[ Note: This Saturday, in Washington DC, the March for Science will kick off at 9 AM with a teach-in and rally and end with a march through the streets of DC. Co-hosted with the Earth Day Network, the rally will be a call for politicians to implement science based policies, as well as a public celebration of science and the enormous public service it provides in our democracy, our economy, and our daily lives. ]
By Stephanie Nakhleh, for the L.A. Monitor
First published April 18, 2017
This Saturday, April 22, people from all over northern New Mexico will gather in Santa Fe in support of science. As the event organizers put it, “The March for Science champions science as a pillar for the advancement of human knowledge, progress and prosperity. We unite on April 22, Earth Day, as a diverse, nonpartisan group to call for the freedom of science in the interest of the common good, and for political leaders and policymakers to enact evidence-based policies in the public interest.” …
Respect for science as the best means of acquiring objective knowledge has been dwindling for some time.
Attacks come from the left in the form of postmodernism, which holds that there is no such thing as objective truth, that perception is all that matters, and that belief/opinion is as good as fact. Modern journalism (my own industry) has fallen prey to this line of thinking and has been particularly complicit in undermining science, giving equal weight to science and science denialism, as if there is no way to know which side is correct.
Attacks on science come from the right in the form of authoritarianism. What matters more than evidence, in this view, is what authority says—whether that authority is speaking from the pulpit, from the boardroom, or from the Oval Office.
Because they come from the left and the right, attacks on science can’t be said to be partisan. But they are political, because how science translates to public policy (whether we’re talking vaccines, climate change, or GMOs) is always political.
Since the Enlightenment, humans have made leaps forward in progress not because of ideology, but because of scientific inquiry. Science is a tool, and as a tool it can be misused. But there has been no better tool to lead humans out of darkness and ignorance than science. The 21st century has seen the world sliding backward as people increasingly turn to ideology and reject science. Our political leaders and our media have worked together to cast doubt about the efficacy of science and even the existence of facts and truth, and we cannot allow this regression to continue.
Our town, Los Alamos, was founded on the principle of scientific progress in the face of blind, destructive, world-shattering ideology… You can’t expect your science to remain safe if you are silent. Science is in need of defense, and I hope to see you out there defending it on Saturday. The March for Science is a way to stand strong in the face of anti-science forces that threaten… our planet, our children, and our future.
Editing: Erica P. Wissinger
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Posted by GPD on April 18, 2017, With 1319 Reads Filed under Civil Liberties & Freedom, Democracy & Elections, Government & Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
18 Responses to "Stand Strong Against Anti-Science Forces"
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I believe that this so-called “defense of science” is just another ruse by the global warming people to convince everyone that Donald Trump is singlehandedly destroying it. But that’s not true. The people destroying “science” as an enterprise are those governments and individuals (like Al Gore for example), who fund pre-established hypotheses – like global warming. The voice of science is data – period. The data speaks truth only when it is represented accurately with appropriate measures. Outcomes, per se, are supposed to be presented without bias. People who tout “consensus” are all as one in the same anti science. In fact, _consensus_ is the enemy of science. Consensus is the reliance on believe and the negation of data that may refute the original hypothesis. Thus it is the IPCC who are anti-science and I have no doubt of their minions involvement in the pro-science (masked anti-Trump politics) parades being orchestrated as we speak. What a bunch of trash.
Minor addendum: I am a registered democrat (but I no longer vote). I have disliked Trump since first he entered my awareness. That said, the politics of the people rabidly against him nauseate me because of their dishonesty in presenting the idea that Hillary or Obama was anything better. They are all tools – every one.
True scientific inquiry involves a number of basic principles beginning with basic honesty and integrity and logical thinking and reasoning. The Scientific Method involves the idea that no claim is accepted as “true” until it can be exactly repeated by many different observers at many different physical locations at different times. This is a rigorous demand to establish what we mean by “truth”. However any claim is always subject to challenge and/or revision if new information so demands or errors or fraud are found in the development of the original claims. Galileo Galilei, the world’s greatest physicist, is generally credited with establishing these rigorous rules for establishing what we mean by “truth” about 4 centuries ago. It took the Catholic Church nearly 350 years to admit he was right and they were wrong about the fact that the Sun is the center of our planetary system, not the Earth as the Church has falsely claimed. As JohnZ noted above, the church nearly burned him at the stake for holding his correct opinions while they were wrong.
Galileo Galilei died January 8, 1642 in Italy. Issac Newton, the “second” greatest physicist, was born December 25, 1642 in England. Like his predecessor Galileo Galilei, Newton made many seminal discoveries in physics. One of them is the body of knowledge called classical mechanics of bodies. He developed the concept of mass and inertia which had eluded Galileo Galilei. This theory accounts for basically all observed mechanical phenomena in our observable ordinary daily experiences. However, when detailed observations of atoms and molecules were made later, it was found that Newton’s classical theory failed to explain or account for these observations of wavelengths of light released from atoms and molecules. This led to the development of a whole new paradigm or theory called quantum mechanics which was necessary to “explain” this formerly unobserved information but this new theory reduces to the former classical mechanics theory of Newton in the limit where the scale of wave phenomena, called Planck’s constant abbreviated by h, vanishes. This is one of the most striking examples of the success of how the scientific method changed the way we look at the world and nature in the most fundamental of the sciences: physics. PHYSICS is the MOTHER science; all others are basically physics too.
We see science being used for many wrongs. Many scientists often do not consider the consequences of their research. Robert Oppenheimer, who is considered the father of the atomic bomb came to regret what he had helped to create and eventually became an activist. It is unfortunate that so many scientists often work for purposes that are less than friendly to humanity. Those that work in bio warfare labs, weapons research, mind control and research into controlling entire populations. Do these types have any regrets about their work or are they so blind they can’t see past their own arrogance? These scientists represent the evil half of science.
Others that work for corporations like Monsanto are driven by distorted ideals, often unaware of the damage they cause.
Scientists such as keshe offer hope in their research to make life more bearable. Hopefully his energy research will bring about the cutting of the noose around our necks from the oil, gas and coal industries and the end of newkiller power.
Science has all too often been used for all the wrong purposes but who controls these people? Who is it that is manipulating these people into creating the false dichotomies and deceptions that attempt to control humanity?
Consider how many of those involved in research are getting money from Washington and just how much of that is from the military, the CIA or some other clandestine deep black gang?
The author did not mention the attacks from the religious fundamentalist groups many of whom deny the earth is round and condemn the science of cosmology as invading God’s domain. History has recorded how the Church repressed scientific inquiry for centuries for its own benefit…that is to control humanity. How it attacked Galileo for his research on our solar system and beyond, nearly condemning him to be burned at the stake.
This is how religion treats fact: by attacking those who would dare challenge religious orthodoxy.
Agree anti-science is bad. But that is not the real question, is it? The global elites do not want the masses to develop critical thinking, and in that sense they are anti-science. Then there is the uncritical acceptance of Einstein’s theories – it is a bit like a cult – are there any who see deficiencies? And then there is the funding, more and more in private corporate hands that want to steer it in certain pre-determined directions, and the military industries whose sole purpose is to develop applications of destructive power. So, the real question is: Whom does science serve? I should be so bold as to think that it needs to serve all the people of this Earth. But it ain’t so at present. And that is a real problem, don’t you think?
Science includes social sciences and political science, in addition to the nexus between science and technological invention. Case in point, the keyboard warriors at VT seem happy to use computer technology that was based on and grew out of John von Neumann’s scientific theories.
If Americans knew a smidgen of political science, perhaps there would have been a popular outcry when the START treaty was set aside for expedience. What is the outcome of that?
So now we have a dumbed-down population, but it’s not because of science. It is partly because a significant percentage of our population isn’t able to discern what good or bad advice is, and that is based on critical thinking, and that is ultimately based on an understanding of mathematical logic and induction/deduction.
There is no science! Science today is controlled and manipulated enough to cater for humanity who has not managed to use a little more then 10% of their brains. Evolution is in reverse and with dumbing down humanity AI will soon replace the last fragment of intelligence in mankind. When religion, capitalism and politics have faded there will be a chance to start anew without control, profiteering and corporatism.
Without a complete reset of human conscience it will never happened. The brains are washed and manipulated, the physical bodies drugged and poisoned, the environment is toxic – we will need to do more then drain a swamp.
For todays science to grasp reality would mean to discard all foundations it is built upon.
“Evolution is in reverse…When religion, capitalism and politics have faded there will be a chance to start anew…”
Says who? If you remove altruistic religious faith, a metaphysical foundation which holds evolution is moving in reverse, then all you’re left with is Dawkins’s “no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.” With uncaring forces of evolution as a moral basis, the Khazarian Mafia is justified in doing whatever it wants with humanity’s evolution…
As the article mentioned, science becomes politicized. Scientific study at an early age helps to inoculate our children against magical thinking and against being suckered into believing that the earth is 4,000 years old.
People who are against learning how to do scientific thinking, objective observation, or even logical mathematical deductions are willingly part of the multi-headed hydra that attempts to keep mankind in a mushroom farm. Just because science has been politicized does not negate the value of the exercise in observation and logical deduction merged with intuition that scientific discovery is.
Really Science? Like what, GMO”s in our food, floride in our water, petrol chemical exhaust in our lungs, oil in our oceans and our waterways, poison in the vacines, military chemicals/bobmbs/intelligence,etc.
Are you suggesting have we have confidence in the system?
Do you now or have you ever worked for Monsanto? Exxon Mobil BP ? Coca Cola? GKS? WTF?
A difference of 20 parts per million of CO2 is causing the collapse of our planet. The science is a drawing of a greenhouse with arrows of sunrays pointing towards it. Oh golly jeez, let’s tax energy. But ignore the aerosols and HAARP.
Note the repeated reference to “facts.”
Science is not a collection of “facts.” Rather, it is a disciplined method of inquiry.
As I read the article, my mind conjured up a TV news segment of the march, in which those on opposite “factual” sides of “climate change science” bashed one another over the head with their respective signs!
Science is often manipulated to meet wrong outcomes for those who would benefit from it, so I`ll always be on the side of caution.
When scientists give us free energy, the cure for cancer and other illnesses, stop genetically sullying our food, pushing theories like evolution as matter of fact, and stop serving the global elite by keeping us in the dark ages, I’ll join you in your silly march. Until then, I’ll view science as the religion of atheists.
Exactly Jim
I have observed certain idiots spewing rubbish across the internet that the earth is flat and that NASA has deceived humanity. When religious extremists moan and cackle over the research into our vast universe with ever more powerful telescopes and probes, and I have actually heard these types condemn that part of science as invading the domain of a deity, I have to wonder if we left the 12th century behind.
Yes, there are failures and far to often it appears that science has let us down but who controls these people and who pays their wages, provides the funding for research that often ends up doing harm?
How about supporting scientists who actually want to create something that is of benefit to all humanity not just corporate greed and those who want total control over all humanity.
We still have to put up with those who continue to believe in demons, witches, and that those who become ill or children born with deformity are “God’s punishment ” for sin and wickedness. This is the kind of thinking that kept humanity in the dark for centuries. And you can thank the Church for that.
I’ll take atheism any day over the kind of rubbish spewed by the frauds, charlatans and megalomaniacs that pretend to be the final and last word of God.