Why is there so much ignorance regarding basic scientific principles in the general populace?

[petera1987]

And I mean really basic. I'm asking this question because I wanted to correct someone's flawed understanding of natural selection with the following:

"Natural selection is all about how certain characteristics are passed on, and due to the advantage (s) that such characteristics bestow. It's all about biological variation, and the diversity that results therefrom."

but the person in question just told me to "knock it off", called me "dude", and then blocked me. He thought it had something to do with eliminating one's competitors, but no, it doesn't. Don't they teach science in schools anymore?

[TheSpaceGnome]

Natural selection is the result of an environment causing various types of pressures on organism's ability to survive. Individuals who happen to have traits that allow it to do well enough to produce viable offspring successfully before dying, pass on their genetic traits to the next generation.

Meanwhile, individuals that lack the ability to cope with the environmental pressures placed upon them, die off before reproducing, ending their line.

Because of how populations can spread outward into different environments, and how environments can change over time, or things can be introduced or lost to them, or how individuals can choose different adaption methods than their kin, you can see a lot of localized variation between populations of different regions, or even within the same region but of a different ecological niche.

So while they aren't completely describing it, they aren't wrong either. They probably blocked you because they didn't see a point in debating or getting into the details of it (even my description is an oversimplified one, and doesn't even touch on things like sexual selection).

But to answer your question, it's because most people simply don't give a shit about science. If the products and advantages that come from scientific advancement were not simply plopped into stores for them as they are, I doubt most people would bother to craft any of it.

Most people are stupid and lack the drive to invent or problem solve with anything that is even moderately complex.

[TheSpaceGnome]

The word selection is also a misnomer, its more chaos than it is selection.

[Anonymous]

who cares.

[petera1987]

I do. Many people care, but I see you're one of those who don't, and THAT is a big part of the problem. Too many people think it isn't important, which is really odd, because we rely so much upon the products of science like never before in history.