Lysenko: A cautionary tale for the West

Things never go well when the state embraces scientific theories and then uses its might to force those theories upon the nation.

“Follow the Science” seems to have replaced “Go with God” as humanity’s go-to prayer. At least, the left would have us think so. But science is a much more complicated construction than leftists want you to realize, and there was a not very distant time and place where “Follow the Science” led to the needless death of millions.

Trofim Lysenko was a Soviet scientist who rose to prominence (and eternal infamy) in the 1930s. Lysenko was, you might say, an unelected bureaucrat in the Soviet system—if you can say that when the system itself is an unelected dictatorship. He was an agronomist and biologist. I almost said geneticist, but he surprisingly didn’t believe in genes. That is remarkable because he lived over 50 years after the epic (and accurate) studies and theories of the Augustinian Catholic monk, Gregor Mendel.

Lysenko, like most scientists, would have labored in relative faceless, harmless obscurity (see Dr. Bunsen Honeydew) and eventually had his science thoroughly repudiated, except that the State catapulted him to prominence and authority. (I know what you’re now thinking here—that I’m writing about the charismatic Dr. Anthony Fauci—but actually not so. Hang in there). Stalin himself loved this guy and his foundationless theories, and essentially put him in charge of Soviet agriculture—a placement that would leave millions of Ukrainians and Russians dead from starvation.

Lysenko believed that one could force inherited change onto organisms by manipulating their environment (kind of like what the Left believes with your kids’ education, I suppose). More specifically Lysenko believed that you could make summer wheat behave like winter wheat by forcing it to grow in out-of-season conditions.

When asked what they know about Eisenhower's farewell address, most people will fall into one of two categories: Those that know nothing about it, and those that will reflexively say, "Military-Industrial Complex."

Those who reference the Military-Industrial Complex (MIC), particularly those on the left, do not understand it in context, that is, Eisenhower warned that it was essentially a necessary evil given the current state of the world as it existed in the early 1960's, and that while necessary, it also bore very close scrutiny. Yet, the MIC was not the only institution that Ike warned of in his parting address. What Ike considered a nearly equal threat, and one that also bore very close watchdog scrutiny was the rise of what he termed the, "scientific-technological elite." Right after his remarks regarding the MIC, Ike continued:

"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 over shadowed 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.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.

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Go back and re-read that in the context of Michael Mann and climate change, Fauci and COVID, etc.

Ike had their number way back.

Nikolai Vavilov, a botanist and a nutritionist, was one of the greatest plant scientists of the 20th century. However, his sound scientific approach brought him into conflict with Trofim Lysenko, who had Stalin’s ear, and Vavilov found himself sentenced to 20 years in prison, where he was deliberately fed an inadequate diet. Being a nutritionist, Vavilov knew what the lack of essential nutrients was doing to his body and that he would soon be dead from malnutrition, which eventually happened.

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