Word: piel
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...Piel first raises the serious matter of general scientific ignorance. People have learned to accept science as a source of endless improvement, material comfort, and abundance, yet most the exact workings of science are mysterious. "Ironically, science itself seems to have fallen heir to much of what remains of the frightened awe formerly accorded to the outer darkness...
...avoid these misconceptions about science, and arouse new public support for basic research? Piel sees this matter again as a question of communication -- this time, between scientists and laymen...
Taxpayers are, of course, upholding the scientific establishment on faith. Piel notes that "it is not the amount of support but the terms on which it is given that counts." This means that the public must be able to evaluate the various projects their government supports, and the way the support is administered. Thus the gap in communications between scientist and citizen "challenges the underlying assumptions of the democratic process." The gap grows more serious as scientific work becomes more expensive, requiring larger, more complex machinery and materials...
Education is the only possible bridge to this gap. This is the essence of Piel's conclusion, as it was Snow's before him. But since Snow's Two Cultures, science in America has received tremendous popularization, on television and in magazines and newspapers. Piel finds most of this popular work distressing in its approach. "The principal appeal in the popularization of science is still the one-note siren song of utility...
...misrepresentation is not confined to scientists. Stylized representations of all professions, generally grossly inaccurate, flood our media. Our T.V. cowboys bear no more resemblance to real post-Civil War cowboys than Perry Mason and Nicholas Cain bear to real lawyers, or Peter Gunn to a real private detective. Piel's unkind, thinly disguised cut at Frank Papp's Bell Telephone science series completely ignores first the unusual accuracy and clear presentation of the programs, and second the fact that they were prepared primarily for young children...