Lower Standards?

[VinnieK]

A major problem in the Uk is that we value entertainment and entertainers, footballers and other celebrities as more valuable than scientists and engineers.

 

I'm not so sure that this is a new phenomenon, or even one that's confined to the UK. Virtually everywhere, performers, entertainers and sportspeople are paid and celebrated more than scientists. In large part, this is only to be expected: science is difficult to appreciate, and provokes little emotional response tother han a casual interest (and even that can be hard to achieve given that much of modern science is far beyond a level that even the informed layman and scientifically literate can approach, and has been for about a hundred years or more now).

 

Even so, it has to be remembered that the UK still isn't doing that bad out of science. Our research papers remain some of the most highly cited in the world, and our performance remains strong when it comes to developing ideas into practical applications. If it seems that there's been a decline, it's more likely to appear this way because the age of big discoveries that dramatically alter our everyday lives, or theories that cause us to reevaluate the universe is over for the time being. In reality science is as, and possibly much more productive than it was, but much of it is confined to very high level refinements of existing theories, discoveries and products.