Because of course science has nothing to do with raising questions and testing hypotheses, even consensus positions. How horrible of Galileo or Newton or Einstein to have questioned the scientific consensus of their day. The way that any questions are silenced shows me that this is not about science, but politics, ideology, even an environmentalist religion. And why should we believe that all scientists are pure as the driven snow and not possibly susceptible to ideological or other corruption?
Because they are not pure. They have been corrupted. President Eisenhower warned us about this very thing over 60 years ago.
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
In this revolution, research has become central, it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields.
In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present – and is gravely to be regarded.
Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation
January 17, 1961
Ike was a very smart man. He saw this coming.