Neil deGrasse Tyson has a great question...

[JDPriestly]

41. I doubt that increasing the number of scientist in Congress would help.

We need to increase the number of science-literate voters. I have to admit I am not one of them. The problem is that the basic education in scientific principles was not a part of the curriculum for most of us. We did not have the background for the courses we did take.

For non-lawyers, legal niceties are a mystery.

For non-scientists, scientific basics are a big black hole.

I watch my son-in-law, an engineer, explain things about gravity to his three-year-old son that I at 70 do not know. That's a huge leap.

It won't do any good to have scientists run for Congress if their ideas about climate change, for example, cannot be understood by the electorate.

There is no way around better educating the public. And that is an almost insurmountable task because people like me don't have the basic building blocks in our vocabulary, education and experience to begin to grasp the complex concepts. I really try and am supported by two children who excelled in science and math. But the problem is not who is sitting in Congress. The problem is who is electing the people who sit in Congress.

I have not had a chance to see the Cosmos programs by Neil Degrasse Tyson, but I am looking forward to watching them. I am fairly aware of the information about climate change because one of my daughters works in that field.

But putting scientists in Congress is not the answer. In fact, considering how the very wealthy and corporations that have an interest in maintaining the status quo with regard to climate change legislation fund political campaigns, I have no doubt that if we did elect more "scientists" and engineers to Congress, they would probably be phonies paid to deny the human causes for climate change in Congress.

The problem is getting the American people up to speed on science. If that happens, you might see more scientists in all areas of American public life. Right now, to ordinary Americans, scientists seem to be sort of members of a strange cult or elite, like magicians or shamans in some cultures. This is improving but especially for older people what I am saying is a common experience.