# Are people really this ignorant of science? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 5, 2006, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228 "2006-07-05T01:03:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/81 "2006-07-06T15:45:29Z")
This has to be one of the funniest f’n threads I’ve read in a long time. I once had to convience my friend and his family that skin is indeed NOT made of sand. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/82 "2006-07-06T16:03:28Z")
[QUOTE=js\_africanus] They got _teaching_ degrees. With a couple of exceptions, the best instructors I’ve had were engrossed in the topic of study, e.g., mathematicians & economists. With a couple of exceptions, the worst instructors I’ve had were teachers. [/QUOTE] Not quite. One had a BA in physics, the other a BS in chemistry. They then went on to the Education school for their last year (year 5). ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/83 "2006-07-06T16:25:14Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] [Yahoo answers] if swimming is so good for you, why are whales so fat? Why is it when I type in this box people send me email? [/QUOTE] Chose one: Potato, Dragon or Socks? Do i have a mother? Does anyone else think “cornfunkle” is pretty? What do they do if for a best anwser in votting…? How many Yahoo! Answers points does it take to get in to Mensa? Whats It like Being a Man?? ---
**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/84 "2006-07-06T16:35:34Z")
I remember a member of this board asking in General Questions if NASA was considering turning back time by “reverse-orbiting” the shuttle. Evidently, he believed that the rotation of the Earth is what causes time to pass, and reversing the direction would cause time to go backward. How the shuttle would reverse the direction of the earth, I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/85 "2006-07-06T16:37:59Z")
I wonder why my memories of this stuff so far involve temperature and freezing. I have had several discussions about wind chill over the years with people who could not grasp that the concept applies only to heat sources. These folks insisted that if the outdoor temperature was 34 F, with a wind chill making it feel like 25 F, a container of water would freeze. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/86 "2006-07-06T16:39:47Z")
[QUOTE=Baraqiyal] I remember a member of this board asking in General Questions if NASA was considering turning back time by “reverse-orbiting” the shuttle. Evidently, he believed that the rotation of the Earth is what causes time to pass, and reversing the direction would cause time to go backward. How the shuttle would reverse the direction of the earth, I’m not sure. [/QUOTE] Pssh. Didn’t you ever see the original Superman movie? Where at the end Superman is so upset that a landslide killed Lois Lane that he flew up above the Earth’s atmoshpere and began orbiting it so fast that time reversed? I’m _sure_ this is the concept that guy was trying to convey. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/87 "2006-07-06T16:42:40Z")
[QUOTE=Baraqiyal] I remember a member of this board asking in General Questions if NASA was considering turning back time by “reverse-orbiting” the shuttle. Evidently, he believed that the rotation of the Earth is what causes time to pass, and reversing the direction would cause time to go backward. How the shuttle would reverse the direction of the earth, I’m not sure. [/QUOTE] He must be remnembering the first Superman movie. (Actually, everyone gets that wrong. Superman isn’t spinning the Earth backwards, he’s flying faster than light, thus moving backwards through time. But I digress) ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/88 "2006-07-06T16:55:04Z")
[QUOTE=Una Persson] Threads like this remind me that we’re always just one major social upheaval from being reduced to terrified superstitious communities of peasants living under a totalitarian theocracy, burning as witches anyone who is “different” or who follows the evil that is “science”. [/QUOTE] To paraphrase James Michener: > [@](#): > > Holy Saint Leibowitz, protect them down there. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/89 "2006-07-06T17:05:04Z")
My ex Sister-in-law had one of her ovaries removed. My ex Mother-in-law insisted that no matter how many kids she had, they would all be the same sex. Because you know, females come from one ovary and males come from the other. I was never able to convince her otherwise. I’m grateful to be done with that family. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/90 "2006-07-06T17:05:54Z")
[QUOTE=Cyn] How many times do I have to explain the concept of a uterus to a woman who has just given birth? A c/section is not a hysterectomy. You will have lochia. (That reddish stuff you’re leaking.) [/QUOTE] So, since I never heard the word “lochia” before just now, do they take the placenta out through the c-section as well? What the lochia made of; stuff off the uterine wall? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/91 "2006-07-06T17:14:37Z")
[QUOTE=SHAKES] I once had to convience my friend and his family that skin is indeed NOT made of sand. [/QUOTE] Woah, there, Gracie. Sand? Does this have some context, or did these doofii just go around proclaiming that skin was made of sand, out of the blue. This isn’t as bad as some of the examples in this thread, but a friend of mine finally she decided she was going to lose some weight. She and another friend decided to Go To The Gym. (I capitalize it because that’s how they announced it. It was a bigger event than the Olympics, I guess). After a good hour workout, she came home, had a big glass of water, then weighed herself. She had gained a pound. I tried to explain to her that results aren’t immediate, and she’d have to go regularly, and even then, it would be weeks before she saw any measurable weight loss. Her reaction? “That’s bullshit. Exercise makes you gain weight. Exercise is BULLSHIT, man!” ---
**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/92 "2006-07-06T17:53:29Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] He must be remnembering the first Superman movie. (Actually, everyone gets that wrong. Superman isn’t spinning the Earth backwards, he’s flying faster than light, thus moving backwards through time. But I digress) [/QUOTE] Yeah, he mentioned Superman as an example. [Here’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=140878) the thread and its [sequel](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=143006). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/93 "2006-07-06T17:56:36Z")
One that bugs me is freshman physics students who think the images in a mirror are two-dimensional. Ask any five-year-old, he’ll trust his senses, and tell you (quite correctly) that the images in a mirror are three-dimensional. But apparently by the time most folks get to college, that’s been beaten out of them: The mirror itself is 2-d, so the images must be, also. Another one is the folks who think that evolution is destined to make things “better”, and that “better” means “smarter”. Cockroaches do just fine, thank you, and they’re likely to continue to do just fine for quite a while. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/94 "2006-07-06T18:29:39Z")
[QUOTE=Baraqiyal] Yeah, he mentioned Superman as an example. [Here’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=140878) the thread and its [sequel](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=143006). [/QUOTE] I’m not certain whether he was really that stupid, or just jerking the board around. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/95 "2006-07-06T18:52:13Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] One that bugs me is freshman physics students who think the images in a mirror are two-dimensional. Ask any five-year-old, he’ll trust his senses, and tell you (quite correctly) that the images in a mirror are three-dimensional. [/QUOTE] If I put a statue in front of a mirror, I can locate any particular spot on the image of the statue with two numbers. So, there would seem to be a certain haphazard logic to the conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/96 "2006-07-06T18:56:26Z")
[QUOTE=js\_africanus] If I put a statue in front of a mirror, I can locate any particular spot on the image of the statue with two numbers. So, there would seem to be a certain haphazard logic to the conclusion. [/QUOTE] But there are “layers” in the image, so to speak. You can tell that some things are in front of the statue, and other things are behind it, thus indicating multiple planes in a new axis that is not one of the two you used to locate the statue. In a true 2-D image, everything is in one plane, nothing is in front of or behind something else, because there is no way for it to be. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/97 "2006-07-06T19:03:02Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] But there are “layers” in the image, so to speak. You can tell that some things are in front of the statue, and other things are behind it, thus indicating multiple planes in a new axis that is not one of the two you used to locate the statue. In a true 2-D image, everything is in one plane, nothing is in front of or behind something else, because there is no way for it to be. [/QUOTE] So, if I showed you an image in a mirror and the same image printed out on paper and stuck to the back of a piece glass, or would be able to tell me which was which by virtue of these “layers”? (Just asking because I’ve never really considered the question before) ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/98 "2006-07-06T19:13:44Z")
[QUOTE=UncleRojelio] (Just asking because I’ve never really considered the question before) [/QUOTE] Me, too. It’s a question that’s never come to me and it threw me a little bit. I can see why it’d be 3-D, I guess, but I can also see why it’d be 2-D as well. I’ve been wondering, “what exactly is the _image_ anyway?” When I look through a glass window, I’m seeing the three-space world outside, right? The glass doesn’t suddenly make it two dimensional. So why would it with a mirror that reflects light so well? Then again, what is the image itself. Looking out my window, I can locate any spot on that image with a two-space vector, so is the image 2-D, while the objects I’m seeing are 3-D? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/99 "2006-07-06T19:16:06Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] One that bugs me is freshman physics students who think the images in a mirror are two-dimensional. Ask any five-year-old, he’ll trust his senses, and tell you (quite correctly) that the images in a mirror are three-dimensional. But apparently by the time most folks get to college, that’s been beaten out of them: The mirror itself is 2-d, so the images must be, also.. [/QUOTE] You’ll have to explain that one. In what sense is it 3D? Does a reflection have thickness? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228/100 "2006-07-06T19:23:06Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Absolute drivel… we all know it’s the sound of Gods delivery men unloading crates of angel wings. [/QUOTE] MMMmm…love Angel Wings. Just give me some dipping sauce and a beer… I have a good friend who insists that you can’t see colors under moonlight, as the special moon-white light makes all things monochromatic. If I show him a red object and a green object in the moonlight, and we can certainly tell the difference, he says, “Oh, that’s because it’s BRIGHT moonlight – that only works under a full moon.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-really-this-ignorant-of-science/363228.md?page=6)