In Skeptics discussions, I don't feel this is enough
talk about technophobes, and how much the beliefs that skeptics spend
their time debunking are fueled by technophobia.
We can diligently investigate all this baloney, but
in the end, if people want to
believe it, they will have no difficulty ignoring whatever evidence we
provide.
I would estimate that at least 70% of the general
population has an understanding of math, science, and technology
comparable to about where the average skeptic was in 6th grade.
One should think about how that would influence one's world view.
When such a person reads about ecological or technical problems, they
really cannot follow the discussion, possible solutions don't come to
their minds, they feel completely helpless at the mercy of
others. In their daily lives they are surrounded by gadgets whose
workings (and hazards) are a complete mystery.
In addition, reality is a pretty painful place for a
lot of us. As individuals most of us are quite insignificant, our
lives are limited, doctors tell us the outlook is grim. Accepting
the idea that miracles and magic don't exist is a very bitter pill for
a lot of people. Scientists like Dawkins and Sagan feel that the
impressive beauty of the cosmos or the biosphere should be enough to
sustain us and get us out of bed in the morning, but to most of the
population that just doesn't cut it. How can they really derive
satisfaction out of science when they barely understand it, and when
the mandatory science and math courses they took in school were a
negative experience? Most people finish their last science and
math class of their lives with the feeling that "I was not smart enough
to really get this.".
Many people derive great satisfaction out of
religion. However, for most people, religion is not "hard".
In most religions, difficult classes in theology are strictly
voluntary. In most religious practice, theology and study is on
the back burner. People generally don't fail at religion because
they're deemed stupid, don't grasp the concepts, they fail out because
they want to indulge in forbidden vices, or because they intellectually
reject it.
To a technophobe, the idea that "magic" works, that
those arrogant scientists who deem them stupid have been wrong all
along, that the rules are completely different, opening entirely new
possibilities, is extremely appealing. So they're going to be
rooting for pseudoscience at every opportunity, and ignoring the
evidence to the contrary that we provide.
I think that skeptics activities are useful to
the scientifically inclined. For myself, I want very badly to
know with confidence whether psychics or UFOs exist, and having
organizations that investigate these sort of claims is very useful to
me. But debunking pseudoscience as a means to the end of
educating the general population when the science education they have
received in the schools had slanted them emotionally against us, is an
uphill battle that I believe is fundamentally futile.
