The single thing about science that I would most like people to understand, is that the scientific method is the most successful method of providing us with reliable information about the world. Because of this record of success, matched by no other discipline, science deserves to be taken seriously across the intellectual spectrum, and the scientific method needs to be applied more comprehensively to problems across disciplines. The unspoken corollary to this, is that taking science seriously is not the same as uncritical scientism - as opponents of science, postmodernists, and others are wont to claim.

I also wish that everyone understood evolution by natural selection, which is important because of the consequence it has, of shattering our anthropocentric conceit. This process was begun by the Copernican revolution. But the Copernican revolution is sufficiently removed, for most of us not to have to take its assault upon our anthropocentric conceit seriously. Evolution by natural selection is close enough to prick our hubris.

Bill Cooke is author of the Dictionary of Atheism, Scepticism and Humanism (buy this book from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)), and The Gathering of Infidels: 100 Years of the Rationalist Press Association (buy this book from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)).