> Perhaps it's because the enormous scientific illiteracy afflicting the populace as a whole (which can be observed simply by reading any popular journalistic account of scientific developments) places scientific developments and scientific pursuits into some mental category of "abstract, probably useless stuff".
This is a bigger problem amongst the general public then I think many inside the bubble of science and technology really understand. I remember a conversation I had some years ago with a co-worker who was adamant that space exploration was an absolute waste of money. Because "we have enough problems down here we should fix instead." I tried explaining all the advancements that the space race brought about in terms of technology and medicine. And the go to response was: "Well scientists should have just invented that stuff anyway. They didn't need NASA as an excuse to build it.". A complete lack of understanding or appreciation for what goes into scientific or technological discovery and advancement is worryingly common within the general public.
This is a bigger problem amongst the general public then I think many inside the bubble of science and technology really understand. I remember a conversation I had some years ago with a co-worker who was adamant that space exploration was an absolute waste of money. Because "we have enough problems down here we should fix instead." I tried explaining all the advancements that the space race brought about in terms of technology and medicine. And the go to response was: "Well scientists should have just invented that stuff anyway. They didn't need NASA as an excuse to build it.". A complete lack of understanding or appreciation for what goes into scientific or technological discovery and advancement is worryingly common within the general public.