DOES THIS MEAN ANYTHING?

by Terry 8 Replies latest social humour

• 

  Terry

  Do these statistics mean anything worth noting? If so, what and why?

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xvILvxYbFA

  Note: in America 90% of population describes themselves as "religious"

  Among those with graduate degrees 60% say they are religious.

  Among scientists it is 40% .All scientiests have graduate degrees. That 40% is down--not from 90%--but from the 60%.

  7% of elite scientists describe themselves as having a personal relation with God.

  __________________________________________________________________________

  JEWS comprise less than 0.2% of the world's population, (or 1 in every 500 people)

  ____

  Nobel Prizes have been awarded to over 850 individuals, [2] of whom at least 20% were Jews or of Jewish descent. Overall, Jews have won a total of 41% of all the Nobel Prizes in economics, 28% of medicine, 26% of Physics, 19% of Chemistry, 13% of Literature and 9% of all peace awards. [4]

  Jews have been recipients of all six awards.

  ___________________________

  MUSLIMS = 1.6 billion Muslims, or 23% of the world’s population,

  _______

  Of the Muslims who have won . . .

  6 have been Peace Prize winners

  2 have been Literature Prize winners

  1 in Physics

  1 in Chemistry

  _____________________________

  CHRISTIANS comprise 33.2% of the worlds population

  __________

  (65.4%) of Nobel Prizes Laureates, have Christianity as their religious preference (423 prize). [7] Overall, Christians have won a total of 78.3% of all the Nobel Prizes in Peace , [8] 72.5% in Chemistry , 65.3% in Physics , [8] 62% in Medicine , [8] 54% in Economics [8] and 49.5% of all Literature awards. [8]
• 

  Oubliette

  People tend to give awards to members of their own groups more than they recognize the accomplishments of outsiders.
• 

  Oubliette

  Terry: All scientiests have graduate degrees.

  I beg to differ with this assertion. What is your basis for making this claim?

  In the United States, for example, a secondary school teacher need only have a B.A. or a B.S. and a valid teacher's credential to teach in most states.

  Although a Masters is desirable, it is not necessary.

  If your premise were true, it would mean teachers that are NOT scientists are teaching science in school.

  BTW, I am a credentialed teacher in both music and science.
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  CHRISTIANS comprise 33.2% of the worlds population.

  With billions of Indians and Chinese, do you really believe that? Are we counting practising Christians or is it everyone that celebrates Christmas?
  But let's assume that is right and go on.

  Many "Jews" are ethnic Jews and social Jews and may or may not maintain their family and social life by keeping their status of belief to themselves. But ethnic Jews in modern times have always prized education.

  Whether or not someone is a believing Muslim or one in name only for family and social connections, it is widely known that people from the Middle East in ancient times used to be really advanced in math and science and that people from the same areas have pretty much only advanced slightly since Islam took over mostly because the rest of the world has pushed them out of their 100% backwards society trying to keep their people in ancient times. They have totally lost what they had.

  Oubliette calls it right as far as Christians go: People tend to give awards to members of their own groups more than they recognize the accomplishments of outsiders.

  It wouldn't surprise me if many of theses "Christians" maintain that title for the same reasons I mentioned above. Plus, many "scientists" are involved in fields that don't reflect on the origins of life or the universe. The video mentions that. The Nobel Prize was established in 1895. It would have heavily favored people in Europe and lands primarily Christian for many decades and atheism was quite taboo many of those same decades, really up until nearly the end of the 20th century. China kept to itself until the 1970's. Many great scientists were tied to military funds and research in the 20th century and much of the greatest work was secret. That still goes on today.

  Stats like these cannot be used reliably to make the points you are hinting at.
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  Oubliette

  Scientist: a person learned in science and especially natural science : a scientific investigator. - Merriam Webster Online

  Science:

  : knowledge about or study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observation

  : a particular area of scientific study (such as biology, physics, or chemistry) : a particular branch of science

  : a subject that is formally studied in a college, university, etc.

  Although many people that do science have advanced degrees, there is nothing implicit in the word that requires one.
• 

  Terry

  Oubilette:

  Terry: All scientiests have graduate degrees.

  I beg to differ with this assertion. What is your basis for making this claim?

  In the United States, for example, a secondary school teacher need only have a B.A. or a B.S. and a valid teacher's credential to teach in most states.

  Although a Masters is desirable, it is not necessary.

  If your premise were true, it would mean teachers that are NOT scientists are teaching science in school.

  BTW, I am a credentialed teacher in both music and science.

  ______________________________

  Point taken!

  I had my head up my ass!
• 

  Apognophos

  One is not a scientist if they aren't doing science. The science teachers I had in school were no scientists. That MW definition really sets a low bar. So if I read a few science books, I'm a scientist? Nonsense.
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  Oubliette

  Terry, I didn't mean to imply that. I always enjoy your posts!

  I just wanted to point out that having an advanced degree does not necessarily make one a scientist nor is it required.

  Science is not only a body of knowledge, it is also a way of learning. Of course, as with anything, to be a scientist implies that one is actively engaged in doing science of some sort. Ultimately, science is a philosophy.

  As with any human endeavor, there will be people that are more knowledgeable and more of an expert than others. There will also be beginners and newbies.

  Many people try to distinguish between scientists and engineer by using the definitions that scientists are engaged in research whereas engineers apply scientific knowledge in solving problems. While there is a lot of truth in this, there is also a lot of overlap between what research scientists do and what engineers do. In practice, most do both.

  I think NASA's space exploration program is a great example of this. For example, without all the accumulated knowledge of physics, the engineers wouldn't have been able to build everything necessary to get the Curiosity Rover on Mars. While it's there, it is doing scientific research: chemical analyses and biological research. It all overlaps.

  
• 

  Terry

  I understand, and you were correct to let me know. No offense taken whatsoever.

  A day where I don't learn something is a day wasted.