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Conspiracy, rejection of the theory of evolution: young people doubt scientific truth

2023-01-14T16:21:43.839Z


This is particularly the case for young Muslims, 71% of them refuting, for example, the theory of evolution, according to an Ifop survey on the relationship of 18-24 to science and social networks.


Have young people lost faith in science?

According to an Ifop poll, published on January 12, in conjunction with the Jean Jaurès Foundation and Reboot, only one in three young people believes that “science brings more good than harm”.

Conversely, 16% are convinced of the opposite.

Young people are increasingly skeptical of scientific truths.

Ifop survey - January 12, 2022

A mistrust that has greatly increased in thirty years.

In 1972, promoters of science represented more than half of young people (55%), a massive drop of 22 points in fifty years.

Conversely, only 6% of 18-24 year olds accused scientific theories, they are almost three times more today.

Among them, the most precarious are the most affected: one worker's child out of three does not believe in the benefits of scientific discoveries, while only 10% of young people from families of teachers or senior executives.

With the exception of Catholics (14%), religious beliefs also seem to be a decisive factor in terms of scientific mistrust.

Thus, 27% of young Muslims and 24% of young Protestants doubt, against 17% of young people in general and 13% of atheists.

A theory of doubt

Unlike their elders, today's young people refuse to believe the truths that are told to them, and willingly take refuge in alternative theories.

Half of them believe, for example, in the scientific nature of astrology.

If 5% of seniors believe today that the Egyptian pyramids were built by extraterrestrials, their young people are 19% to presume it.

One in five young Americans have not been to the moon;

for one in three, human beings are not the result of a long evolution of species.

Again, there is an interesting religious disparity.

Of the thousands of young people questioned, 71% of Muslims refute the theory of evolution, against 27% of Catholics.

As for the shape of the Earth, young Muslims are also the most skeptical.

34% believe the planet is flat, compared to 14% of Catholics, Atheists and Protestants.

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Today's 18-24 year olds are more susceptible to misinformation campaigns.

They are thus more than one in two young people to judge the Ukrainian authorities guilty of having staged the massacre of civilians in Boutcha, as much to accuse the opponents of Donald Trump of having mimicked the assault on the Capitol to undermine former US president.

Social networks, propagators of fake news

If the sociological and religious factors are notable, they do not explain everything.

In three years, the Covid has crossed a generation and has marked it deeply.

For months, while the same professors of medicine were chained on television sets, a tortuous system of misinformation developed in parallel on social networks, calling into question scientific speech.

They are also 25% to believe in the virtues of chloroquine on Covid-19, more than 30% to suspect messenger RNA vaccines of generating toxic proteins in vital organs causing irreversible damage.

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Young people who use social networks daily and in particular the Chinese TikTok known for its very short videos, are more inclined to doubt scientific truths, especially about current events.

More than one in three young people using Tiktok several times a day believe that the 2020 US election, which caused the departure of Donald Trump, was skewed.

The same goes for the imagined consequences of mRNA vaccines on children.

Half of the daily users of Telegram believe that it is possible to have an abortion with plants without risk for the mother and the child.

Similarly, one in four young people fond of encrypted messaging doubt that the Earth is really flat.

Despite all the campaigns against fake news, one in three young people trust the information conveyed on social networks.

Here again, young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are more affected than others.

Nearly one in two workers' children consider information on Instagram and TikTok reliable.

Young people with religious beliefs are also slightly more sensitive to it, with 41% Muslims, 43% Protestants and 36% Catholics against 30% atheists.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2023-01-14

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