[Thor]

Ooooh this is so good, why the internet is killing rational discourse:

http://andyvance.com/index.php/why-t...nal-discourse/

It’s on the Internet, so it has to be true. Right?

I’m convinced that the World Wide Web is both the greatest technological development of my lifetime, and simultaneously the invention that is likely to tank our entire society as we know it. Ever-present in our lives, our culture is the most “wired” on the planet and the most connected in the history of man, and yet in many ways it is eroding the basic ability – for many folks, it seems – to research, analyze, process and argue important ideas in a rational fashion.

My Feedstuffs colleague Tim Lundeen first got me thinking about this way back in February, when he penned an excellent article about some of the big barriers to science communication. A presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston, Mass., pointed out several such barriers, including a lack of reward for engaging the public and decision-makers on science, limited communications training and the time pressure faculty members face while trying to obtain tenure.

Arizona State University professor Leah Gerber said other barriers for researchers include prioritizing their commitments, understanding the value of communicating their work to the public and needing to push their comfort zone, such as standing in front of a camera.

While the culture is slowly changing within academic institutions, success in higher education still is largely measured by publications and grants, which demand large amounts of time, Gerber said.

Gone are the days when the average consumer was not afraid to read scholarly writing and form and opinion about its merits – academics and technical folks are increasingly being called upon to become great communicators themselves, in hopes of spreading their ideas in layman’s terms.

But there is a bigger problem, it seems. The trolls are winning:

Pick a story about some aspect of science, any story, scroll down to the blog comments and let the bashing begin:

“Wonder how much taxpayer cash went into this ‘deep’ study?”
“I think you can take all these studies by pointy headed scientists, 99 percent of whom are socialists and communists, and stick them where the sun don’t shine.”
“Yawn. Climate change myth wackos at it again.”
“This article is 100 percent propaganda crapola.”
“Speaking of dolts, if you were around in the 70s, when they also had scientists, the big talk then was about the coming ice age. And don’t give me any of that carbon emission bull@!$%#.”
Such nasty back-and-forth, like it or not, is now a staple of our news diet, and in the realm of online science news, the diatribes, screeds and rants are taking a toll on the public perception of science and technology, according to a study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.