" is that it's taught less and less because we don't want to offend people who think Jesus rode dinosaurs onto Noah's Ark or that the Native people are really Jews and black people are stained with sin by teaching science in science classes.

 

[Hawkeye21]

- snip -

Thanks, good to know. I wasn't sure about all that, it's been 13 years since highschool. Incidentally, biology I studied in american high school.

 

[black_knight1337]

Uhm arguing against evolution is like arguing against 2>1. The evidence is so overwhelming and it comes from so many different areas its almost embarrassing, between the fossil records, the DNA records and heck the very physiology of the human body not to mention the fact we see proof of it in every other living thing around us every day.

It's only considered a theory because the results of it can't be properly predicted. I.e Laws are a case of where X then Y. All evolution says is that given time.. change will occur, that's pretty much a law of the universe so it doesn't really count. but beyond stating that change will occur... you can't predict what that change will be or when it will happen.

Evolution isn't speculation...it's fact.

No it's not. 2>1 is a fact. Evolution is a theory which means there is still at least some doubt in it be factually correct. It doesn't matter whether that doubt is 20%, 1% or even 0.0000000001%. It's still there. And while it's still there there is always a chance that a new and better theory could come up and replace it.

That's not to say I don't believe in it because I do. It's just that it gets on my nerves when people still go around treating theories as facts. They've been proven wrong in the past, there's nothing stopping that happening again, hence why they are called theories rather than facts.

OT: Some of those questions are pretty stupid. Namely the ones on evolution and the big bang. They're reported on as though they are both facts but they are instead still theories. And with the big bang one especially, the "correct" answer according to them is the wrong answer. If it had of said "the universe as we know it" then it'd sit next the evolution one. But it didn't, it just said "the universe". And the thing is, something had to of been before the big bang for it to even happen. Don't get me wrong though, they're solid theories and I believe in both of them they just aren't facts. Not yet at least.

 

[CriticalMiss]

It looks like most of these folks are still living in the educational Dark Ages.

Religion will do that. It even has the unfortunate effect that people in power (such as school boards who decide what kids learn) can fuck up the education of kids who aren't brought up religiously. They should repeat the study in Sweden or Norway and see how they compare given they have a much larger proportion of atheists in the population.

And it's a good job these guys don't have any nuclear weapons....erm...

 

[Kargathia]

I wonder how many kids were just fucking with the results. I can remember a few times taking these types of surveys in school, depending on how bored I was that day sometimes I'd just randomly pick answers, other times I'd intentionally pick the dumbest answer. Unless kids have an incentive to actually get the answers right, I don't know how reliable the results are.

(or maybe I'm just in the very small minority)

Statistics as a study has done some pretty in-depth research on trolling surveys. While it certainly occurs, it's indeed a relatively small minority - most likely because intentionally finding the dumbest answer takes more effort than answering truthfully.

And while I don't know whether this study has done it, it's pretty common practice to randomly distribute answers, and then ignore forms looking like "AAAAAAAAAAA", "ADADADADADADA", "ABCDCBABCDCBA".

*Remembers survey last year which found 1 in 3 UK <16s think cheese is made from plants*

Technically... it mostly is. Let's face it: a cow's digestive system does most of the hard work here.

 

[cookyt]

There was a different survey a couple of years back, one of the questions was: If Earth revolves around the Sun, how much time does it take to make a full revolution? Around 30% answered one day.

Also, how does one "kill viruses" anyway? Virus is a single organic molecule, it's not even an organism of any description. It isn't even alive.

Wait, if you're talking about revolution around the Earth's axis, it's one day, but a revolution of the Earth around the Sun is one year. Also, the only attack against viruses that I know of is vaccination.

 

[Elfgore]

The belief based questions, like the evolution and start of the universe, is not fair to ask. They answered wrong because they believe differently. That's just a low-blow.

Now the earth rotating question is inexcusable.

 

[Blunderboy]

*Prepares snarky comment ragging on American stupidity*

*Remembers survey last year which found 1 in 3 UK <16s think cheese is made from plants*

*Goes and sits quietly in corner*

Wait we can justify this.
Cheese comes from cows and goats etc, and they EAT PLANTS.
In a round about way it's right.

Like that kid who answered the question of "How do you keep milk fresh?" with "Keep it in the cow."

 

[Muspelheim]

Well, that statistic sounds rather... Dodgy. I can imagine that general scientific knowledge might be a bit lacking under the circumstances, but not to this degree, surely?

It sounds like something you'd hear in a bar here in Europe as part of the "lel yankees" routine, as delightful as it is.

Meanwhile, of course, no one can place a U.S. state that isn't California. Or any major city that isn't featured in every sitcom. Or what the Dustbowl was.

I am not going into the issue whether the universe was created by an explosion or whether we humans developed from animals, but those people did not believe that. Surely they knew there were people who believed it to have happened that way, but if you don't believe in this theory, of course you'll fill in that it isn't correct. There are a lot of people who don't support the evolution theory, big bang, my ancestors were apes etc.. and if that's what you believe you are not stupid for saying 'no' to the whole theory thingy.

I'm so sorry for my English.

Yes, well... I can certainly see your point, but it's not so much about belief, as it is about reasonably reliable fact. Refering to it as a "theory" was probably a poor idea, since the meaning of theory is different in general use and in scientific language. There are certainly parts of the currently accepted evolutionary model that are likely to be disproved and revised over time, but it's not idle speculation without anything physical backing it up.

I'm going to read this as '25% of Americans like screwing with surveys that ask stupid questions'

That could very well be true, too. I hope it is.

It looks like most of these folks are still living in the educational Dark Ages.

Religion will do that. It even has the unfortunate effect that people in power (such as school boards who decide what kids learn) can fuck up the education of kids who aren't brought up religiously. They should repeat the study in Sweden or Norway and see how they compare given they have a much larger proportion of atheists in the population.

And it's a good job these guys don't have any nuclear weapons....erm...

Weeeeeell... The results will be rather similar, I wager. At least in a few years. The schools have been abyssmal lately. They were once merely underfunded and poorly managed, due to a lack of interest more than anything else. The current government tried to improve it when they came in by giving it the Thatcher treatment.

I doubt the pupils of today will be learning anything that doesn't make them directly more employable. They will know bog-all about the solar system, but they will know everything about how to market oneself on Linkedin.

 

[Blunderboy]

The belief based questions, like the evolution and start of the universe, is not fair to ask. They answered wrong because they believe differently. That's just a low-blow.

Now the earth rotating question is inexcusable.

Yeah, I get annoyed when people say you answered an opinion based question 'wrong'.
If the question starts with 'In your opinion...' there cannot be an incorrect answer.

 

[Tactical Pause]

Okay, so I know it's fun to hate on America all the time, but I feel there's something that needs to be pointed out.

This is not just a problem in America. A similar study was conducted across numerous countries, and very few even did as 'well' as the US did (only South Korea fared better, with the number being around 14%). In fact, for the EU as a whole, the number was about 34%, and it was 30% in Japan.

So, yes, this is abysmally bad, and really kind of depressing, but it isn't just another opportunity to ridicule America.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

The other day I wanted to find out if Rock Candy PS3 controllers were compatible with PCs.
Upon typing "Do Rock" into Google, I was given the following auto-complete suggestions:

-Do Rocks Grow
-Do Rocks Have DNA
-Do Rocks Feel Pain


...I don't doubt the results of this survey.

 

[suitepee7]

as much as i'd like to cry "oh we're doomed, such a powerful nation filled with idiots" it wouldn't be fair or accurate in the slightest. if this was actually representative of a whole country, then fair enough, but this sample size is really really small, and not even close to a representation of a city, let alone a country...

still, the people who answered were fucking idiots for getting those questions wrong xD

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Don't even get me started on that "Big Bang" crap. It's just a theory that hasn't been fully developed at ALL yet. But hey, let's all force undeveloped theories down each others throats. And Evolution... Some atheists blame us for having a narrow-minded viewpoint but then they turn around and do the exact same thing.

Heck, maybe that 1 in 4 might have just answered that to screw with the poll as well. It was a stupid question and perhaps it deserved a stupid answer. Also, I wonder how many just rushed through it to get the poll done, not even looking at the answers.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

The other day I wanted to find out if Rock Candy PS3 controllers were compatible with PCs.
Upon typing "Do Rock" into Google, I was given the following auto-complete suggestions:

-Do Rocks Grow
-Do Rocks Have DNA
-Do Rocks Feel Pain


...I don't doubt the results of this survey.

You can't really fault someone for asking numb questions. At least they are trying to educate themselves.

To be fair I always mix up that antibiotics work for bacteria or viral infections. That's not too bad. And I think some of those are religious biased. Hell, the big bang is still only a theory. Granted it's a pretty well established one, still though, wow.