Unit3 PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD SCIENCE
Stephen Hawking
1. Whether we like it or not, the world we live in has changed a great deal in the last hundred years, and it is likely to change even more in the next hundred. Some people would like to stop these changes and go back to what they see as a purer and simpler age. But as history shows, the past was not that wonderful. It was not so bad for a privileged minority, though even they had to do without modern medicine, and childbirth was highly risky for women. But for the vast majority of the population, life was nasty, brutish, and short.
2. Anyway, even if one wanted to, one couldn't put the clock back to an earlier age. Knowledge and techniques can't just be forgotten. Nor can one prevent further advances in the future. Even if all government money for research were cut off (and the present government is doing its best), the force of competition would still bring about advances in technology. Moreover, one cannot stop inquiring minds from thinking about basic science, whether or not they are paid for it. The only way to prevent further developments would be a global state that suppressed anything new, and human initiative and inventiveness are such that even this wouldn't succeed. All it would do is slow down the rate of change.
3. If we accept that we cannot prevent science and technology from changing our world, we can at least try to ensure that the changes they make are in the right directions. In a democratic society, this means that the public needs to have a basic
understanding of science, so that it can make informed decisions and not leave them in the hands of experts. At the moment, the public is in two minds about science. It has come to expect the steady in crease in the standard of living that new developments in science and technology have brought to continue, but it also distrusts science because it doesn't understand it. This distrust is evident in the cartoon figure of the mad scientist working in his laboratory to produce a Frankenstein.It is also an important element behind support for the Green parties. But the public also has a great interest in science, particularly astronomy, as is shown by the large audiences for television series such as The Sky at Night if and for science fiction.
4. What can be done to harness this interest and give the public the scientific background it needs to make informed decisions on subjects like acid rain, the greenhouse effect, nuclear weapons, and genetic engineering? Clearly, the basis must lie in what is taught in schools. But in schools science is often presented in a dry and uninteresting manner. Children learn it by rote to pass examinations, and they don't see its relevance to the world around them. Moreover, science is often taught in terms of equations. Although equations are a brief and accurate way of describing mathematical ideas, they frighten most people. When I wrote a popular book recently, I was advised that each equation I included would have the sales. I included one equation, Einstein 's famous equation, E=mc2. Maybe I would have sold twice as many copies without it.
5. Scientists and engineers tend to express their ideas in the form of equations because they need to know the precise values of quantities. But for the rest of us, a
qualitative grasp of scientific concepts is sufficient, and this can be conveyed by words and diagrams, without the use of equations.
6. The science people learn in school can provide the basic framework. But the rate of scientific progress is now so rapid that there are always new developments that have occurred since one was at school or university. I never learned about molecular biology or transistors at school, but genetic engineering and computers are two of the developments most likely to change the way we live in the future. Popular books and magazine articles about science can help to put across new developments, but even the most successful popular book is read by only a small proportion of the population. Only television can reach a truly mass audience. There are some very good science programmes on TV, but others present scientific wonders simply as magic, without explaining them or showing how they fit into the framework of scientific ideas. Producers of television science programmes should realize that they have a responsibility to educate the public, not just entertain it.
7. The world today is filled with dangers, hence the sick joke that the reason we have not been contacted by an alien civilization is that civilizations tend to destroy themselves when they reach our stage. But I have sufficient faith in the good sense of the public to believe that we might prove this wrong.
公众科学观
斯蒂芬·霍金
1. 无论我们是否愿意，我们生活的世界在过去——百年间已经变化了许多，而且在未来的—百年里可能变化更多。有人想中止这种种变化，回到那个他们认为更纯洁更朴素的时代。但正如历史所表明的，过去并非那么美妙。过去对享有特权的少数人不算太糟，但即便他们也无从享受现代医疗，而生育对妇女来说风险极大。对占人口大多数的民众而言，生活是艰难、残忍而又短暂的。
2. 不管怎样，即使有人想这么做，他也无发将时钟拨回到早先的时代。知识与技术不可能说忘就忘了。也没有人能阻止未来的进一步发展。即使所有用于研究的政府资金都被取消 ( 现政府最擅此事 ) ，竞争的力量仍将继续带来技术的发展。更何况，没有人能阻止探究求索之士基础科学，无论他们是否会为此得到酬劳。惟一能阻止进—步发展的办法或许是—个压制任何新事物的全球政府，但人类的进取心与创造力如此旺盛，即便这个政府也不会 成功。它所能做到的只是延缓变化的速度。
3. 如果我们承认，我们无法阻止科学技术改变我们的世界，我们至少可以努力确保科技带来的变化方向正确。在—个民主社会里，这意味着公众需要对科学有—个基本的了解，从而可以作出明达的决定，而不是把决定留给专家去作。目前，公众对科学存有矛盾之心。公众期望科技新发展带来的生活水准的稳定提高能继续，但又怀疑科学，因为他们不懂科学。那个在实验室里设法制造弗兰肯斯泰因的疯狂的科学家的—卡通人物清楚地体现了公众的这种怀疑。这也是人们之所以支持各种绿色组织的—个重要因素。但公众同时也对科学深感兴趣，尤其是对天文学，诸如《夜空》之类的电视连续剧观众不少以及科幻小说读者甚多就是明证。
4. 怎么样才能利用这种兴趣，向公众提供所需要的科学知识，以便其在酸雨、温室效应、核武器以及基因工程等问题上作出明达的决定呢 ? 显然，必须把基础建立在学校课程上。但在学校里，科学往往被教得枯燥乏味。孩子们死记硬背应付考试，他们看不出科学
与他们的周围世界的联系。更有甚者，科学常常是用公式来教的。虽然公式是阐述数学概念的一种简单而精确的方式，它们却使大多数人望而生畏。前不久我写了—本通俗读物，当时有人告诫我说，我每使用—个公式就会使销量减半。我只使用了—个公式，即爱因斯坦那个著名的公式， E=mc2 如果不用这个公式的话，也许我能多卖出—倍的书。
5. 科学家和工程师倾向于用公式阐述观点，因为他们需要知道量的精确值。但对我们其余的人来说，对科学概念有个质的认识就已足够，这可以用文字和图表来表述，大可不必使用公式。
6. 人们在学校学到的科学知识可以提供—个基本的框架。但如今科学进步的速度如此之快，—个人离开学校或大学后新的发展层出不穷。我在学校从未学过分子生物学或晶体管，但基 因工程和计算机是极有可能改变我们未来生活的两项发展。有关科学的通俗读物和杂志文章能帮助人们了解新发展，但即使是最畅销的科普读物也只有一小部分人阅读。只有电视能赢得真正广大的观众。电视上有一些相当优秀的科学节目，但其他的节目把科学奇迹简单地作为魔术播出，既不加以说明，也不展现它们与科学观念的整体框架的关系。电视科学节目的制片人应该认识到，他们负有教育民众的重任，而不仅仅是为他们提供娱乐。
7. 当今世界充满危险，因此就有了那个令人毛骨悚然的玩笑，说我们尚未受到外星文明造访的原因在于：但凡文明发展到我们目前的程度，它们往往就自我毁灭了。然而我对公众的 明智充满信心，因而相信，我们将证明这一说法是错误的。
因篇幅问题不能全部显示，请点此查看更多更全内容