Reply #1: Random speculation

[PinkUnicorn]

Just shooting from the bottom of a glass of vodka while waiting for a download to complete so caveat emptor. There are several causes I suspect.

A largish one has to do with the insipid state of mass media today. You can't switch on the TV without some empty talking head spouting how "Blah will lead to a cure for cancer" or "Wooga will produce clean free energy" and the like. Even the 'science' programs are pitiful having gone from seeing what is actually done to "Ooo, ain't this cool" level crap. The 'heads barely have any qualifications in journalism let alone science. This leads to people expecting that they simply say "we want a cure for cancer" and science pulls it out of its arse on demand. No mention is made of years of hard work, false leads, potential cures which turn out not to work, etc. And when scientists say "this does not work we shall have to start again", people think its either a big conspiracy or view scientists as liars. Which opens fertile ground for the woos and their snake oil - "those stinky scientists are liars, we actually have a cure made of an ancient recipe of dog turd".

Next up you have science being expensive. The days where someone could produce a discovery by slapping a few lenses and tubes together are long past. Complicated and costly equipment is required, which means that in this day of instant gratification, money for something which is not guaranteed to produce a desired result is looked upon badly - the concept of long term investment is ignored for a quick fix. People are quite happy to piss away billions of dollars patching up a problem, where they could possibly spend a few million fixing the root cause over a longer period of time. A classic one is satellites - people whine and whine that 'space is a waste' while at the same time sitting their obese lard butts in front of satellite TV. They cry and whine about wasting money on weather satellites, until they have a hurricane changing down their throats and then want instant updates.

And the big one is that proper science is coldy impartial. It rips away delusions and bashes you over the head with cold facts no matter how unpleasant they are. No one wants their fluffy toys taken away, and in the current "culture of fear" people cling to their blankies all the harder. Anything which tries to take this security away is obviously "evil". This also permits the breeding of a sense of superiority - "Oh I know the secret of zero point energy, whereas those stupid scientists don't". A sort of defense mechanism against reality - you are one of the 'chosen' as opposed to just another plebe. The 'buzz' you mention is the sole source false comfort they have in their lives.

An offshoot of this is that science - while open to anyone - has a rigidly defined structure. Science is not a democracy, accepting whatever feels good - but is a tyranny of facts. This rigid structure of accepting only factual information possibly alienates it to those who think "help help I'm being oppressed" by any hierarchy system no matter how ridiculous it is. It becomes 'cool' to rebel against 'the system', and science having a rigidly defined system makes easy pickings, while at the same time science doesn't have the time, money or resources to fight back. While they think they are James Dean, they are really 'Rebels without a clue' looking to give themselves 15 mins of fame against an easy target.

Hmm, drinkie all gone. I'll leave it here and get a refill (and see if anyone is interested in more idly intoxicated ramblings later ) ;)