What's the most annoying misconception of science?

Question

What's the most annoying misconception of science?

Answer 1

That science is about what we *believe*.

That single misconception is responsible for *SO* many other misconceptions.

Science is not about *belief* ... it is about *understanding*!

It is always quite clear from a person's language when they are laboring under the misconception:

* They say things like "I do not believe X", (evolution, abiogenesis, the big bang, whatever) and then show a *terrible* CARTOON-LIKE understanding of X.  Clearly they have decided what to believe or not believe *BEFORE* actually understanding it ... and they have specifically set out to maintain an absurd understanding of X that justifies their rejection of it!

* They simultaneously say "I don't believe X ... I doesn't make any sense at all to me."   If it doesn't make any sense, and the people who do understand it seem to accept it overwhelmingly, then why decide to reject something you admit you don't understand?

* They use phrases like "I cannot believe ...", "I refuse to believe ... ", or "I don't know how anyone can believe ..."

* They ask questions like "what do you believe, X or Y?" or "what do scientists believe?"  Even people who are pro-science make the mistake of saying "scientists believe ..."   A true scientist almost NEVER says "I believe ..." when talking about science.

* The use the word "proof" instead of *evidence*.   This reveals that they think of the word in terms of "proven" things that you believe, and "unproven" things that you reject.

* They use words like "proof", "proven", "proved", "unproven."

* They use the phrase "just a theory", "only a theory", "merely a theory", or even "still a theory".   Again this reveals that they they think the word "theory" means "unproven fact."

* They say things like "teach both sides and let the students decide what they believe."   Again, science class is not about "deciding what you believe", it's about what you *UNDERSTAND*.  Does a concept improve *understanding* of nature ... if yes, then it belongs in science class, if not, then it does NOT belong in science class.  These people are quite willing to sacrifice understanding, in order to preserve previously held *BELIEF*.

* They say things like "when a theory is proven, it is then called a 'fact' or 'law'."   Again ... they are emphasizing *BELIEF* as established by "proof."

I do not know why science education is so very very bad on this BASIC concept.  This should be taught in 4th grade and repeated in every grade through high school.

Instead, we have kids here who are memorizing the Krebs Cycle or the phases of mitosis, or the periodic table ... but they are clueless what words like "theory" means, or the difference between a 'theory' and a 'law' or between 'evidence' and 'proof.'

It is *DEPRESSING* (and embarassing) to see how we Americans can be so utterly scientifically illiterate!

Answer 2

To me the most annoying is the misunderstanding of evolution and the age of the earth.   There are still many who believe that the earth is about 6000 years old, and that evolution is totally false, even though the evidence is overwhelming.

Answer 3

being able to break the laws of thermodynamics....... many people believe they are able to generate more power than they put in, if you have a look on youtube and type perpetual motion you will see all sorts of weird and wonderfull things people have made and lay claim to the fact that they have created perpetual motion ITS NOT POSSIBLE PEOPLE, if it were it would happen spontaneously at different points within the universe and it doesn't

Answer 4

The most irritating misconception about science (to me) is the notion so many people have that science is "absolute" and unchangeable...what DEFINES science is the notion that it is grounded in fact & observation, and if evidence arises that shows current scientific knowledge to be lacking in any way, science (unlike religion, for example) will happily amend its current set of rules so that they better fit the observable reality...

Answer 5

miss education being deprived from the real truth

Answer 6

i get irked by people's misconceptions about evolution...but what peeves me more is when people think, "blood is blue when deoxygenated and red when oxygenated..."

sillies. we have iron in our blood, not copper...

Answer 7

If scientists can't explain something now, then it is forever beyond the purview of science.  It annoys me that people fault scientists for not knowing everything when no scientist would ever make such a claim.  There are and will always be unanswered questions.  This is why scientists still do research.

A couple of open questions:

How did the universe begin?

We don't know.  We're working on it.

How did life begin?

We don't know.  We're working on it.

This is how any scientist would answer these questions.

Answer 8

1. People that think 'theory' means 'guess.'

2. People that think science is a big book of knowledge to be memorized, and lacks creativity.

3. People that think science 'changing it's mind' and telling us one thing then telling us something different when new evidence comes along means that science doesn't know anything.  They want some kind of eternal, absolute truth but they just don't get that science's REJECTION of absolute truth is it's biggest strength.