Sum is less than the parts

Published 4:41 pm Monday, August 24, 2009

Since President Obama has vowed his administration will embrace science in a big bear hug when it comes to policy-making, maybe we’re all just a discovery away from wearing lab coats as we go about our daily, fact-based lives and calling everyone “professor.”

Or not. Maybe that growth (mold) in the test tube (cocktail glass) should be washed out rather than compared to what else is growing in the lab (kitchen). On Monday, an article in USA Today asked, “Is America scientifically illiterate?” It concluded something, and we concur. Or disagree. We were distracted by another headline: “Multitaskers might get less done.”

It’s easy to pick on our scientific illiteracy. For example, when states still debate whether or not, or how, to teach evolution, we lose points. When other countries teach their children more math and science than we do, when we have to import scientists and engineers, our scientific illiteracy is not in question. Which is why the average citizen and believer in science relies heavily on the scientists we do have.

So when researchers show scientifically illiterate tendencies themselves, it’s troubling.

Stanford University researchers “discovered” that people who “multitask” are more easily distracted and less able to ignore irrelevant information than people who do less “multitasking.” The Associated Press reported the “surprising conclusion” of the study is that “those who multitask the most are the worst at it.”

Is it too much to ask that researchers do some research before embarking on research?

“The huge finding is, the more media people use the worse they are at using any media. We were totally shocked,” said Clifford Nass, a professor at Stanford’s communications department.

Shocked? You really think those busy-looking people are discussing philosophy on their headsets while texting linear equations as they cut you off in traffic?

Nass said more studies are required. “Is multitasking causing them to be lousy at multitasking, or is their lousiness at multitasking causing them to be multitaskers? Is it born or learned?”

If Nass, the communications professor, had read any of the neurological studies relating to distracted driving, he would know that scientists have proven time and again that the human brain was not designed for “multitasking.” So, yes, the “multitasking is causing them to be lousy at multitasking.” Because no one multitasks effectively.

This was accepted back in the old days when children were told to turn off the TV while doing homework. But something about technological gadgets makes it seem like we should be able to do more at once. So we do, just not well.