Witness the bluntness of John Brockman.
This idea -- that science is something for kids -- still pervades much of our thinking, and characterizes the presentation of science in culture. Part of it is the notion that argues science is just a bunch of facts with no overarching coherence. Just as bad are the media ...
"Science is a state of mind. It is a way of viewing the world, of facing reality square on but taking nothing for granted." It would be hard to argue that this state of mind was advancing across the globe. We no longer make and mend, so we no longer know how anything works.
This persistent apathy in matters of science in America and Britain comes in part from a lack of interest in what the future might hold.
... The universe may be infinite, but John Brockman takes 15 per cent of it ... "Since when have the masses of people had any ideas anyway?" Brockman asks. "It is always a certain percentage of people who do the thinking for everybody else."
James Watson:
"I recently went to my staircase at Clare College, Cambridge and there were women there! There have been a lot of convincing studies recently about the loss of productivity in the Western male. It may be that entertainment culture now is so engaging that it keeps people satisfied. We didn't have that. Science was much more fun than listening to the radio. When you are 16 or 17 and in that inherently semi-lonely period when you are deciding whether to be an intellectual, many now don't bother."
