Since 2020 my interest in science and technology has been massively revived

[CmdrShep2154]

I remember during the Summer before my first year of college back in 2013 being excited by sci fi, space, science, and space exploration thanks to Mass Effect, the Curiosity rover, and discovering Neil Degrasse Tyson.

But sadly during my college years I largely lost interest in those things. I became enthralled by "Greek Life" and "Organic Food"(I got that food because that was what the rich affluent skinny people were eating). I became enthralled by "Game of Thrones", "Marvel", and "Star Wars", for some reason I couldn't get into zombies. I became obsessed with Disneyland.

By 2020 when COVID and the quarantine happened I would check out Apple TV out of boredom as well as curiosity and one particular show combined with the big events happening in the space program would reawaken something inside of me.

The space program has amazed me since.

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/22/9897...sa-rover-makes-oxygen-from-martian-atmosphere

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scie...wst-will-take-us-furthest-back-yet-180959710/

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/...mid-air-turning-a-fanciful-idea-into-reality/

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-study-asteroids-orbit-shape-changed-after-dart-impact/

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/s...unications-relay-demonstration-lcrd-overview/

The speed of the Chinese space program surprised me.

Other stuff in science and technology amazed me as well.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/12/inside-the-worlds-largest-3d-printed-housing-development.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nuclear-fusion-60-minutes-2023-01-15/

https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics/na...esearch-exceeds-initial-goals-draws-interest/

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/1...-solid-state-batteries-for-electric-vehicles/

https://news.uchicago.edu/story/rna...-50-percent-more-potatoes-rice-climate-change

https://www.nasa.gov/technology/tec...-launches-a-new-generation-of-indoor-farming/

I also become more supportive of stuff like vaccines(Not an anti vaxer but did not have strong feelings), nuclear power, and GMOs.

The West Coast heat domes further made me believe in "Global Warming" whereas back in the 2010s I only cared about vapid stuff. I didn't care about global warming despite being on the left side of the political spectrum.

The rise of conspiracy theory thinking now horrifies me.

https://undark.org/2025/10/13/anti-sunscreen-movement/

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...arantined-south-carolina-minnesota-rcna236844

Quite a few people I knew from my high school years became conspiracy theorists. Not just saying stuff like the Moon landing was faked but truly off the wall stuff like "Space is fake" and "The COVID Vaccine will kill you in two years".

What happened in the past 10 years?

It seemed like American society has gotten nothing but dumber and crazier instead of the nation that should lead the world into the 21st Century.

And looking back I find it kind of sad I never knew anyone from my school years who went into science or engineering.

 

[gmilam]

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”

• Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1995)

 

[exchemist]

I remember during the Summer before my first year of college back in 2013 being excited by sci fi, space, science, and space exploration thanks to Mass Effect, the Curiosity rover, and discovering Neil Degrasse Tyson.

But sadly during my college years I largely lost interest in those things. I became enthralled by "Greek Life" and "Organic Food"(I got that food because that was what the rich affluent skinny people were eating). I became enthralled by "Game of Thrones", "Marvel", and "Star Wars", for some reason I couldn't get into zombies. I became obsessed with Disneyland.

By 2020 when COVID and the quarantine happened I would check out Apple TV out of boredom as well as curiosity and one particular show combined with the big events happening in the space program would reawaken something inside of me.

The space program has amazed me since.

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/22/9897...sa-rover-makes-oxygen-from-martian-atmosphere

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scie...wst-will-take-us-furthest-back-yet-180959710/

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/...mid-air-turning-a-fanciful-idea-into-reality/

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-study-asteroids-orbit-shape-changed-after-dart-impact/

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/s...unications-relay-demonstration-lcrd-overview/

The speed of the Chinese space program surprised me.

Other stuff in science and technology amazed me as well.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/12/inside-the-worlds-largest-3d-printed-housing-development.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nuclear-fusion-60-minutes-2023-01-15/

https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics/na...esearch-exceeds-initial-goals-draws-interest/

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/1...-solid-state-batteries-for-electric-vehicles/

https://news.uchicago.edu/story/rna...-50-percent-more-potatoes-rice-climate-change

https://www.nasa.gov/technology/tec...-launches-a-new-generation-of-indoor-farming/

I also become more supportive of stuff like vaccines(Not an anti vaxer but did not have strong feelings), nuclear power, and GMOs.

The West Coast heat domes further made me believe in "Global Warming" whereas back in the 2010s I only cared about vapid stuff. I didn't care about global warming despite being on the left side of the political spectrum.

The rise of conspiracy theory thinking now horrifies me.

https://undark.org/2025/10/13/anti-sunscreen-movement/

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...arantined-south-carolina-minnesota-rcna236844

Quite a few people I knew from my high school years became conspiracy theorists. Not just saying stuff like the Moon landing was faked but truly off the wall stuff like "Space is fake" and "The COVID Vaccine will kill you in two years".

What happened in the past 10 years?

It seemed like American society has gotten nothing but dumber and crazier instead of the nation that should lead the world into the 21st Century.

And looking back I find it kind of sad I never knew anyone from my school years who went into science or engineering.

The internet. Social media has tremendously empowered the stupid, the ignorant and those who want, for whatever reason, to peddle falsehoods. There is no longer any editorial control or filtering of what we can read, as there has been in the traditional print media. There is now a term called “mainstream media”, which for quite a number of people is a term of disparagement. Furthermore, and very importantly, algorithms serve up a diet of the most compulsive , i.e. extreme clickbait they can find, tailored to scratch the prejudices of each individual. The result is a ballooning of conspiracies and extravagant lies, circulated widely. Being at home during the pandemic has turbocharged the trend,

The remedy lies in exercising editorial control for oneself, checking sources and staying away from compulsive, addictive social media crap. Because it is addictive, and intended to be so. The tech bros want us all to be dumbly online all the time, exposed to their ads, which earn them money. AI will make it worse.

I actually think it is more serious than the opioid addiction crisis, but few people have yet realised, and of course there are very powerful people with a vested interest in letting it continue.

 

[TheVat]

I actually think it is more serious than the opioid addiction crisis, but few people have yet realised, and of course there are very powerful people with a vested interest in letting it continue.

Far far worse than opioids. Great potential for finding our civilization in intellectual ruins, with a coming century which could follow the through-line of Mike Judge's Idiocracy . A film now almost twenty years old which seems more prescient than ever.

Almost any new technology can become a tool of mass distraction. It's okay to be excited about, say, electric cars, but it's good to know why you're excited and have critical thinking skills you can apply to understand the ramifications of such technology and what is gained and lost when we stake a future on personal vehicles vs mass transit. Or where all the joules will come from. Etc.

Hoping we don't water our crops with gatorade.

 

[exchemist]

I remember during the Summer before my first year of college back in 2013 being excited by sci fi, space, science, and space exploration thanks to Mass Effect, the Curiosity rover, and discovering Neil Degrasse Tyson.

But sadly during my college years I largely lost interest in those things. I became enthralled by "Greek Life" and "Organic Food"(I got that food because that was what the rich affluent skinny people were eating). I became enthralled by "Game of Thrones", "Marvel", and "Star Wars", for some reason I couldn't get into zombies. I became obsessed with Disneyland.

By 2020 when COVID and the quarantine happened I would check out Apple TV out of boredom as well as curiosity and one particular show combined with the big events happening in the space program would reawaken something inside of me.

The space program has amazed me since.

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/22/9897...sa-rover-makes-oxygen-from-martian-atmosphere

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scie...wst-will-take-us-furthest-back-yet-180959710/

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/...mid-air-turning-a-fanciful-idea-into-reality/

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-study-asteroids-orbit-shape-changed-after-dart-impact/

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/s...unications-relay-demonstration-lcrd-overview/

The speed of the Chinese space program surprised me.

Other stuff in science and technology amazed me as well.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/12/inside-the-worlds-largest-3d-printed-housing-development.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nuclear-fusion-60-minutes-2023-01-15/

https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics/na...esearch-exceeds-initial-goals-draws-interest/

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/1...-solid-state-batteries-for-electric-vehicles/

https://news.uchicago.edu/story/rna...-50-percent-more-potatoes-rice-climate-change

https://www.nasa.gov/technology/tec...-launches-a-new-generation-of-indoor-farming/

I also become more supportive of stuff like vaccines(Not an anti vaxer but did not have strong feelings), nuclear power, and GMOs.

The West Coast heat domes further made me believe in "Global Warming" whereas back in the 2010s I only cared about vapid stuff. I didn't care about global warming despite being on the left side of the political spectrum.

The rise of conspiracy theory thinking now horrifies me.

https://undark.org/2025/10/13/anti-sunscreen-movement/

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...arantined-south-carolina-minnesota-rcna236844

Quite a few people I knew from my high school years became conspiracy theorists. Not just saying stuff like the Moon landing was faked but truly off the wall stuff like "Space is fake" and "The COVID Vaccine will kill you in two years".

What happened in the past 10 years?

It seemed like American society has gotten nothing but dumber and crazier instead of the nation that should lead the world into the 21st Century.

And looking back I find it kind of sad I never knew anyone from my school years who went into science or engineering.

On a more positive note, you can discuss things in science and technology that interest you here. It will make a nice change to interact with somebody normal, instead of the usual parade of cranks and nutters that science forums seem to be a magnet for. It’s a fairly sleepy place but there several members with interests in physical and biological science.

Have you seen the video clip of the Sagaing Fault, shifting in real time by several feet? It’s in the Earth Sciences section.

 

[James R]

Hi CmdrShep2154,

Welcome to sciforums.

It's good to hear from a new visitor to this forum who is interested in science. That might sound like a strange thing to hear on a science forum, but a lot of our traffic these days seems to come from people who are more interested in coming here to try to promote a religious or political agenda, or (in some cases) a personal "alternative" theory that disputes accepted science (usually without understanding what actual science has to say on the topic).

The rise of conspiracy theory thinking now horrifies me.

If you're living in the United States (and it sounds like you are), then you'll be well aware that in the current political environment, facts matter far less to the people holding the reins of power than ideology and selfish vested interests.

Conspiracy theories are largely a means of distracting the populace from what's going on right under their noses - the corruption, the dismantling of democratic institutions, the persecution of independent thinkers etc. It's a bit like circuses for the masses while Rome burns around them.

Quite a few people I knew from my high school years became conspiracy theorists. Not just saying stuff like the Moon landing was faked but truly off the wall stuff like "Space is fake" and "The COVID Vaccine will kill you in two years".

That's a sad reflection on both the school system and on successive governments dropping the ball when it comes to education and media regulation.

What happened in the past 10 years?

It's a combination of factors. The polarised media landscape doesn't help, with big money poured into disseminating disinformation (or, at a minimum, ultra-selective reporting of facts, amounting to lies of omission).

It's also due to a perception among a portion of the US populace that "the system" isn't working for them. Ironically, however, those same people chose to vote against their own interests, in favour of making "the system" work even less for them and even more for handing power and wealth to a select few. Why did they vote the way they did? Lack of education. It's a vicious circle.

It seemed like American society has gotten nothing but dumber and crazier instead of the nation that should lead the world into the 21st Century.

It's always worth remembering that, at best, it's only slightly more than one half of American voters who voted to throw the country down the drain. Of course, quite a large percentage didn't even bother to vote, which means that some of the blame goes to them as well.

And looking back I find it kind of sad I never knew anyone from my school years who went into science or engineering.

Without wanting to pry, I'm now curious about where you're located, geographically, in the United States. Is your area economically depressed and/or disadvantaged?

---
I should add, after all that doom and gloom, that you have stumbled across a corner of the internet where there are some regulars who know and love science. We also enjoy talking about it with interested people, and we're more than happy to do our best to try to answer science questions.