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The Science Gap: Dispelling the Myths and Understanding the Reality of Science
At a time when there is an ever-widening gap between what the expert knows and what the average person believes, this accessible volume clearly explains the scientific facts and concepts that are indispensable for an understanding of our material universe.
Milton Rothman examines sixteen standard myths about the nature of science, demonstrating that much of what passes for logical argumentation consists of the repetition of cliches and current folklore.
Milton Rothman examines sixteen standard myths about the nature of science, demonstrating that much of what passes for logical argumentation consists of the repetition of cliches and current folklore.
254 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1992
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March 19, 2025
I read this book years ago; I do not remember exactly when.
Update: March 19, 2025 - I read the book a second time. It still holds up pretty well despite being rather old by now in "science years." Parapsychology, religion, and perpetual motion machines have made zero progress, as Milton Rothman (1919-2001) predicted. His views on Artificial Intelligence reflected the state of things back in 1992, which is an eternity in "computer years." Perhaps that was during one of the many AI winters that the field had to endure. Today of course we live in the Golden Age of AI, where every few weeks the likes of ChatGPT and Google Gemini acquire some new jaw-dropping capability.
I remember this book because it was the first place where I realized that any form of cosmic communication - for example prayer, or religious revelation - would have to violate the conservation laws. Thus people who pray to their favorite god, and actually believe the god hears them, or sends messages back, must believe science is false. If someone wants to believe science is a hoax, that's their business, but I wish those people would stop hypocritically consuming the benefits of science every day. (In the form of countless technologies that wouldn't be possible if the enabling science were wrong.)
Rothman's comments on the environmental crisis are interesting to read from today's perspective. He understood the threats posed by exponential growth in human population, resource consumption, and waste generation on a finite planet. It's too bad that hardly anyone else seems to, even now. But one glaring omission was any mention of climate change. 1992 was still early days for climate science, although James Hansen was already sounding the alarm, to mostly deaf ears. Today, of course, you can't talk about the environment without talking about the climate and how ordinary humans are working hard every day to destroy it.
Rothman's musings on the other meaning of "environment", as in the shapers of human behaviors and social outcomes apart from the individual's DNA, badly need an update. 1992 was the very dawn of the genomics era. Today scientists have catalogued thousands of genetic disorders and find new ones every week.
Rothman takes a then-fashionable shot at Cyril Burt. Whether or to what degree Burt's much-maligned studies of heritability using pairs of monozygotic twins involved misconduct, they've since been replicated by multiple newer studies. That is, Burt's personal failings don't erase the hard truth of the high heritability of human intelligence (typically 0.6 to 0.8 for adult IQ). It's especially odd for Rothman, whose ancestry includes Ashkenazi Jews, to deny the factor that very likely enabled his scientific career. (His ancestors hail from the group having the highest average tested IQ on the planet, and who as a group enjoy disproportionate success across the whole range of cognitively demanding professions.)
Sadly, Rothman isn't around to write that update. Fortunately there are newer books such as Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (2019) by Robert Plomin.
Update: March 19, 2025 - I read the book a second time. It still holds up pretty well despite being rather old by now in "science years." Parapsychology, religion, and perpetual motion machines have made zero progress, as Milton Rothman (1919-2001) predicted. His views on Artificial Intelligence reflected the state of things back in 1992, which is an eternity in "computer years." Perhaps that was during one of the many AI winters that the field had to endure. Today of course we live in the Golden Age of AI, where every few weeks the likes of ChatGPT and Google Gemini acquire some new jaw-dropping capability.
I remember this book because it was the first place where I realized that any form of cosmic communication - for example prayer, or religious revelation - would have to violate the conservation laws. Thus people who pray to their favorite god, and actually believe the god hears them, or sends messages back, must believe science is false. If someone wants to believe science is a hoax, that's their business, but I wish those people would stop hypocritically consuming the benefits of science every day. (In the form of countless technologies that wouldn't be possible if the enabling science were wrong.)
Rothman's comments on the environmental crisis are interesting to read from today's perspective. He understood the threats posed by exponential growth in human population, resource consumption, and waste generation on a finite planet. It's too bad that hardly anyone else seems to, even now. But one glaring omission was any mention of climate change. 1992 was still early days for climate science, although James Hansen was already sounding the alarm, to mostly deaf ears. Today, of course, you can't talk about the environment without talking about the climate and how ordinary humans are working hard every day to destroy it.
Rothman's musings on the other meaning of "environment", as in the shapers of human behaviors and social outcomes apart from the individual's DNA, badly need an update. 1992 was the very dawn of the genomics era. Today scientists have catalogued thousands of genetic disorders and find new ones every week.
Rothman takes a then-fashionable shot at Cyril Burt. Whether or to what degree Burt's much-maligned studies of heritability using pairs of monozygotic twins involved misconduct, they've since been replicated by multiple newer studies. That is, Burt's personal failings don't erase the hard truth of the high heritability of human intelligence (typically 0.6 to 0.8 for adult IQ). It's especially odd for Rothman, whose ancestry includes Ashkenazi Jews, to deny the factor that very likely enabled his scientific career. (His ancestors hail from the group having the highest average tested IQ on the planet, and who as a group enjoy disproportionate success across the whole range of cognitively demanding professions.)
Sadly, Rothman isn't around to write that update. Fortunately there are newer books such as Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (2019) by Robert Plomin.
June 10, 2014
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12722202
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12722202
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