First, what is Softpedia? It's a site that catalogues software and at that site appeared this article, from which I have excerpted information below.
72 % of the Americans Are Illiterate - Many reject basic scientific theories - Softpedia
Professor Jon D. Miller (Michigan State) recently found that in the last 22 years, there has been an increase in the number of Americans who can understand basic stories about science or technology. He also found that many of them were self-taught, such as by watching television science shows.
200 million Americans are unable to comprehend such material. That is probably why 40% reject evolution and 20% think the sun orbits the earth. Others think Romania is a salad or confuse Sweden with Switzerland. There is the danger of the unscientific undermining science, and even democracy, and historical precedents for this are outlined in the article.
High numbers of Europeans and Japanese also were science-illiterate but were less likely to disbelieve evolution and other scientific theories, as some in the US are possibly also more influenced by their religious influences.
"Ignorance reigns in our society at a moment when science is on the cusp of doing amazing and wonderful things, but also dangerous things. Ignorance is not an option." (Carl Sagan)
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