Science Wars: We need to free science from the Commissars who now control it.

FrontPageMagazine.com ^ | Friday, February 27, 2004 | By Lowell Ponte

[JohnHuang2]

Friday, February 27, 2004

Quote of the Day by kevao

[anymouse]

good post

[qam1]

A little long but excellent read.

You can add the so-called dangers of second hand smoke to something that has fell victim to the politicalization of science. Anyone who says differently either has their report buried or is labeled a stooge of the tobacco companies.

[King Prout]

self ^

[Brilliant]

The scientists made the mistake of trying to turn their profession into a political weapon.

[hopespringseternal]

I have worked with scientists.

First of all, they have a goal. They want to put forth and prove a theory. It can be remarkably hard for them to let go of that goal no matter now unlikely it is that they might attain it.

Just as important, their livelihood is intimately tied to that goal. No fusion scientist will ever tell people point blank that there are easier, better ways to come by energy or honestly state that given current technology, most fusion research doesn't have much point. Or that fusion energy is hardly aneutronic and there is a significant radioactive waste danger to it. Or that fission is a much better idea right now.

This is just one example. Global warming, ecology in general, hydrogen vehicles, etc. are more scientific scam than anything. But fleecing the government is not illegal, so that is how many scientists make their living.

[TheDon]

Upon examining the model Sagan had shown to the world press to “prove” the danger of “nuclear winter,” Schneider found it was of a barren ball of rock with no mountains and no oceans. Oceans, as both Schneider and Sagan knew, act as gigantic energy flywheels that moderate temperature, helping cool adjacent continents in summer and warm them in winter.

Sagan, in other words, knowingly committed deliberate scientific fraud. He cooked up a phony computer model to concoct the phony “nuclear winter” results he wanted for political reasons. He avoided the already-available NCAR computer climate model precisely because he knew it would not produce the “nuclear winter” he wanted to sell to gullible journalists and an ignorant public.

Say it ain't so!!!

[metesky]

Good read.

Thanks, qam1.

[Madame Dufarge]

"Schneider once spoke of the difficulties scientists have communicating their work to the public:

"On the one hand, as scientists we are ethically bound to the scientific method, in effect promising to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but - which means that we must include all the doubts, the caveats, the ifs, ands, and buts.

On the other hand, we are not just scientists but human beings as well. And like most people we'd like to see the world a better place, which in this context translates into our working to reduce the risk of potentially disastrous climatic change. To do that we need to get some broadbased support, to capture the public's imagination. That, of course, entails getting loads of media coverage.

So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have. This 'double ethical bind' we frequently find ourselves in cannot be solved by any formula. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest. I hope that means being both."

(Quoted in Discover, pp. 45-48, Oct. 1989, see also American Physical Society, APS News August/September 1996). (source[2])" Stephen Schneider

[RightWhale]

The author, Lowell Ponte, is in the neighborhood of the truth. Science is policed by scientists themselves, not dictated by congress. However, we see the funding not the science, and congress is political, not scientific. So what passes for science in congress is politicized. Some scientists have agendas, too, but then they are not doing science.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP - SCIENCE and the PURSUIT OF TRUTH

[aquila48]

Great piece and right on the money.

When the soviet union fell, I really thought that was the end of communism, marxism and socialism.

Instead the left has come back with a vengeance - they are on the offensive through the backdoor with a multipronged, stealthy and surreptitious strategy, with most of the populace oblivious to the threat.

What the soviet couldn't do in an overt way (conquer us), they are succeeding covertly, like termites, destroying the foundations of our free society.

They have already taken control of most institutions. The Clinton years were watershed years for them. We on the right have been very slow in realizing what is going on and reacting to it.

They've been very smart. The tactics they've been using to keep us off balance are the big lie, double speak, and social guilt. Since they control mass media, only their message gets across. They usually get their way because we on the right are cowed to acquiesce - we surrender our power to them, thinking that appeasing them will make them go away.

I keep asking myself, why are we letting them do that to us? Why aren't we fighting back? Why do we let them browbeat us to surrender our way when we know our way is better? Where is the strength of our convictions?

We can only fight back by getting our message out. This means every city has to have a Washington Times, and we need to take control of at least one of the major networks to get our message to the masses.

Yes, we have talk radio, fox news and the internet (thank god) or else we would be doomed. They're trying to silence that also, with so called "fair access" rules. But this is not enough.

Where are the conservative Soros???

[Mears]

You've got that right,the ETS fraud is one of the biggest,government approved,frauds today.In this particular instance it is all about money.

I ignore all studies,all of them.I've been on this earth long enough(71 years) to know that if you wait long enough,everything that is "proved" will be disproved a few years later.

The government has become a monster in my lifetime and I see no end in sight.It is a monster that is feeding from, and is being nourished by ,it's citizens.

[farmfriend]

Radio, I'm pinging you to this as well since it mentions Dr. Sagan.

Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[RightWhale]

the left has come back with a vengeance

They don't think so. They think their movement is over. You're right, though, there is no conservative philosopher of the stature of any of their major ones. One problem in perception is that any philosopher must at least mention Marx, and in so doing is branded, and the other is that to be credentialed one must establish one's credentials within the system--which is still dominated by you-know-who.

[aquila48]

They don't think so. They think their movement is over. You're right, though, there is no conservative philosopher of the stature of any of their major ones.

Allow me to disagree with you. I'll take Adam Smith over Marx any day... Capitalism has beaten and will always beat communism and socialism. I say this very confidently because Smith understood human nature better than Marx. Smith lets humans thrive, Marx suppresses them.

"To each according to their need and from each according to their abilities" is not how humans are made. Regardless how idealistic it sounds it will never produce anything but misery.

More recently we also have Ayn Rand, von Mises, and other conservative philosophers that have expanded on Smith's foundations.

[LibWhacker]

Excellent article! It's amazing what the cancer of leftist thought can infect. You'd think that rational people like scientists would be immune to it, but many aren't.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

A quick search on Gramsci turned up the following:

_________________________________________________________________

He wrote the playbook that has been followed for the last many decades by the leftists!
Including the attack of the gays on the American Family!

________________________________________________________________________________________

Gramsci Lives ^
			Posted by Memphis Belle On News/Activism ^ 05/22/2000 12:13:23 PM PDT with 1 comment The Nation ^ | May 22 2000 | Eric Alterman
The Gramsci Factor  ^
			Posted by Tailgunner Joe On News/Activism ^ 09/27/2002 4:07:10 PM PDT with 42 comments www.chuckmorse.com ^ | September 21, 2002 | Chuck Morse
WWGD? (What Would Gramsci Do?) ^
			Posted by cicero's_son On News/Activism ^ 09/16/2001 9:12:08 PM PDT with 71 comments self
Who is Antonio Gramsci? You Better Learn!!! ^
			Posted by cayman99 On News/Activism ^ 12/29/2000 1:01:43 AM PST with 129 comments
ANTONIO GRAMSCI, 1891-1937 - The New Order ^
			Posted by Tailgunner Joe On News/Activism ^ 09/02/2002 3:23:16 PM PDT with 27 comments etherzone.com ^ | September 6, 2002 | Albert V. Burns
Tocqueville Vs. Gramsci: Transmit Or Transform; That Is The Question ^
			Posted by Starmaker On News/Activism ^ 06/03/2002 12:47:34 PM PDT with 13 comments ToogoodReports ^ | June 3, 2002 | Gerald L. Rowles, Ph.D.
Gramsci vs. Tocqueville or Marxism vs. the American Ideology ^
			Posted by VinnyTex On News/Activism ^ 01/04/2001 9:20:02 AM PST with 22 comments FrontPage Mag ^
Buchanan Links Decline of West to Gramsci (Review of Death of the West) ^
			Posted by IM2Phat4U On News/Activism ^ 01/06/2002 3:23:03 PM PST with 29 comments www.amazon.com ^ | Ray Olson
Gramsci, The Source Of Democratic Philosophy: A must read to understand the source of Dem Strategy. ^
			Posted by manfromlamancha On News/Activism ^ 10/31/2002 10:52:43 PM PST with 30 comments Charm.Net ^ | October,2002 retrieved | Some Socialist Punk

[NormsRevenge]

Bump.. Thanks