More science, less knowledge

The Science Channel is showing a roundup of 2004's top science stories. So far I've learned:

that Burt Rutan's space rocket was powered by rubber oxidized with laughing gas; that light may have once been slower than it is today;

that it has been proven that the number of primes is infinite;

that organic molecules (the components of living matter) are throughout the universe; that the elements of life, particularly phosphorus, came from outside the earth;

that two new elements have been created and scientists think that we might be able to create new superheavy stable elements; and

that teleportation may be theoretically possible. Instantaneous communication of information has been achieved, but only over a tiny distance. This is a major step in creating practical quantum computers.

We'll soon be able to buy watches with atomic clocks inside. They will almost certainly be in cell phones and GPS receivers. Relativity is now part of daily life.

More claims that global warming has been proven. If true, I doubt that (1) it is exclusively the fault of human beings, and (2) there's anything practical that we can do about it. We know that there have been times when the percentage of CO2 in the air was higher than it is today. Yet somehow the earth survived.

There's a study that children who watched R-rated films during pre-pubescence are more likely to smoke than those who didn't. Boy, is that politically incorrect, so it will be doubted as much as globally warming is alarming people.

We're being told that farm raised salmon are dangerous to eat. So you have the choice of helping drive wild salmon to extinction or eating a less healthy diet. I suspect that more and more people will decide to quit listening to "experts," and do what they like.

I'm beginning to wonder if a big part of our problems aren't the result of too many "scientific" claims based on too little information. A lot of these stories strike me as speculative, or driven by politics. They also remind me of the number of "facts" that are no longer accepted as true. Science is more and more driven by media, which I think is the big difference between our times and previous ones. You'd think that the powerful media would allow us to make better decisions, but I seen no sign that we're doing so. If recent experience with media is any indication, we're not really being told more true facts, so much as being fed more propaganda, and that doesn't include advertising, and the messages we get from the entertainment media.