Nonsense,Nonscience,and Science from Creationism to Aliens

In 1996, U.S. presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan announced on national television that he was not descended from monkeys, and moreover, he thought children should not be taught this. Yet, not a single reporter questioned him on this remarkable statement, in spite of detailed questions on his economic policies. For some reason, the media is hesitant, when referring to scientific issues, to indicate that in certain issues there is no debate, namely there is simply a right answer and a wrong answer. This is so in spite of the fact that science provides, perhaps more than anything else, a set of techniques for distinguishing nonsense. I will talk about the historical context of this issue, the dangers it imposes, and provide examples from the press, as well as clips from television and movies, of mixing up science and fiction, as well as describe ways to avoid this.