“There’s one hell of a diff between what the articled called the “Awe Factor” and thinking scientifically. You of all people should know by now the difference between science itself and knowledge.”

I have no idea what you mean by “thinking scientifically”. I do however, have a powerful understanding of AWE. It’s what I FEEl when something extraordinary catches my attention, like some of the pics(hey, MOST of them) that Phil includes here. AWE is what the article was talking about and when I experience that, I want everyone to have a chance to experience it too. The physical universe is awesome to me. THAT’S what I want to share.

If by “thinking scientifically” you mean having knowledge of the scientific METHOD and the inclination to apply it then you may be right,,,most people don’t understand that simple philosophy. That’s not their fault. It’s because that methodology isn’t stressed in our educational system (but that’s another story).

You might try clarifying your terminology.

Gary 7
PS: YOU should know there IS no difference between the word Science and Knowledge. Science is from the Latin “scientia”, which MEANS knowledge.

@Mitch: There’s simple and elegant “Final Solution”: Mske sure they get a real education. Hey, I can dream, can’t I?

“As for geeks, I pine for the golden era when internet users spelled correctly, used good grammar and rednecks and religious nuts hadn’t bought PCs yet.”

Yeah Jeffersonian, if we could just get rid of those pesky rednecks and religious nuts then the world would be a better place. Maybe, since apparently you are smarter than the average bear, you can come up with a “final” solution to those people that pollute your beloved internet.

Because PZ Myers’ Pharyngula would win it each and every time. Mystery solved!

“That’s not at all what I was saying. Where did you get that? I was saying that people are interested in science. Whether they understand it or analyze articles scientifically is wholly a different topic.”

The article does NOT demonstrate that people like science. It says something about what kinds of topics they think are interesting. It doesn’t say anything about what they’re doing with all those web articles once inside their heads. There’s one hell of a diff between what the articled called the “Awe Factor” and thinking scientifically. You of all people should know by now the difference between science itself and knowledge. You have a history of talking at length about how people need to be more scientifically critical of extraordinary claims. That’s what your whole career is about, isn’t it? So why do you now all of a sudden say it’s alright with you if they don’t tend to even understand much of it? Do you just want the stupid blog awards to have a Science category? (That was the punchline of your post.) That would be rather petty. Why would an adult with a doctorate give one rat’s ass about some arbitrary award?

Even if that’s what you think Phil meant, it’s not what the article was about. So why would he cite the article as evidence of his contention if he thought it doesn’t even support it? Phil did misinterpret the article.