October 16, 2009

Denying Darwin

It's been said that the 20th century was the century of physics and the 21st will be the century of biology. (Even though some of the people saying it are biologists casting covetous eyes on the already low US funding for the physical sciences, the claim is plausible.) The 20th century was an American century; in 2000 it looked like the 21st would be another one. Now, quite apart from the endemic corruption and incompetence:

The public's belief in Darwinian evolution has been polled in 34 developed countries. The USA ranks second-to-last.

American exceptionalism...

Afterthought. There are also the kooks who compare skepticism about anthropogenic global warming to denial of evolution. Maybe the two factions deserve each other. Unfortunately, they bid fair to bring the country down, while shrieking that The Other is to blame.

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