The Moral Costs of Scientific IgnoranceMike Rappaport

Steven Pinker channels Karl Popper and C.P. Snow:

The costs of an ignorance of science are not just practical ones likemisbegotten policies, forgone cures and a unilateral disarmament innational competitiveness. There is a moral cost as well. It is anastonishing fact about our species that we understand so much about thehistory of the universe, the forces that make it tick, the stuff it smade of, the origin of living things and the machinery of life. Afailure to nurture this knowledge shows a philistine indifference tothe magnificent achievements humanity is capable of, like allowing agreat work of art to molder in a warehouse.