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Spider Star
The human colony on the planet Argo has long explored and exploited the technology left behind by an extinct alien race. But then an archaeology team accidentally activates a terrible weapon...
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Praise for Star Dragon
"Seldom does a storytelling talent come along as potent and fully mature as Mike Brotherton. His complex characters take you on a voyage that is both fiercely credible and astonishingly imaginative. This is Science Fiction."
-- David Brin"Star Dragon is terrific fare, offering readers a fusion of hard science and grand adventure."
-- Locus Magazine"Star Dragon is steeped in cosmology, the physics of interstellar travel, exobiology, artificial intelligence, bioscience. Brotherton, author of many scientific articles in refereed journals, has written a dramatic, provocative, utterly convincing hard science sf novel that includes an ironic twist that fans will love."
-- Booklist starred review"Readers hungry for the thought-provoking extrapolation and rigorous technical detail of old-fashioned hard SF are sure to enjoy astronomer Brotherton's first novel."
-- Publishers Weekly"Mike Brotherton, himself a trained astrophysicist, combines the technical acuity and ingenuity of Robert Forward with the ironic, postmodern stance and style of M. John Harrison. In this, his debut novel, those twin talents unite to produce a work that is involving on any number of levels. It's just about all you could ask for in a hardcore SF adventure."
-- Paul di Fillippo, SCI-FI.COM
Five Reasons Why People Think They Hate Science (and what to do about it!)
December 20th, 2009
Now, I don’t expect everyone to love everything that I love, but I do know that everyone loves the results of science even if they don’t readily acknowledge it. I mean, people love using the internet, driving cars, being warm in the winter, getting medicine when they are sick, all that good stuff. But even if they don’t readilly acknowledge this love for the roots of science, I do understand the hate. Or I think I do, part of it.
I’ve taught science to non-major students a number of years and also spend my time watching science wars on the internet (e.g., deniers of global warming, evolution, etc.).
I think that countering biases means figuring out misconceptions, confronting them, and knocking them down first thing. If you don’t hit the misconception, you don’t actually teach anyone anything. The misconceptions run strong and reassert themselves over time. So, I want to try to list the issues people have with science, rational and irrational, and want to think about how to respond to and perhaps counter these.
1. Scientists are arrogant, so I don’t like science.
Bush and Clinton are arrogant, so does that mean you don’t like politics? Simon Cowell on American Idol is arrogant, but he is popular and tens of millions of peolple like that show. Astronomers Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Carl Sagan don’t come across as arrogant on their TV shows, so maybe everyone can like some science.
2. Science is full of math. I’m not good at math, so I don’t like science.
Not all sciences have a lot of math (e.g., biology). Moreover, science concepts are more fundamental than the math. The science is all in setting up the equations. The math is in solving them, so you can understand the science without the math. (P.S. Math isn’t so bad, really!)
3. Science is full of negativity. Scientists are always doubting things. It isn’t just arrogance, it’s being pessimistic, skeptical doubters. So I don’t like science.
This is true, but necessary. Sometimes it’s better to have a dose of honesty, and not take everything on authority. Besides, not every idea is right out there, so let’s make a virtue out of honesty, ok?
4. My beliefs are strong, and I have faith. Science says some things contradictory to my beliefs (e.g. evolution, global warming, autism, etc.), so I don’t like science.
Well, this one is harder I think. Reality is reality. Science doesn’t care. We can be understanding about people in the past, with a different culture and educational background interpreting things as they saw them. We know better now. And science, ultimately, is less beholden to any particular belief system or ideology. Eventually it gets to the right answer, like it or not, and there’s always someone one your side and on the other side who both get bitten by science. Science is not a belief system. It reflects reality. We all have to deal with reality, don’t we?
5. Science is mechanistic and cold, so I don’t like it.
Think of your favorite robot. The Iron Giant. Bender. Data. Robby. R2-D2. HAL. Okay, maybe not HAL. But there’s at least one robot out there you like, isn’t there? Make that the face of cold, mechanical science, if you must.
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December 20th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Actually, biology has a tremendous amount of math, primarily statistics.
December 20th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Yes, you’re right about that of course. And it doesn’t matter if it isn’t calculus, it’s still very scary to the mathphobic. There are subfields of many sciences where math isn’t omnipresent — they’re just getting harder to think of!
December 21st, 2009 at 2:57 am
don’t like “science”?
ok. live without it and its benefits for one day - I dare ya!
December 21st, 2009 at 5:36 am
I suck at match. Thats why I havent become a scientist. But it never made me not LOVE science
actually, there are so many scientists who wrote GREAT BOOKS explaining science with great concepts, without any mathematics, that its quite weird that there are people capable of disliking science because of such thing.
IMHO, the number 1 reason people dislike science its because it PROVES THEM WRONG.
Meaning, they love science when it creates gadgets for them (they dont even aknowledge it as science), but as soon as you question them about some of their unscientific beliefs, they are ready to bash science.
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:13 am
So much of the “I don’t like it” attitude can also be changed by a good instructor. An experience can vary so much within the same subject depending on the enthusiasm and competence of the teacher/professor. Even if the students don’t know the subject well, they can tell if their teacher knows what their doing. This comment is not limited to science. I should also add that some brilliant people in their field should not be in a traditional classroom setting. I think your classes would be interesting and fun!
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:14 am
oops - “what they’re doing”
December 22nd, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Jessica, I certainly had that experience (good vs. bad teacher) at JBS with history and English. I’ll let you guess who was who there…
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:50 pm
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December 28th, 2009 at 5:03 am
[...] Brotherton explains Five Reasons Why People Think They Hate Science and what to do about it. (Other than just kicking their [...]
May 23rd, 2010 at 8:24 pm
I just wanna post one comment. When you say “Science is not a belief system. It reflects reality.”, BE CAREFUL. As a chemistry teacher, I must say that science does NOT represent the truth, but gives another point of view of what goes around us. Nowadays, it’s the most accepted view, but being it constructed over models, it’s not really the truth. Actually, it IS a belief system, whose structure is a bit off of what we are used to. There is no truth. There are ways of seeing it. I like the metaphore of Pozo (spanish educator), when he says science is like a binch of blind people trying to tell how an ellephant is by touch: some will focus on the pawn, others on the nose, and so one, and no one will get the whole picture.
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Reality sucks!That’s why everyone hates science!Damned laws like “oh,you can’t jump off a 900,000 feet cliff sailor diving and live pfft!Utter nonsense.Lol.My sister was just yelling that at me.