American failure to realize that automation and computers replace slavery is complemented by American ignorance not only in Scimath, History, Etc., but in "Meat-and-Potatoes" Issues)

• According to John Allen Paulos, Innumeracy, Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences, too many Americans boast about their mathematical illiteracy: "I'm no good at numbers!"

• According to Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World, perhaps 50% of Americans polled don't know that the earth revolves around the sun and takes a year to do so! 63% of Americans polled don't know that the last dinosaur died before the first human appeared. 75% of Americans polled don't know that antibiotics can kill bacteria (which, for example, cause pneumonia, cholera, and gonorrhea), but cannot kill viruses (which, for example, cause smallpox, measles, and hepatitis). 57% of Americans polled don't know that electrons (composing atoms) are smaller than atoms. Says Sagan, "I can find in my undergraduate classes at Cornell University bright students who do not know that the stars rise and set at night, or even that the Sun is a star." (Perhaps, it would be better to say, "The Earth rotates like a merry-go-round so that, after many hours from 'sundown', the Earth is again facing the Sun on its Eastern horizon", with a similar statement to explain the "rising of stars". Sagan's language appears to ignore heliocentrism.)

• Although 45% of Americans in one poll says they accept the theory of evolution, in another poll only 9% "accept the central finding of modern biology that that humn beings (and all other species) have slowly evolved by natural processes from a succession of more ancient beings with no divine intervention needed along the way". (Perhaps a larger percent would have assented if this last "with no" condition had not been placed upon this query, implying that God cannot work through this process, hence, you cannot believe both evolutionary theory and religion!)

• Similarly, too many Americans appear to be vulnerably ignorant on matters involving jobs, pay, the financial state of the country, etc. On Oct. 15, 1996, The Washington Post published "The Last of Three Articles" of a series, "Reality Check, The Enonomic Perception Gap", which seemed to reveal this ignorance as the result of "public opinion polls" by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, and Harvard University.
  • 72% of Americans polled think that family incomes have fallen behind inflation over the past two decades, whereas only 22% of economists (who usually study statistics carefully) disagree.
  • More than half of the Americans polled (but only 5% of the economists) think that trade agreements have deprived the United States of jobs.
  • 61% of American adults polled, (but only 12% of the economists) think that high taxes are a major problem for our American economy.
  • Of the new jobs created in America today, only 16% of American polled (39% of the economists) think they pay well; 79% of Americans polled (32% of economists) think they are low-paying.
  • On the matter of the primary limit on growth of the economy, only 14% of Americans polled (42% of economists) think a primary factor is that education and job training are inadequate.

• In March, 1997, a poll of Americans showed that a majority of those queried believe that auto airbags have saved childrens' lives. Actually, no evidence of this is known, but plenty of evidence that airbags have killed children!

• NBC Tonight Show host, Jay Leno, has a (weekly?) feature, "Jaywalk", wherein he stands on sidewalk and queries passersby. Many of the questions concern trivia, but some are critical. The answers reveal an extensive ignorance of the public about all but trivial matters. Some believe that computers existed 100 years ago, but not quite as good as those of today. Others believe that cities were wired for electricity 200 years ago, but not as extensively as at present. Profound ignorance inhibits public understanding of the technological support issue.