This paradox captures the excitement that currently surrounds scholars who study the social and cultural foundations of science, known as 'science studies' for short. It also explains why practicing scientists like Alan Sokal have found our field vaguely threatening. However, their response has been too often like shooting the messenger who bears bad news. The message remains the same. For example, each year I ask my undergraduate students whether science or religion provides a better basis for understanding the world around them.
Science always receives a ringing endorsement.
However, on further questioning, it seems that students have a more detailed grasp of the religion they reject than the science they accept. They can easily deconstruct Biblical stories, but they can rarely recall specific scientific equations and theories, let alone explain their relevance to anything. Almost all have entered a place of worship, but at most one or two have been inside a place of research, a laboratory. What happens in my classroom is part of a larger trend. Books popularizing science have never been of higher quality or sold better.