Why is science demonized in people's minds?

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Why is science demonized in people's minds? Not just in their minds, but in both secular and religious institutions?

I mean, the body of science doesn't start wars, cause famine, or create natural disasters. Nor does it raise taxes, foreclose on homes, or addict children to crack cocaine. It is the politicians, business people, nature, and criminals that do these things.

So why is science given such a bum rap?

Its an easy target for some. Most people don't know very much about it. They figure "science" is a monolithic institution based on some craggy castle where there are always thunderstorms and mad scientists working to extend man's reach beyond his grasp. Or that they are poking into things "created by God" and best left not known...

Well, I will take a bit of issue with your assertion that science doesn't raise taxes. It doesn't raise them directly, but a lot of science is publicly funded and as such is paid for out of tax money. When people here about $10 billion being spent on the Large Hadron Collider, or space exploration, they do tend to think that it could be spent on better things. Or wonder why their tax dollars are paying for it. I believe Sarah Palin, during the last election, mocked the fact that the government was giving grants to research on worms (or maybe it was fruit flies, I can't remember).

Religious institutions don't like science because it can go against their gospel, so that's pretty obvious I think. In terms of secular institutions, I think they usually will go against science because they only ever seem to think of the bad things it's brought us (nuclear weapons, technology to invade people's privacy, the potential for biological warfare etc.). They forget that it was actually human beings who chose to use science this way. And they seem to turn a blind eye to the many good things that science has brought us (medicine, ability to communicate with people on the other side of the world, ability to provide food more cheaply and reliably than ever before, etc.)

Also, I think that, to a degree, people just don't trust science because they don't understand it. People don't like someone up in an ivory tower telling them that they have to do this, or that something is the case. Perhaps, at a subconscious level, they feel that if normal people can't understand it then it somehow is a violation of democracy.

I think it is only demonized by those brainwashed by religion into believing there is a god who created everything etc. This brainwashing often starts at birth in regions of the world where religion is endemic, particularly in areas such as Africa, Arabic countries and America. The religious meme is well established in kids by their parents and peers and by the time they are adults it is too late. Such people prefer to hang on to their beliefs rather than discover the truths that science has revealed. Besides it takes a considerable amount of time and effort to educate oneself on scientific matters; most people are too lazy to learn anyway.

I'll never forget when I was studying degree level sciences that the handful of Muslim students present never attended the biology classes that went into detail about the mechanisms and biochemistry involved in how evolution works. Apparently they were forbidden to learn the science because it contradicts the Koran.

I love your wording. "Why is science demonized? That right there is the answer. Sometimes the question is the answer. Brilliant, Fnord. I don't know if you intended it that way, but golf clap for Fnord.

lol..Yay someone said it. My daughter and I were having a good laugh last week because in many of the cartoon/anime superhero shows she likes to watch, there is a "mad physicist." We were laughing at the idea of the mad physicist, because to us, science/reason/facts...things that you can count on...seem to be the opposite of "mad." But the prevailing opinion and the one that is cartoonized most often, is the "mad scientist," always trying to take over the world. It struck a funny chord with us last week.

Bethanie

Good question.

Historically, on the level of instituionalized religion it was probably a matter of political power being threatened by creating a challenge to the mystical claims which justified holding that power. Sort of like saying, "the Pharoh/Pope is wrong!" -- Galileo may have only meant it in a factual sense, but that didn't matter to the powers-that-be. (Silly, idealistic scientists...)

One thing I've never been able to grasp is the idea that if you learn about, say, photosynthesis, that it destroys the beauty of a flower (or whatever). IOW, that learning something scientific somehow destroys appreciation.

I mean, WTF? That makes plants ten times more amazing to me. They have thousands (?) of chemical reactions going on inside them, they grow, follow the sun, have DNA (like me -- IIRC humans and bananas have 50% the same DNA -- how amazing is that?). Knowing that stuff does not diminish my aesthetic appreiciation at all -- it supplements it with an additional kind of appreciation.

And why doesn't knowing that bees pollinate plants destroy the appreciation of bees for most people, then?

In the case of war, I suppose it's seeing the effects without reflecting on the causes. People saw the effects of mustard gas and blame and horror went to science instead of war itself? ...Hmm, I'm not sure I buy my own argument, there. Science has increased the capability of mass killing and mass maiming dramatically. Once could argue that if people wouldn't have wars then there wouldn't be a problem, but humanity will always have wars. On the upside, we're all not dead from nuclear annihilation, so I guess humanity is showing some degree of ability to handle the power that science gives it (so far, anyway).

It's because they're stupid :p

People fear what they don't understand and hate what they can't conquer.
- Andrew Smith

is this a 'why do christians hate science topic' because i am not of that group.

i'm a christian and i like science but it all depends on what branch as well. i favor some branches more then others.

i like branch that has to do with robots and anything like robots. bomb construction, [the ones used in wars].

this might have something to with my love of machines.

i think it's not science itself, or what it's doing, the economy is in a downward spiral in the usa. people are more then eager to point and blame the first thing they see. but i have to agree somewhat the focus in the usa at least should be on lowering the debt and nothing else. anything that can help should be tried.

i feel bad for my dad and my bro, both diesel truck owners. and you have to fork out a ton of money to fill those.

4$ and up where i live.

Science has a bad tendency to say, "lol no, you're totally wrong" when it comes to someone's personal beliefs?