Popular Press

"We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces."

Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World.

"If American science truly fears for its competitiveness in the global marketplace, it ought to be expanding and reinventing itself to incorporate new opportunities for young American scientists. The scientist who can write, or design a Web site, or understand patent law, or speak Spanish will be better equipped to face the competition than a scientist who only knows his or her discipline—not to mention a better science communicator. And in the context of the science-education pipeline, these alternative valves will alleviate pressure by opening new pathways for pent-up scientific talent to filter out into society."

Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum, Unscientific America

"Because of the epistemological and ontological authority accorded to this rhetoric, it is not uncommon for scientific discourse to be appropriated in an effort to frame arguments more convincingly—not as arguments at all but as established Truth. Examination of this practice begins to reveal the degree to which scientific discourse is valorized in Western society. As Halliday and Martin [say]," A form of language that began as the semiotic underpinning for what was, in the worldwide context, a rather esoteric structure of knowledge has gradually been taking over as the dominant mode for interpreting human existence. Every text, from the discourse of technocracy and bureaucracy to the television magazine and the blurb on the back of the cereal packet, is in some way affected by the modes of meaning that evolved as the scaffolding of scientific knowledge." One of the most obvious and compelling recent examples of this appropriation can be found in the creation science movement (which has now been largely supplanted by the intelligent design paradigm). In the 1980s and 1990s, practitioners of creation science sought to prove by scientific means that the formation of the earth and of human beings occurred as described in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, and to disprove what they saw as heretical explanations such as the Big Bang Theory and Darwnian evolution. Typically, creation scientists used established methodlogies in their discipliines to gather data. For example, one creation physicist reported that "A preliminary analysis...of 'creation light' (now microwaves) data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisoptropy Probe (WMAP) ... shows a remarkable orientation around a definite axis through the cosmos. The axis points roughly toward the constellation Virgo, very close to the plane of the earth's equator.... The existence of an axis (whether from rotation, a magnetic field, or some other cause) is strong evidence against the big bang theory. That is because the big bang presupposed a boundless cosmos with no special places (such as a center of mass) and no special directions (such as an axis through a center of mass)" (Institute for Creation Research). A mainstream physicist would most likely be more than surprised to see microwaves characterized as "creation light," and may take issue with the notion that the existence of an axis casts doubt on the Big Bang Theory. But what is important to recognize is that many people who would otherwise be at least somewhat skeptical of evangelical Christianity may decide to take creation science seriously because it is presented as a science. It is conducted in university science departments. It uses scientific methods. And, most importantly, it uses scientific discourse unabashedly. It is an example of the many areas of inquiry that appropriate features of scientific rhetoric in an effort to strengthen arguments. Indeed, as [Bernadette] Longo maintains, language is often recast "into scientific discourse that can partake of the cultural power residing in scientifc knowledge" ...it is revealing that creation scientists found it necessary to appropriate scientific discourse to further their cause; even a discourse as authoritative as religious rhetoric appropriates scientific rhetoric to convince people of its truthfulness."