I remember reading an article when I was a teenager about how very few men, but most women could tell whether a specific disease (don't remember which one) was caused by a virus or bacteria. It also claimed that the statistics were reversed for knowing whether the sun revolves around the earth or vice versa. I had no idea about the virus/bacteria thing, felt ridiculous to me. But intrigued, I asked my mother about the sun and earth and she responded: "I don't know, I've never even thought about it". Shocked to say the least. I learned that day that men and women are very different on average, despite being told otherwise my whole life.
I once met a woman that actually believed that the moon constantly changes in shape and luminosity.
Mind you, a fully functioning adult with a good job.
I'm not posting this to make fun of it, rather to say that in general people have absolutely no idea how anything in the world works. They know what they need to know.
I’ve met a man who didn’t know what a coffee maker was and a (American) woman who thought there were 26 states. The range of what people don’t know is so much broader than you can possible imagine.
(Also would be shocked if someone didn’t know which common illnesses were viral and which weren’t - seems like basic knowledge along the lines of heliocentrism to me)
> Also would be shocked if someone didn’t know which common illnesses were viral and which weren’t - seems like basic knowledge along the lines of heliocentrism to me
I suppose it is, but I didn't feel like it as a teenager, neither do I remember it being taught as opposed to heliocentrism. As a parent now, I'd definitely know but I guess my intrinsic interest for biology is much smaller than astronomy.
If you want to lose faith in humanity, start asking people which is farther away, the moon or the stars. Most people have no conception that the sun is a star, and would have trouble processing it.
How are those two things related? The sun is the closest star to us and is still further away than the moon. The answer would be “the stars” regardless of whether or not the answerer knows the sun is a star.
I mean, I tend to agree, but on the other hand it takes a certain kind of curiosity to care deeply about things that don't affect our lives in the slightest. You could argue that astronomy and cosmology is important today, but during most of evolution it really didn't matter. I guess it started paying dividends for planning the crops and harvest etc, but still that is quite late. So in that sense, caring about e.g. disease, biology and our immediate lives here on earth seems a lot more "sane".
ever since the neolithic society has had a habit of trying really hard to gaslight people about utter nonsense. and all we got for it was bread and penicillin.
