Science and Engineering Indicators in America (2014)

Posted by $ MikeMarotta 9 years, 4 months ago to Science
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From the front matter:
Science and Engineering Indicators (SEI) is first and foremost a volume of record comprising the major high-quality quantitative data on the U.S. and international science and engineering enterprise. SEI is factual and policy neutral. It does not offer policy options, and it does not make policy recommendations. SEI employs a variety of presentation styles—tables, figures, narrative text, bulleted text, Web-based links, highlights, introductions, conclusions, reference lists—to make the data accessible to readers with different information needs and different information-processing preferences.

The data are “indicators.” Indicators are quantitative representations that might reasonably be thought to provide summary information bearing on the scope, quality, and vitality of the science and engineering enterprise."

From Chapter 7 about the general public:
"Overall, Americans remain strong believers in the benefits of S&T even while seeing potential risks. Surveys since at least 1979 show that roughly 7 in 10 Americans see the effects of scientific research as more positive than negative for society. In 2012, this included 50% who said they believed the benefits “strongly” outweigh the negatives and 22% who said the benefits slightly outweigh the potential harms (appendix table 7-16). About 7% said science creates more harms than benefits. These numbers are generally consistent with earlier surveys; Americans saying the benefits strongly or slightly outweigh the harmful results have ranged from 68% to 80% since this question was initially asked in the 1970s (figure 7-10).

Americans with more education, income, and scientific knowledge hold a stronger belief in the benefits of science than others. For example, 55% of those who had not completed high school said they believe science does more good than harm, but 89% of those with bachelor’s degrees and 92% of those with graduate degrees expressed this view.

Similarly, 86% of those in the top income quartile saw more benefits than harms from science, whereas 60% of those in the lowest bracket expressed this view. Almost all (87%) of those in the top knowledge quartile said they saw more benefits than harms, but just half (50%) of those in the lowest knowledge quartile gave this response (appendix table 7-16).22


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  • Posted by $ 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Allow me to suggest that the "simpler times" argument must be considered. Benjamin Franklin might have been one of the last Renaissance Men. The exponential growth in knowledge makes advanced learning necessary. I agree that it can come from informal sources, whether the public library or a Massive Online free class from MIT.

    About half of Americans (47% down from 58%) say that they have attended "informal science institutions" (zoos and museums), once a year. I just wrote an article for our local astronomy club about The Star of Bethlehem. It is a money-maker for everyone's local planetarium.
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  • Posted by $ 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Thanks for the post. Yes, military service was often a path. After WWII, they insisted on your having high school or else giving it to you once you were in. The Post Office and similar govt jobs are ideologically problematic, of course, certainly in this forum. You are saying that you can retire with five incomes if four of them are from looter jobs.

    On the other hand, it has been strongly argued that it is perfectly moral to take a job for the government in an area where the govt has supplanted the free market, such as public education or parcel delivery. (It remains immoral to take a government job doing something that no one should do, like the SEC.)

    The story of the eighth grade teacher was interesting. It should be considered a paradigm. +1 for that.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It makes me even more pissed off at people who send soldiers out and then abandon them. And it isn't just politicians. I get very angry they don't count people like your brother and his wife.the sheer callous attitude and then to have the gall the arrogance to ask for support?
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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    they are wonderful dogs;;; we (first wife and I) had a little
    female named Kate, and she even tried to herd slugs.
    she liked the guinea hens best, though;;; she could get them
    to quit admiring their reflections in the basement glass doors
    and take off towards the barn where she thought they belonged. -- j
    .
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Not sure about programs but we have had dogs and cats registered to vote, issued drivers licenses and social security cards.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Presidente from Mexico is quite nice. Add a little canela and salsa to the diet it cures just about anything that distillado agave (Aloe) can't, won't or isn't allowed to handle. What else. Garlic.
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  • Posted by ewv 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Don't over rate the intelligence of border collies. Mine is behind on her advanced calculus homework again.
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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    you better watch that border collie -- before you know it,
    she will be herding the other dogs around! -- j
    .
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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    babies are grubs, just the most fascinating kind!
    how about a little Dewars to "thin the mix?" . remember
    the scrawny old engineer in "up periscope?" -- j

    p.s. that brings the second-stage "ask the gulch" question
    back to mind. . if people don't have souls, what's all this fuss
    about their being better than other animals? . OK. . just
    put it in. . we'll see what gulchers say!
    .
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    So...you may experience a three or four dog night. A neighbor has a border collie she calls "Little Bit Of Heaven" or just Littlebit for short. I often walk my dog using a power chair. Most dogs shy away because I am strange to them. The two neighborhood dogs that are fearless and let me pet them is a golden retriever and the border collie. One of the things I like about my neighborhood is that about half the people there own dogs. I am amused often because when we greet each other we use the names of the dogs rather than their owners.
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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    it started out as water displacement compound #40,
    as I understand it -- to "snake" water out of tight spots
    where it would corrode expensive hardware if left there ...
    we use it around here to prepare the way for Harley
    chain spray which "snakes in" a heavier lube oil which
    stays to do the lubrication job. . works soooooo well !!! -- j
    .
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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    ahem. . just over a year ago. . sorry.

    they trucked their chem weapons over to Syria just before
    we arrived, as I understand it ... most of them, that is. -- j
    .
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Correct.
    As I have said to many solipsistic people, you can choose to disregard reality, but then, the likelihood is that reality will inexorably destroy you.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    John, you are a weirdly bizarre person. I have a feeling that if we ever met face to face, we'd get along just fine.
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  • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Love dogs; hate kids.

    On the other hand, if we ever meet in person, I see a bottle of nice brandy and some discussions til the wee small hours o'the'night.

    Jan, thinks babies look like grubs
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  • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I have an acre, but much of it is not fenced dog-escape-proof, so the dogs only routinely have access to the yards alongside the house. Right now, just one of the yards, actually, since I had to move the sheep into the other yard after coyotes killed the little goat.

    Molly interacts. Whew! Does she ever. Fortunately, she likes one of my shepherds pretty well and they run around together a lot. I don't think that Molly has internet access yet, but I am careful to not leave my computer accessible...who knows what would be showing up in the next FedEx delivery.

    Jan
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  • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I have a hiking staff (Wm and some friends made it) carved with Elvish (Quenyan). Tolkien's Middle Earthis a great world to visit.

    What is the name of your boat? Vingilote?

    Jan
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    True but you will never convince a liberal they had WMD all along. Nor the fallacy of balanced budget with a surplus.
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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    my sister-in-law is still crying over the loss of her husband
    just over a hear ago from SoDam Insane's chem weapons.
    the technology is here. . the enemy is here. . we must
    learn to be more vigilant or we won't be here much longer. -- j
    .
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Water content is too high. It's a killer on door locks and padlocks as it attracts and holds dirt. read Herb's answer he's got the right idea? GRIN
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