Where is the future of science-popping in China?

On Sept 6, China Association of Science and Technology released a report that says 8.47 percent of all Chinese citizens surveyed have reached the “science literacy standard”. What is your view on the data?

Q:

Xie: According to my analysis, the percentage has two meanings: First, it is of course not high compared with those of developed countries. As early as 2000, that data had reached 17 percent in the US.

Second, it is 2.3 percentage points higher than that of 2015, which means progress. Actually, every person who has enough knowledge about science can influence several people near him or her. They could start from their family members. And I think it is the role of science-poppers to help these people. We need to support them with our knowledge, so that they will influence the people near them, not vice versa. And that’s why we insist on writing our stories in a reader-friendly way. We hope to let more non-professionals read our content and obtain the science knowledge they lack, so as to promote the science literacy rate of the whole society.

Do you think there is a gap between those with science literacy and those without?

Q:

Xie: I don’t think it is proper to label people in this way. Actually, at guokr.com we refrain from dividing our staff members into natural science graduates and social science graduates because for us they are the same, only with different knowledge structures.

Actually, even the dividing line between natural and social sciences is diminishing. As you can see from our contents, we have been popping knowledge on astronomy, life science, natural science, human bodies, as well as psychology and other subjects. And we are not the only team making efforts in this direction. We hope more teams would join the knowledge-sharing job.

Misunderstandings about technology still exist in society. How to dispel them?

Q: Sun: Technology has its appeals. Many may not know how artificial intelligence (AI) works, but they still like the conveniences AI brings. For example, about two months ago, a smartphone application that uses AI to guess very simple drawings of a player, became so popular that everyone started playing the game. It is the job of science-poppers to introduce the benefits of technologies to more people and expand their influences.

In 2015 and 2016, two Chinese science fiction writers received the Hugo Award. Do you think the development of science fiction can help promote science literacy?

Q:

Xie: In essence, science fiction and science-popping are two different types of intelligent products: The first is based on imagination plus scientific knowledge while the second is based on scientific knowledge but is expressed in fun ways.

Yet the two have something in common — the spirit of science — so the popularity of science fiction could help spread knowledge about science.

However, it is too early to describe domestic science fiction as being a “rage”. Liu Cixin has won worldwide fame with his The Three-body Problem, but he is the only Chinese science-fiction writer to obtain such glory. Will there be more science fiction giants like him? That question is still awaiting an answer. Q:

So what is the prospect of science-popping in the age of new media?

Sun: As you know, it will take a long time to improve people’s science literacy, but with the help of new media, that process will hopefully accelerate because knowledge can be better combined with fun. The more people play the game about guessing a drawing, the more they will get to know the benefits AI brings and hold a more accepting attitude toward it. Therefore, we are quite confident about the future of science-popping.