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CBC: 43% of Canadians think science is opinion, 52% think GMOs are bad for the health

Well can't really say that science is a fact when it's more or less an accumulation of knowledge that is based on observations. Science keeps changing and what we know as good can change later.

A fact is unchanging yet our knowledge of things do change

In other words:

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hobozero

Member
Is this another one of those surveys of just people with land lines? I feel like those are just getting more and more inaccurate as you people abandon traditional phone lines.
 

SaviourMK2

Member
This is what happens when you,ask for an opinion as opposed to outright staring it as a fact.

"Do you think water is wet?"
"Well..."
"IT DOESNT MATTER WHAT YOU THINK DIPSHIT"
 

Pachinko

Member
Must have just polled suburban Albertans .... :p

(I am one myself but geeze some of my close relatives believe some dumb shit)
 

cameron

Member
Probably because we breathe through our mouths in the winter to keep our hands warm.

And all our smrt people emigrate to the States for moar monies.
 

Mistake

Gold Member
Well, I agree that scientists need better platforms and was to interact with the public. It's all getting drowned out in political bullshit
 
The GMO statistic I can believe. So much BS on my Facebook feed about GMOs, and everyone proudly talks about wasting money buying organic.
Organic=/=GMO free. Organic is actually significantly better for the environment and your body. Non-organic uses pesticides that destroy the environment and is the leading cause of Bee extinction in the US. Also a lot of Non-organic food puts preservatives and other additives to your food.
 

SmugSnake

Neo Member
So is everyone gonna ignore this part?

82 per cent of respondents said they "would like to know more about science and how it affects our world."
79 per cent agreed they're comfortable "knowing that scientific answers may not be definitive."
Respondents said they trusted museums and science centres (89 per cent), scientists and professors (88 per cent) and educational institutions (87 per cent) as sources of information, but far fewer said they trusted word of mouth (25 per cent) or social media (20 per cent.)

The other results suck but these results indicate that most people still have trust in scientists and educational institutions while distrusting crap like twitter.
 
Not surprising, this kind of ignorance has spread like wildfire, anti-vaxx anti-GMO thanks to moronic celebs that think they know what they're talking about because they've got a lot of money, and then on the other end the alt-right politicizing basic facts over the internet. r/canada is just as despicable as an American sub.

In reference to what? Boomers are some of the worst in this regard

Sadly a whole generation of people being raised by boomers doesn't sound much better.
 

Fou-Lu

Member
Organic=/=GMO free. Organic is actually significantly better for the environment and your body. Non-organic uses pesticides that destroy the environment and is the leading cause of Bee extinction in the US. Also a lot of Non-organic food puts preservatives and other additives to your food.

Guess what? Organic foods use pesticides that damage the environment too! Plus there is no evidence of health benefits.
 

A Fish Aficionado

I am going to make it through this year if it kills me
Organic=/=GMO free. Organic is actually significantly better for the environment and your body. Non-organic uses pesticides that destroy the environment and is the leading cause of Bee extinction in the US. Also a lot of Non-organic food puts preservatives and other additives to your food.

Varroa destructor mite is the leading cause of colony collapse.
 

massoluk

Banned
Organic=/=GMO free. Organic is actually significantly better for the environment and your body. Non-organic uses pesticides that destroy the environment and is the leading cause of Bee extinction in the US. Also a lot of Non-organic food puts preservatives and other additives to your food.
This organic is better for environment overall is really not backed up by sound science
 

Verelios

Member
So...why do belly flops onto water hurt then? There can't be a magical explanation for that right? Especially since it would go circles around the water exerted force on you.
 

Pandaman

Everything is moe to me
Guess what? Organic foods use pesticides that damage the environment too! Plus there is no evidence of health benefits.
Significantly more pesticides too in terms of pound per acre. Do people think there's a dude out there picking bugs off his potatoes with a pair of tweezers?
 
People have a limited capacity for thinking rationally, because by its very nature thinking rationally is slow, deliberate, and exhausting. It's a large reason why we need to have faith in our public institutions, because then we can offload that cognitive demand on agencies or experts that actually do know better, because even the most free-thinking individual isn't going to personally investigate every belief or position that they encounter. But between societies getting blase about their liberal democracies, the degradation in the quality of journalism, and the internet, etc, we're presented with a sort of wilderness of views that is only going to get more people experiencing failure in their rational capacities. These patterns are widespread so we can't expect the effect to be limited to the US.
 
Guess what? Organic foods use pesticides that damage the environment too! Plus there is no evidence of health benefits.
Yes by the US government definition you can still use certain pesticides and be considered organic. If you are purchasing from a large chain then it probably isn't any better than non-organic. However, this is not the case for all organic food. Especially if you buy local such as at farmers markets. It is also still not at all related to GMO.

Varroa destructor mite is the leading cause of colony collapse.
Malnourished bees are susceptible to mites and Colony Collapse Disorder. Those are the two biggest causes for Bees rapid decline in population. Bees can be malnourished from feeding on plants treated with pesticides. Given the widespread use of pesticides everywhere it has started to drastically effect the bee population.
 
Without seeing the wording of the survey questions, it's difficult to know exactly what to think about science being a "matter of opinion", since that is a vague phrase that could conceivably cover any number of reasonable and scientifically literate positions. Ironically this may very well be an example of bad science reporting. We are not given a link to the primary source, and even the Ontario Science Center, which commissioned the survey, only seems to have a press release posted which does not give these crucial details.

https://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/Media/Details/457/
 

Steel

Banned
Being ignorant on average is a human trait, not a country specific one really. How it manifests is another matter, though.
 

wazoo

Member
Looking at the poll results I do no see canadians as dumb people. They are cautious and quite reasonable about media coverage.

The only problem is the "science as opinion" which in my opinion is a matter of understanding the question.

We can not deny that science is evolving and is refined all the time. What we trusted once can be changed with better understanding and analysis. It does not make science an opinion but it is surely not "facts". As a scientist, I can even say that "facts" are always the best we can understand provided the analysis and observations we have.

Of course, based on those, earth is round, 4 Billions years old and dinosaurs existed. Also climate change.
 
The survey found widespread concerns about fake news — 66 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement that "false information reported as fact (so called 'fake news') is affecting your knowledge of science."

I'm cool with that (though I'd like it to be higher). I'm always seeing posts on Facebook about "shocking discoveries about deadly toxins found in flu vaccines". I'd hope for people to be wary about their sources because there is a lot of fake news out there.

But for the most part, yeesh.

Though hopefully this is just old people with landlines as another user suspected. I think the younger generation (though far from perfect) has a more accepting view on science and fact.
 
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