Darwin's Lament

Darwin's Lament, by punpirate - Democratic Underground

Excellent piece @ DU.

Ever hear a born-again Kansan rail against the science that made the automobile? Nope, me neither. Periodically, some of those Kansans get into a long metal tube with wings (some of which are made in, gasp, Wichita, Kansas!), strap themselves in and are then accelerated to nearly 600 mph and are lifted into the sky to an altitude of about 33,000 feet, without the aid of Jesus, and directed to their destination by a strange assemblage of wires and glass known as a klystron tube (or its post-millennial equivalent), an essential part of what silly scientists refer to as radar.

Ever hear a born-again Kansan harp about the inherent ungodliness of airplanes? Nope, me neither.

Or wail about the evil of having to pick up a plastic pen, or drag a synthetic rubber-hosed sprinkler into the back yard and turn the handle of a sophisticated metal and plastic object and have water come out, water provided by distant, complicated pumps (run by even more distant and more complicated generators making the electricity to run them) and industrial processes to kill the germs and remove the gritty bits as flocculants, and inject a bit of sodium fluoride to keep their teeth strong and free of cavities?

Me neither.

And how 'bout those Internets? They seem all science-y to me.