Professor Heather Douglas, Waterloo Chair in Science and Society and a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy, told CBC radio's The 180 this weekend that gaps in public understanding or support of science and technology can force the scientific community to be more rigorous and innovative. Read or hear the full story on CBC.
As part of The 180's series Facts & Values, we delve into a recent survey that suggests Canadians have "significant gaps" in their understanding and acceptance of science.
It
comes from
the Ontario
Science
Centre,
and
reveals what
the
centre
calls
"significant
gaps"
in
our
understanding
of
issues
like
climate
change,
vaccinations
and
genetically
modified
organisms. The
survey
was
based
on
an
online
poll by
Leger
of
1,578
Canadians. A
probabilistic
sample
of
this
size
would
yield
a
margin
of
error
of
plus
or
minus
2.5
per
cent,
19
times
out
of
20.
Heather Douglas is the Waterloo Chair in Science and Society.
But University of Waterloo professor, Heather Douglas says those gaps often force the scientific community to be more rigorous and innovative.
Douglas, whose research focuses on the intersection of science and society, concedes that while it's valid to be concerned about gaps in the public understand of science, she says in her opinion it's not clear to what is inherently problematic about the public disagreeing with the scientific community. [...]
If we don't pay attention to the concerns the public has, the scientific community will not address them, and the gap between the scientific community and the public could increase.