Just before his death, US astronomer Carl Sagan made a profound comment about the need for a scientifically literate society in a democracy. His words apply more than ever today.
Image: Basic science education for adults, (1981)
Below: Have a watch of this clip.
Above: “Carl Sagan in 1996 on why Americans need to be focused on studying and understanding science.”
“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness… “
“The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.”
Carl Sagan, from Demon-Haunted World (1995) from WikiP, pp24-25 (see p24 here)
A similar warning was given by Archibald Vivian Hill – AKA Mr Margaret Keynes (Maynard’s sister) in his life memoirs published in 1974
““The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our
lifetime! .( Edward Grey, 3rd August).” That is nearly 60 years ago and they are flickering even to-day. The fault may be in the moral failure of a civilization unable to keep pace with the achievements of its technology.”
AV Hill, Churchill College, May 1974, p341
How does that read half a century later?
Well…this is where we are with the UK
- Broadly a service and information economy
- What manufacturing capacity we have is dependent on international trade
- The technological powers are in the hands of a minority
- Politicians struggle to understand the issues because so few of them have scientific backgrounds (it was even worse in the 2010-15 Parliament)
- The public has been disempowered in its ability to question decision-makers (Think the revival of the OxCamArc and the use of ‘science’ as the justification
- The undermining of ‘the truth’ and trust in information
One of the many shortcomings of my economics degree of 20+ years ago was that there were a whole host of concepts that were taken for granted that really needed much more detailed critical examination. The concepts of trust, and truth with information were two glaring omissions. Furthermore, all too often in the early 2000s the assumption that we were living in a Politically benign society with trustworthy actors ended up being too strong an assumption when the banking crisis blew up – one that exposed a crisis of ethics within the economics academy.
“How did we get to here?”
Historians of the media may be able to provide a better explanation than me, although the output of one particular media tycoon (as featured in a famous sketch from Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry in the 1980s) might have something to do with it.
For me, one big factor is the decline of central and local-government-funded lifelong learning institutions and opportunities.
About which I’ve written more than is sensible, so I won’t repeat myself here other than to say locally the decline of institutions like the Cambridge WEA has been devastating. (See also the links to other previous articles at the foot of this blogpost.)
“How do we get out of this malaise?”
The Commons Education Select Committee provided the answer back in November 2020, calling for a renaissance in lifelong learning, and for the establishment of community learning centres in every town
To be much more specific:
- Scientists need to learn about politics & public policy
- Politicians and public policy people need to learn about science
- The general public needs far greater and wider opportunities to learn about both politics and science
That *does not mean sitting people down at desks to be lectured at* like at school
Because in a free society you can’t compel people to go and learn something in the way the law allows with children and schools. You’ve got to provide the positive incentives, and remove the major barriers. All too often successive governments have refrained from bringing in radical policies that might make that difference, instead relying on feeble funding programmes reserved only for those without basic skills. And then wondering why key sectors of the economy that rely on specific public services, like town planning, are so chronically short of qualified, skilled and talented staff. But the need was reiterated in a recent piece by the Chief Executive of the WEA in an article in Prospect Magazine last month here.
Mayoral candidates must push back against ministers and demand greater funding and powers to deal with a series of crises that go far beyond basic adult skills and vocational training
I’ve hinted that they’ll be getting questions on this so I’m expecting candidates to have well-thought-through proposals on what my neck of the woods needs in the run up to the Combined Authority elections on 01 May 2025. Which is in ten weeks time.
I started an Open University course in the early 2010s on engineering – only to have a mental health crisis halfway through.
Which is primarily why I didn’t finish it. Furthermore, it was clear that the style and format of learning did not suit me – it was mainly classroom based (with the exception of a residential week away) and I wanted to be in a workshop. Furthermore, the time between the face-to-face sessions was far too long – to the extent none of us could get to know each other. Which is also why when it comes to course content and the design of the places of learning are such important considerations. (Hence fairly recent acquisitions of books about library and college architecture!)
Using co-design processes with potential teachers and learners needs to be incorporated into planning and consultation for any future lifelong learning facilities
In part I simply do not trust the contemporary architectural academy and the wider construction industry to come up with anything other than the bare minimum. A few bland boxes that look like they’ve been created by an ‘autocreate’ button on a spreadsheet programme.
Above – at least Derby and District’s WEA tried to design their own in the late 1960s
Above – The School that I’d Like designed by the children of the early 1970s, and The School I’d like by children from the late 1990s/early 2000s
…There are some lessons from the past on co-designing with children that we need to re-learn today for new facilities for children, students, and lifelong learners.
One of the biggest barriers is ‘time’
We’re still living in an economy and a society structured for one-career living. When you look at the structures, systems, processes, cultures, and conventions that keep people where they are, it’s not surprising that so few have the ability to retrain and relocate independently. As South Cambridgeshire District Council found out with their four day week pilot, it took a general election to get central government to remove the threat of sanctions against the council for daring to run a pilot backed by the University of Cambridge and the University of Salford. Cultures and conventions of the political party then in government?
Universal Basic Income vs AI
How do you avoid the risk of the economic and financial benefits of AI being captured by a very wealthy few? Think of how advertising budgets of local and regional newspapers across the world got captured by the social media giants – with the massive change in the transfer of wealth that entailed. (And also the impact on local news and media organisations)
“Professor Geoffrey Hinton told BBC Newsnight that a benefits reform giving fixed amounts of cash to every citizen would be needed because he was “very worried about AI taking lots of mundane jobs”.”
Yet neither policies were on the agenda in the run up to the 2024 general election. Which as an aside reflects how important the findings are of that election from the AEA in their report of February 2025.
“Elections across the UK are being delivered in spite of, rather than because of, fragmented and outdated legislation. That’s our message as we launch a raft of electoral reform recommendations in our New Blueprint for a Modern Electoral Landscape.”
Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) February 2025
“There’s nothing to guarantee that with all of that extra time and income that the general public would use it to go off and learn about science and/or politics”
Hence the importance of sound and robust pilots at scale and over extended periods of time. Because chances are there will be other things that need to be added to such major policies to make them function properly for the wider public benefit while at the same time carrying the consent of the public. Because if such a policy resulted in law-abiding hard working people getting a worse deal than law-breaking louts, the print press would have an absolute field day. I’ve not seen any of the existing pilots address this issue so far.
So while it’s all very well saying we need to get to a stage where society is much more scientifically and politically literate, the policy path of actually getting to that stage is a fiendishly complex one. And also one that cannot have a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution. Over to the combined authority mayoral candidates for their ideas then.
On lifelong learning
- What does a world class offer on adult education look like?
- Cambridgeshire’s lifelong learning offer is still far too narrow
- Mayoral candidates need to challenge ministers on lifelong learning
- Mayoral candidates will need a comprehensive set of policies on lifelong learning
- Where is the holistic approach to adult education and lifelong learning that research recommends?
- Adult education and the national curriculum review
- “[Active] Citizenship? Sound’s great! What’s for tea?”
- The need for adult citizenship education – going beyond jobs and income success measures
Food for thought?
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