A final post on the Science + Society Conference that took place in Boston last weekend (see the first and second posts):

NOVA/WGBH producer Larry Klein, a panelist on a Science in the Media session, argued that the gap between science and society that was the focus of the conference is not a gap unique to science. He noted that a similar gap exists between society and other areas of knowledge (including knowledge of the political process and world affairs) and that perhaps it is best to frame the issue as an education gap: educated elites version non-elites.

So it all comes down to education. Not a surprise, but a good point to make nonetheless. Al Gore, in his keynote talk, noted that “retrofitting new technologies [such as the Internet] into old educational setting[s]” is unlikely to accomplish much; he argues that “we need to re-think education.”