I agree with you, but I think this is referring to a phenomena of people who say the love science but actually just want to be thought of as a person who loves science. In the post they mention fake pictures with misattributed quotes which seems to be a byproduct of personality through consumerism. The idea of science is something people know they should care about so they “consume” it, but in late stage capitalism media caters to the lowest common denominator and people allow their interest to erode into just a signal. If they allow that to continue then they really cared less about the accuracy and quality of the “science” they are consuming and more about the act of consuming it.
There was a time when the layperson would get magazines or read articles that discussed their interests in an approachable way. That has fallen by the wayside and now people professing those niche interests are more likely to just signal having them than actually meaningfully participate in the subculture.
Or I might just be ranting and upset that a lot of people claim to be invested in subject X while not meaningfully understanding it. It feels like a societal shift, but maybe it’s just a bad day.
You can like science without being a degreed research scientist. There is plenty of good science content out there that’s easy to understand.
I agree with you, but I think this is referring to a phenomena of people who say the love science but actually just want to be thought of as a person who loves science. In the post they mention fake pictures with misattributed quotes which seems to be a byproduct of personality through consumerism. The idea of science is something people know they should care about so they “consume” it, but in late stage capitalism media caters to the lowest common denominator and people allow their interest to erode into just a signal. If they allow that to continue then they really cared less about the accuracy and quality of the “science” they are consuming and more about the act of consuming it.
There was a time when the layperson would get magazines or read articles that discussed their interests in an approachable way. That has fallen by the wayside and now people professing those niche interests are more likely to just signal having them than actually meaningfully participate in the subculture.
Or I might just be ranting and upset that a lot of people claim to be invested in subject X while not meaningfully understanding it. It feels like a societal shift, but maybe it’s just a bad day.
Gopd angle because original take wasn’t landing for me.